Elizabethton City Schools is looking to lock down a long-term commitment with their current director of schools.
Board of Education members will meet Tuesday in their regularly scheduled meeting 6:30 p.m. at Central Office to discuss the upcoming school year and go through a slew of items on the agenda, including the possibility of approving a contract extension between the school district and Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour.
Over the past couple of months, board members have expressed their support for the current director and will look to lock in Gardenhour to a four-year contract set to start August 15, 2017 and ending August 24, 2021, pending approval.
Gardenhour is currently in the second of a four-year contract currently with the school district. BOE can only extend the contract by two years due to the original in place. During July’s BOE meeting, members voted unanimously to allow Chair Rita Booher to enter into negotiations with the director. In accordance to board policy, members perform an annual review of the director’s duties.
The school district is coming off a busy August that kicked off with the second annual Back-2-School Bash at Citizens Bank Stadium, which saw 1,000 backpacks full of school supplies be distributed to students. Attendees were also able to receive information on each of the schools within the district. Each ECS school will hold their first full day of school beginning Monday, Aug. 14.
In other business Tuesday, the BOE will look at adding a part-time administrator for the Bartleby XQ project for the upcoming school year.
Elizabethton High learned they received an award from XQ America for their “Super School Project,” titled Bartleby, which goes into effect this year.
During a recent meeting at MIT with other Super Schools across the country, EHS teacher Dustin Hensley added students and staff are looking forward to the start of the two new classes — Community Improvement and Entrepreneurship — that came to fruition thanks to the award.
“We have two student cohorts that will be starting the Bartleby classes this school year,” Hensley recently told the Elizabethton Star. “The fall semester will see the beginning of our Community Improvement class and the spring semester will be when our Entrepreneurship class begins. Our students have been emailing all summer asking about updates and wanting to get the class started. You know you’re doing something right when students are thinking about school in a positive manner during the summer and can’t wait to start working on their projects.”
For more information on news within the district, visit ecschools.net or visit the Elizabethton City Schools Facebook page.