KINGSPORT — City Superintendent of Schools Jeff Moorhouse is not requesting an extension of his contract expiring in 2024, although the head of the school board said that in no way is a resignation or termination of Moorhouse.
Instead, monetary compensation increases may be discussed by the Kingsport Board of Education at its May 3 meeting after board President Jim Welch and Moorhouse discuss the matter, as approved by a 5-0 vote by the board Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, school board Vice President Julie Byers proposed at the meeting that a pending school facilities study look at making the new Sevier Middle at the former Sullivan North High a grades 7-8 school and the existing Robinson Middle a grades 5-6 or grade 6 school.
Moorhouse said a meeting with a consultant to do a school facilities study likely will occur in person or online within a week. The study will seek answers for such school board and Board of Mayor and Aldermen questions about capacity and enrollments issues involving the proposed $24.2 million renovation of North.
MORE ON MOORHOUSE CONTRACT
The lack of a vote on a contract extension and possible pay increase Tuesday “should not be considered by anyone as a resignation (by Moorhouse) or termination by the board,” Welch said during the board meeting, explaining that Moorhouse contacted him about the matter and he passed it on to the board members before the meeting.
Moorhouse’s contract was effective on Jan. 23, 2018, and later was extended by the board, but unless it is extended again by the board, it will expire on March 21, 2024.
Welch said any future consideration of an extension would be at Moorhouse’s or the board’s request, and a meeting to consider such a request of “any possible or potential financial change to his contract” must include the city attorney and be the first business item of that meeting.
Moorhouse’s compensation includes built-in step increases.
School board member Melissa Woods made the motion to allow Welch and Moorhouse to discuss the matter, and it was seconded by Todd Golden. Woods, Golden, Welch, Byers and Brandon Fletcher voted for the motion.
BYERS PROPOSAL FOR NORTH, ROBINSON
Moorhouse, who has conferred with City Manager Chris McCartt on the matter, said the upcoming meeting with Cooperative Strategies will cover three basic questions from the BMA: enrollment projections for the next several years, the best location to build a new elementary school if one is to be built and the most effective use of existing facilities.
“Those are three big questions we’ve been trying to answer,” Moorhouse said. Byers said as a subset of the third question, she wants to “think outside the box” with her proposal.
She said the 5-6 idea for Robinson would free up elementary school classrooms much more quickly than building an additional elementary school to serve growth in the south and southeast areas of the city.
About 2,500 new housing units are in the pipeline in Kingsport, with another 1,000 in the works to be annexed in the Fieldcrest area near Sullivan County’s new West Ridge High at the edge of the city limits.
However, school officials said that might not have enough elementary students to justify an city elementary school there, although one of the systems fullest schools, Adams Elementary, in 2009 was built next to the Edinburgh housing development, whose developers donated the land for Adams.
BYERS, OTHERS DISCUSS PROPOSAL
Byers said North, built for up to 2,000 students in 1980, as a 7-8 school would allow expanded math programs and shouldn’t affect athletics much since sixth-graders can do only track and field.
“Some people are adamant we can’t do that,” Byers said. “I’d like us to look at it.”
She said opponents of the idea say sixth-graders need the positive support of older students and that the possible reduction in sports participation would hurt Dobyns-Bennett sports.
Jim Nash, chief student services officerand a former middle school principal, said more students can and likely will participate in sports and other extra- and co-curricular programs at two middle schools than one.
Johnson City Schools has the 7-8 and 5-6 setup but starting this fall will go back to two separate 6-8 middle schools, which Moorhouse said was done because JCS officials wanted to improve and maintain student participation in programs.
Welch said now is the time to consider Byers’ idea and other options, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of them. However, as a retired middle school history teacher, he said getting students involved is the key to success.
“I applaud you for coming up with this,” Moorhouse said.
“I think it’s a great idea to explore,” Golden said. He asked why one middle school couldn’t have two teams. Nash said the athletic governing bodies might not allow that.
“I’m willing to be proven wrong,” Byers said. She said some have suggested to her making D-B a grades 10-12 school as it was when it opened at its current location in 1967, but she said that would not be workable if for no other reason that many freshmen take upper level math classes.
“There is a consensus (between the BOE and BMA) that the city schools are the greatest assets the city has,” Moorhouse said.
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