The School Board met on Monday, October 23, 2023 for its regular monthly meeting.
The first 30 minutes were taken up with public comments. There were 18 people so the time allotment was 1:30. The predominant topic was the LGBT+ flag hanging in Bethesda Elementary. There were eight people who spoke in favor of removing the flag and limiting flags to the US and Tennessee flags. Although there was no mention of flags that are germane to the curriculum like a French flag in French class or a flag of a country being studied in a history class, we all agree that those exceptions are acceptable. There were seven people spoke in favor of keeping the flag. If you want to see the arguments on both sides, check out the video above. Start a 34:22. Of the three speakers who didn’t address the flag situation one accused a board member of cyber bullying and asked that the board create a standard of conduct to prevent this kind of behavior.
Eric Welch brought up the alleged altercation after the public comments at last month’s board meeting. His implication was that adults were somehow threatening the students who spoke last month. Dan Cash asked if anything had been reported to the school district and Jason Golden said no to which Dan said then it’s was just hearsay.
The rest of the meeting followed the agenda and everything on it passed. The most discussion was with regards to the six general education buses. The Model School grant included aviation and HVAC. We haven’t had trade schools for years and now they are making a comeback.
November meeting schedule is:
11/6 Policy committee
11/16.Work session
11/27 Board meeting