Some Overton County School Board members said meeting with teachers and staff during its annual board retreat provided valuable insight.
School Board Chairman Mitch Stonecipher said he feels like retreats are always productive, as a retreat is a more laid-back environment. Stonecipher said he left impressed by the investment that principals are making into the children. He said he also appreciates the boost in morale to improve student test scores.
“Certain people maybe perform a little bit better during certain seasons than others,” Stonecipher said. “And I think right now, for the season we are in, I think Mrs. Dillon is the perfect leader, and she has done a phenomenal job boosting the morale with some of the things that she is doing with the staff.”
School Board Member Ben Danner said this was the first school board retreat he has been a part of. Danner said the attitude among teachers and principals has already made a difference.
“Our testing numbers are looking pretty good,” Danner said. “And the state keeps changing the criteria you go by, so like, I said, for a new school board member, it’s a lot to learn because there are third-grade reading levels and they test off that and things like that, but overall, I mean, our schools are doing really well right now.”
Stonecipher said coming out of the retreat, he believes the board wants to make efforts to improve student testing scores.
“One of the things that was talked about was the cell phone policy and how that has, you know, the expectation was that there would be a huge pushback on that and that has not been the case,” Stonecipher said. “Not only have the students adopted it much better than we expected, but also the parents. Overton County is not special in that area. I’ve heard other folks from other counties and other districts pretty much say the same thing, and so just getting, you know, a renewed focus on why we are here and putting the children first, which I think this administration is doing.”
Danner said the board completed its five-year strategic plan during the retreat. Danner said the building program included in the plan is something the board is looking to put into action right away.
“Hillham, and Allens, and Rickman, we are building onto the schools right now, which we haven’t built onto the schools in probably 30 years, close to it,” Danner said. “So that’s really exciting, all the things that we have got going on cause we are growing. Rickmans growing, Allens growing, Hillhams growed, so glad we are gonna be able to, you know, have classes in classrooms. Right now, we are having to have classes in locker rooms and things like that, and I mean, that’s not a good environment for kids to learn. So just trying to learn everything we can from all the teachers and the staff to try to see what, as a board member, we can do better to help them out.”
Danner said it was great to hear from all of the principals from different schools because some schools have more or different challenges compared to others.
