County discusses school change

Jeremy Nash news-herald.net

Loudon County Commission could soon consider a push to make the director of schools positions elected.

Commissioner David Meers asked during Monday’s commission meeting for the county to discuss in October sending a resolution to the state supporting that school superintendents be elected by popular vote rather than appointed by a school board.

“About every year in the legislative session it usually doesn’t get much headway, so to speak, but this usually comes up about annually when the session starts,” Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw, county mayor, said. “I know David has met with some of his constituents and felt to add it, so we’ll bring it forth for discussion at the ... workshop. ... I think it’s a worth a talk if that’s what the people are interested in, that’s what the people want. That’s who we work for are the people. I think it’s valid to have a discussion. I think we’ll see commissioners on both sides of the topic as well.”

Meers’ request came after meeting with a resident a couple of weeks ago. He said he met with the resident again Aug. 1 and was presented a 110-signature petition showing support for the change. Meers refused to divulge the name of the resident.

“He just wanted to have a mechanism to discuss openly election of the superintendent and we explained the process,” Meers said. “It would have to be voted on here, it would have to go to the state and they would have to approve it. I don’t think that’s going to happen. ... It would be a resolution to the state and our legislators would put it up, and I think it would be Mr. (Lowell) Russell’s prerogative to take it to the state and put it in the form of a bill and then go through the process.”

The Education Improvement Act of 1992 made local school boards the only authority that could appoint superintendents.

Meers is unsure how much support a change would gain at the state level, but the number of signatures given locally at least merits discussion, he said.

“I was very surprised that he came up with that many names and, once again, he was not being derogatory,” Meers said. “He very professional, very at ease. He just had a concern, and I think when you have that type of concern it does bring about some type of mannerism of discussion.”

Commissioner Harold Duff said the topic of an elected superintendent has been discussed at the state level in the past but it’s never gained enough steam to be approved.

“It dies in committees, it dies at various places,” Duff said. “It seems to gain a few votes each year of more than the previous year and the rate it’s going it’s not going to fly.”

Duff worries having the superintendent as an elected position could be “very political,” but at the same time he thinks the current setup can be as well.

“Both of them work. It’s what is your philosophy on this?” Duff said. “... I was an elected school superintendent (for Lenoir City Schools) for approximately 20 years by the board and it worked well for me because the average life of a school superintendent is ... close to three years.”

Meers chose October to give new commissioners the chance to settle into their new position in September.

“Having new commissioners, three new commissioners and also I didn’t know what the status of Mr. (Jimmy) Matlock was going to be,” Meers said. “Having Mr. Russell in this district, he would have to the be person probably that would carry the bill to the legislature.”

Sending a resolution to the state will require at least six votes, Meers said.

Commissioner Van Shaver doesn’t believe the county should take a side.

“I don’t have any interest at all in being a participant in that or taking a vote on that. It’s a state matter,” Shaver said. “What we would pass as a supporting resolution and send it to the state of Tennessee would have no effect on anything. There are pros and cons to both positions, elected and appointed. There are people that like it one way and there are people that like the other way. If we take a side then we’ve made some people happy and we’ve made other people not so happy. I don’t really understand the necessity for us to even be involved in that.”

In other news, Loudon County Commission:

• Passed board and committee term updates for the Airport Authority, Beer Board, Blair Bend Industrial Committee, Economic Development Agency Board of Directors, Loudon County Library Board, Senior Citizens Executive Committee and Tellico Reservoir Development Agency Board of Directors.

• Tabled revisions to the county employee handbook.

• Approved demolition of the old cheerleader locker room on “The Hill” at the old high school in Loudon.

• Amended five acres on Hotchkiss Valley Road from A-1 Agriculture Forestry District to C-2 General Commercial District. The land will be used for a Loudon County Fire & Rescue station.

• Approved application and acceptance of a $49,368 grant contract received annually from East Tennessee Human Resources Agency to offset expenses of the Loudon County Senior Center.

• Authorized an amendment in the Education Capital Projects Fund 177 subfund Adequate Facilities Tax to re-budget a portion of the North Middle School project that was approved by unspent and unencumbered in the fiscal year 2018.