After election, UC school board will have at least 1 new member

The evening’s consent agenda, covering minutes from the Union City School Board’s Sept. 16 meeting, the approval of bills, the approval of the School System Compliance Report and the approval of Pilot Teacher Evaluation Training, was the only item requiring board action when members met Monday evening at the municipal building courtroom. The meeting was a rescheduled session to avoid a conflict with the annual school fall break, which will begin Monday and continue through Oct. 15.
Board members Dr. Wright Jernigan and Karl Ullrich were absent because of conflicts with their work.
The board welcomed Union City High School senior Chase Bowling as the new student board member and he led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The meeting could mark the final session of service for school board co-chairman Shea Riley III, who has decided not to seek re-election. The election is set for Nov. 2, but there is apparently no date set for swearing in newly-elected local officials, including Riley’s successor. If the swearing-in is set for later than Nov. 8, the date for the next board meeting, Riley will be back in his board seat once again. If the swearing-in occurs later in the election week and prior to the board meeting, his replacement will occupy that position. Dr. John Clendenin is the only candidate for the Ward 5 seat being vacated by Riley.
School board member at-large Ellarine Moses faces the only competition in the election, with newcomer Campbell Rice vying for her seat. Board members Glenda Caudle (Ward 1) and Curtis McLendon (Ward 3) have no opposition in their bids to return to service.
Director of Schools Gary Houston’s personnel update included information that Gwen Hassell has been hired as a cafeteria employee at Union City Elementary School and Pamela Graves is a new employee in food service at Union City Middle School. UCES teacher Courtney Bondurant is having her maternity leave filled by Kayla Cazenave.
In the director’s report, Houston called attention to National Walk to School Day, which was celebrated Wednesday morning from three “walk-to-school” sites in the city, and asked the Union City School System Coordinator of School Health, Kristen Miles, to brief the board on the project.
Mrs. Miles noted that 250 elementary school students and 100 middle school students had registered to take part in the event. She said community support for the effort, which included donations of gift cards for drawings, pizza, shoes and belts, and the willingness of the Union City Police Department to provide escorts for the children and teachers, was very encouraging. The students, she added, were very excited and she was proud of their “healthy” response.
Houston also called attention to this week’s book fair at UCMS and to parent-teacher conferences, which are set for today from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the schools. He added that parent attendance is particularly important this year since teachers want to discuss the new test scores from last spring’s achievement tests. Tennessee students are being held to a much higher standard now and educators want to discuss how those changes are affecting not only those test scores but expectations for effort in the future.
Union City School System staff will be involved in a Professional Development Day Friday, so Union City Students will have a two-day jump on the annual fall break.

Published in The Messenger 10.07.10

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