By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

The Chilton County Board of Education selected Lori Patterson to serve again as the board president. Board member Jim Shannon had also been nominated, but withdrew his name.

“Thank you for what you’ve done,” Board Member Keith Moore said. “This is the sixth year of our term that you have been nominated president. She doesn’t get any money for this, and she does an outstanding job.”

“At the end of the day, if we agree or disagree, her professionalism shines,” Superintendent Tommy Glasscock said.

Board Member Joe Mims was again approved as the vice president.

The board went into a lengthy executive session before voting on personnel.

Retirements, resignations, substitutes, leave requests and contract employees were approved together. However, new hires were voted on individually.

Board member Pam Price had concerns about the recommendation for the second assistant principal for Chilton County High School. Because of the number of students at CCHS, the state gives it funding for two assistant principals. This funding cannot be used for anything else.

“Once again, we are hiring someone who is outside the county,” Board Member Pam Price said. “We are also hiring someone who just had a certification when there were other applicants who had experience.”

Assistant principal applicants are interviewed by a committee, which then makes a recommendation to the superintendent.

The motion failed because the vote was tied. Mims, Price and Linda Hand voted against and Patterson, Shannon and Moore voted in favor. Board member Curtis Smith was absent.

The rest of the new hires were approved unanimously.

The LEA consolidated plan, which had been delayed at the October meeting, was again up for consideration. The plan is a state requirement to comply with the national Every Child Succeeds Act. Price again expressed concern that the plan was not accurate. Price, Glasscock and Teaching and Learning Director Ashlie Harrison had met to discuss Price’s concerns between the October and November meetings. However, Price said no changes had been made to the document.

“Students do not get to set a goal and get help with it,” Price said. “Students are not allowed to go to everything at Career Tech or culinary arts school. The district is not consistent. The curriculum is not the same. We are on different schedules.”

Harrison explained that the plan “was for federal programs. None of the money that we use for this is for Career Tech.”

Harrison also addressed Price’s concern that testing data is not presented to the board. She said this is presented in a Federal Programs meeting, which “anyone can attend.”

Under curriculum, Price said the school system was inconsistent because Project Lead the Way is not taught in every school. Harrison said every teacher for kindergarten through fifth grade at schools that do not have PLTW received training on implementing similar engineering concepts in their classes. All high school students can apply to the CCHS STEM Academy, no matter where they attend school.

Having textbooks at every school was also a concern for Price. Harrison said principals have money available for textbooks that they are not spending, in anticipation of the move toward more digital textbooks.