April 15, 2014 at 5:30 PM - April Regular Monthly Board Meeting

Rationale:  This textbook was left off the list of recommendations from the secondary textbook committee last month and Betty Thames asked that it be added this month for BOE approval.

Rationale:  CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2014 VALEDICTORIANS AND SALUTATORIANS!!!!


Cascade High School - Chloe Tamula, Valedictorian & Elizabeth Hernandez-Ibarra, Salutatorian

Community High School - Courtney Williams, Valedictorian & Kristen Brothers, Salutatorian

Shelbyville Central High School - Alexi Gordon, Valedictorian & Caleb Krieg, Salutatorian

Rationale:  This revision is being presented as a good first step to creating a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy which the board has expressed interest in developing.  During a meeting with administration, secondary principals gave their input on revising this policy so that students may be allowed to utilize their personal communication devices during "non-academic" periods for reasonable purposes.

The revision also more strongly encourages teachers to integrate these devices into their coursework whenever possible. 

The revision strengthens the language already in place to address improper use of devices for unauthorized or misrepresented photos, video or recordings.

We currently have procedures that fall under the Acceptable Use Policy for internet usage.  These two procedures pertain to students and cover such areas as liability and financial responsiblity for damages or loss as well as proper usage parameters.  These procedures will be tweaked to properly coincide with any revisions made to the Use of Personal Communication Devices in School policy.

Rationale:  We have been receiving an excessive amount of complaints from staff and teachers regarding abuses of electronic cigarettes or personal vaporizers.  TSBA has not released an official update to their policy, however they did update the current policy to reflect "best practices" by simply adding the word electronic cigarettes throughout. 

Upon research, it was found that Rutherford County and Murfreesboro City had already updated their policies.  Many cities are making the decision to treat these products just like other smoking products as it is too difficult to disseminate which is which.  The FDA is expected to be putting forth a warning or guidelines about these products soon.

The drafted revision before you contains language for clarification and a bit of re-ordering.  It has been reviewed by legal at TSBA and they have given it their approval.