School Board Discusses Agriculture Pavilion

More than 40 students and teachers were recognized by Director of Schools Barbara Parker for outstanding success during the 2011-12 school year during the May meeting of the Cannon County Board of Education at Woodbury Grammar School Thursday (May 10).

Parker recognized students from various clubs and competitions that had achieved varying levels of success. It took almost 30 minutes to recognize the large number of outstanding individuals.

“We are proud of these students and teachers and we wanted to recognize them at the Board meeting to let them know how proud we are of the manner in which they represent Cannon County,” Parker said. “They all did an outstanding job in their respective clubs or areas of concentration.”

The Board also discussed the Agriculture Pavilion that will be built on land at Cannon County High School. Funds for the building will come from grants received through the State of Tennessee. Cannon County schools officials worked with former State Rep. Stratton Bone to secure grants to build the learning center, which will be a multipurpose facility dedicated to serving area youth and adult agricultural education programs.

Plans, which call for an 80’ X 200’ covered, open-sided structure with adjoining meeting rooms and restrooms, were viewed by board members Thursday. Because the plans were not available to board members until Thursday several had questions about the rendering.

The Board voted unanimously to allow Board chairman Randy Gannon and Parker to meet with contractors and make a final decision moving forward on construction. Cannon County agriculture teacher Bob Melton, who was recently honored as Tennessee Agriculture Mentor of the Year, said he would like to see the building completed by the start of the 2012-13 school year.

“There’s a lot of questions I can’t answer because it is not in the detailed blue prints,” Melton said. “We would love to have this done by the start of school for 2012-13. If not, we are going to get into cold weather and that could halt or slow down construction.”

Questions regarding wiring, gutters and other dimensions were raised.

Discussion of middle grades sports was tabled until June when an official from the TMSAA will attend the workshop to answer questions.

“(A representative) will come and do a Q & A and discuss guidelines and what it entails to be within that organization,” Board Member Shannon Davenport said. “We will get factual information and this will help us make sure we are doing what is best for the kids.”

The June Board Meeting Workshop will be held at Woodbury Grammar June 4 at 6 p.m., and the regular June meeting will be June 7 at the Cannon County Courthouse at 6 p.m.

The Board also gave Connie Foster the go-ahead to apply for a diabetes grant and CSH Reapplication. Jennifer Insell discussed school lunch prices for 2012-13 and asked the Board to increase the cost of lunch from $2 to $2.25 for grades K-8. Students at Cannon County High School already pay $2.25.

“I will make the motion for this increase as long as it is to keep us in compliance with the federal government, not to make money,” Board Member Chris Blackburn said.

The increase passed unanimously.

The Board also approved student requests and coursework for early graduation.