by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Oct. 14 Franklin County School Board meeting, Director of Schools Cary Holman introduced the Partnership Academic Lab Sessions initiative (PALS) which seeks to foster parent knowledge about their children’s school experience through sessions held at the parents’ place of employment. In discussion about the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Accountability Report, Holman explained the goals and metrics used. The report showed Franklin County third graders fell below the 2023-2024 goal in ELA (English Language Arts) but exceeded the goal in math. The board approved several policy amendments driven by local considerations.

“Due to the complexity of work schedules and time constraints, parents sometimes are limited in their ability to get to the school or totally grasp the many learning targets associated with academic and social learning,” Holman said, emphasizing the significance of parent involvement and need for the PALS initiative. “Many parents work during the day and can’t get to school programs. Some parents work second shift and can’t get to parent teacher conferences. We’re pitching the idea to industries and hope they will allow us to come in, rather than waiting for parents to come to us.” The program would offer 20-30 minute monthly sessions for parents during work hours.

Taking up the TISA Accountability Report, Homan said, “We have five years to show we’re making progress.” The new TISA funding formula adopted by the state requires school districts to set a goal of reading proficiency by third grade. In addition to a third grade ELA goal, Franklin County also set a third-grade math goal. With 38 percent ELA proficiency, the district fell 2 percent below the 40 percent goal for the 2023-2024 school year. But Holman stressed, “We reduced the gap enough to show we’re making progress.” The five-year ELA goal is 58 percent proficiency by the end of the 2027-2028 school year. For math, the district exceeded the 31.1 percent proficiency goal, with third graders showing 34.4 percent proficiency at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. As a consequence, the district may achieve the five-year goal of 50 percent proficiency sooner than expected.

Human Resources Supervisor Roger Alsup described the recommended policy changes as “minor modifications.” The Safety policy added the criterion of a “school reunification plan” to the list of preparedness requirements for addressing fire, severe weather, earthquake, bomb threat and other safety hazards. The Use of School Facilities policy, while giving priority to school sponsored events over public sponsored events, added language stating, “In the event a scheduling conflict exists in regard to requested use of school facilities … this policy does not permit the cancellation of an already approved facility use agreement by an outside group.” Providing background, Alsup said in the past a school group requested use of a facility after an outside group had been granted use of the facility and spent money on advertising and coordinating the planned event. “I remember when that happened,” said Board Chair CleiJo Walker, citing unpleasant repercussions. The policy change was needed “to be fair to our community members,” Alsup said.

The change to the School Nutrition policy added updated information on filing a USDA Complaint Form. The amended Insurance Management policy removed a reference to long-term disability insurance. “You [the board] did away with that two years ago,” said Deputy Director of Finances Jenny Phillips. The amended Insurance Management policy added a clause providing life insurance for all employees.