By JOYANNA LOVE/Senior Staff Writer

The Chilton County Board of Education made quick work of approving several personnel changes during a meeting on June 1.

Four classified positions and 47 items, including hiring, transferring or extending time for specific teachers and other personnel, for certified employees were approved by a 6 to 1 vote.

Board president Lori Patterson and board members Linda Hand, Joe Mims, Keith Moore, Jim Shannon and Curtis Smith voted in favor of the recommended personnel.  Board member Pam Price was the lone vote in opposition.

Price said she voted against the lists because names were added to the list right before the meeting.

Board members had been given a list of personnel requests that made the deadline for the agenda with their agenda packet via the electronic meeting software the board uses. A second list of recommendations that missed the deadline, but were received before the actual meeting was given to the board members the day of the meeting. Initially, these 11 positions were not going to be voted but were added on June 1, so the employees would be hired and ready when school started.

During an interview after the voting session, Price said the information was required to be given to the board 24 hour in advance. Patterson said the requirement was one hour before the meeting.

Price also said she would like to have the documentation on a person’s certification before she votes on hiring them.

The issue of personnel not being on the list for the voting session was brought up at a work session immediately preceding the voting session. The work session had initially been scheduled to discuss budget preparations, job descriptions and updates to the salary schedule.

Patterson said if approving the recommendations for hire was delayed until the next board meeting, then the applicants might take a position elsewhere.

Concerns were also expressed that two Project Lead the Way teachers would miss a training if they were not hired before the June 13 meeting.

Superintendent Tommy Glasscock expressed concern that the school system would lose qualified applicants if those that had been received after the deadline, but before the meeting were not approved.

“It’s hard to get personnel in. You are fighting with every other school in the state and surrounding counties. It’s hard,” Moore said.

Glasscock said schools had interviewed for preschool teachers before they knew they would be receiving the needed funding, just so they could have the process complete before school starts.

Any jobs posted by the school board must be open for accepting applications for 14 days. For school level position, a final decision on a principal’s recommendation of who to hire cannot be made until the end of this period. The recommendation must then be approved by the Chilton County Board of Education before that person can be hired.