Having stability in the leadership of the district was the driving factor behind a recent decision made by the Elizabethton City Schools Board.
During a relatively cut-and-dry session, the BOE voted Tuesday unanimously to approve a contract extension between the school system and Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour along with a handful of other items during the board’s first meeting of the 2017-18 school year.
Gardenhour was in the second year of a previous contract in place by the board. Following a recent workshop by board members, unanimous support was in favor of bumping the director’s contract an additional two years, the maximum limit the BOE could do.
The new contract is scheduled to go into effect August 15 of this year and will end August 14, 2021.
BOE Chair Rita Booher entered into contract discussions with the director after receiving permission from the board during last month’s meeting.
Booher told attendees that the board each expressed they were “very pleased” with the leadership Gardenhour has provided since accepting the role and elevations have come back with high marks. BOE members Susan Peters, Tyler Fleming and Phil Isaacs each praised the efforts of Gardenhour. Each BOE member voted in favor of the extension. Dr. Grover May was absent during Tuesday’s meeting.
Steps were also put in place help anchor Elizabethton High’s Bartleby XQ Project for the coming year after officials voted to approve the addition of a part-time administrator for the project over the school year at a cost not to exceed $25,000.
Gardenhour added the work performed by students and staff at the high school would be something that will help change high schools across the country and the addition with help show their district’s full support from the project.
Elizabethton High will unveil through two classes formed thanks to the Bartleby Project this year – Community Improvement and Entrepreneurship.
The students from the 2016 sociology group along with teachers Dustin Hensley, Alex Campbell and Daniel Proffitt will also be highlighted on a national stage once again in September.
XQ America has blocked off an hour on national television stations; NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX, to recognize schools involved with the Super School Project, including Elizabethton.
Hensley provided an update to board members Tuesday and said the school would represented during the show, which is scheduled to air 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8.
A viewing party of the show is tentatively scheduled to take place at T.A. Dugger Junior High on Monday, Sept. 11, with a time to be later announced.