School board addresses dress code

Voted as Teachers of the Year were (from left) Mindy Waddell, Haywood Junior High; Miranda Jones, East Side; Mandy Bell, Sunny Hill; Pam Thomason, Anderson Early Childhood Center; Clara Richardson, Haywood Elementary; and Linda Baxter, Haywood High.

The Haywood County Board of Education met in regular session Tuesday night, February 12, to a full house of parents and educators mostly there to see how they would address the issue of a dress code in the schools. The board also announced teachers of the year, presented a special diploma, and discussed a skate park near East Side Elementary.

At the December school board meeting, a committee representing Haywood High School presented to school board members a dress code for consideration. Board members then agreed to discuss the issue at their retreat in January and return with their decision at the February meeting. Chairman of the School Board Patricia Gruenewald brought up the issue, and deviating from school board policy, opened the floor for comments from a representative of the group for the dress code and one from anyone opposing the dress code.

Proponents of the dress code cited that it would promote a better self-image, attitude and perception of the schools overall, more emphasis on education and less on clothes, more school pride, and teach students that there is a dress code in the real world, among other things. They also expressed that they wanted the dress code to be system-wide. There was no one there who spoke against the issue.

School board members also expressed their opinions, some for and some against the dress code. Both Director of Schools George Chapman and Assistant Director Doris Battle presented some of the problems they see in mandating a dress code, specifically the one the high school committee presented to the board. They also cited problems other systems have in enforcing a dress code.

In the end school board members voted to have a survey about the issue sent to all parents of children in the school system, not just those at Haywood High School. They agreed that when they received the results of this survey, they would make a decision based on that information, and if they agreed to put a dress code in place, they would leave the details up to the administrators.

Teachers of the Year

In other business, Chairman Gruenewald presented to the audience the Haywood County Teachers of the Year. Teachers vote for their selection at each school.

At Anderson Early Childhood Center, Pam Thomason was selected. The Haywood Elementary teacher chosen was Clara Richardson, and at East Side, Miranda Jones was named Teacher of the Year. Mandy Bell was selected at Sunny Hill School, and at Haywood Junior High School, Mindy Waddell received the most votes. Haywood High School Teacher of the Year is Linda Baxter.

From these candidates, a committee selected three to represent the county, Miranda Jones, Mandy Bell, and Linda Baxter. These teachers will complete applications that will be submitted to the regional office for state competition. Winners at the state level will be announced in late March.

Special diploma

Chairman Gruenewald also presented a recent graduate, Peggy Ann Jeter, with a Haywood High School diploma. Jeter came back after many years and completed the requirements to receive her diploma.

Skate Park

The last order of business was a request from Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Cates for permission to use a portion of land next to East Side Elementary to construct a skateboard park. She reported that she is applying for a grant to build the park, and that the school system would have no liability regarding the park. Board members agreed after some discussion to let Director Chapman handle the matter after he has determined that the school board does own this land, and that the school’s insurance carrier concurs with the liability issue.

The next board meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 11.

School board enjoys visit by HHS students

The Haywood County School board agenda was light Tuesday night, January 8, but board members did enjoy a visit and report from HHS math teacher Eddie Keel on his students’ participation in the 5th Annual MathMeet that the school was host to in November. Twenty-five HHS students placed in Algebra, Geometry, PreCalculus, Calculus, Comprehensive and Statistics contests. In addition, two Haywood County students, Shanell Crawford-Harris and Hunter Burroughs, won $2,000 scholarships to Lambuth University as a result of their scores.

Mr. Keel also brought to the meeting several students who are members of the school’s Mock Trial team to demonstrate what they do in competition. This year’s regional contest will be held on February 23, and for the first time in the competition, Haywood High will send three teams. HHS teams won regional competitions for five consecutive years beginning in 2002, but were dethroned last year by Dyersburg High School. But, HHS students won three out of four individual awards given at the contest.

In other business, the board discussed attending the Tennessee School Board’s Day on the Hill on February 26 when our school board members will meet with Haywood County legislators in Nashville. Before that, they will gather at their annual retreat to discuss school issues January 18, 19, 20 at Pickwick Landing State Park.

The next school board meeting will be held on February 12.