Tim Belisle recognized Lottie Ryans, below, and Sheila Cox, before the meeting started for their long tenures on the Johnson City Board of Education.
By Collin Brooks
The Johnson City Board of Education made another step forward in finding a replacement for Superintendent Dr. Richard Bales who is retiring on June 30, 2017.
After the Johnson City BOE voted on the criteria that will be included in the job posting, Tennessee School Board Association Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel Randall Bennett — whose group will be handling the screening process and bringing the board five candidates — said that the job will be posted by the end of the week.
The next deadline for the group will be March 2, 2017 when they select the candidates from which the TSBA provided. The new superintendent is expected to start on July 1.
Tennessee State Law mandates that a Superintendent only holds a bachelors degree, however the Johnson City BOE said their next hire will posses a master’s degree with a doctorate preferred.
While addressing the board, Bennett said that he already “had people ask him about the position. And I think there would be a great group of folks (to choose from).”
There were 10 expanded criteria that made the list, with some including the ability to listen carefully, a willingness to maintain an open door policy, an effective communicator, an advocate for children and public education, someone that is prideful in the school system and someone that has an ability to unify diverse groups of people and maintain high moral.
Other criteria that were listed with the job are someone who has the winsome to know when change is necessary and the ability to initiate such change, a respected instructional leader with a strong academic classroom with both classroom and administrative experience and lastly one who possesses a sense of humor.
More Raises
The BOE also expanded on the raises that they provided to 1,041 part time and full time employees during their last meeting that totaled just over $557,000. The board expanded the raises to included all after school employees who have worked a minimum of 10 hours on average or more hours a week since the beginning of the school year. That will add about $18,000 more, which will put the investment into one-time bonuses in honor of Dr. Richard Bales at $575,000, according to Johnson City Schools Director of Finance Pam Cox.
Children from Woodland Elementary opened the meeting by singing songs for the audience. Photos by Collin Brooks
Graduation Set
For the second consecutive year, Science Hill’s graduation will take place outdoors at Kermit-Tipton Stadium. The board decided to keep the venue after they felt like it was a success last year. They also decided to keep the start time at 9 a.m., after discussion of possibly moving it up to 8 a.m. In case of rain, the event could be moved to the ETSU Mini Dome.
