White County School Board changes spring break schedule

Schools will have a new schedule for the 2025 spring break that will line up with other academic events that occur during that time of year

“My reasoning is academic, as all my decisions are,” Kurt Dronebarger, White County director of schools, said, adding the decision doesn’t affect him as he does not get days off for the annual break. “This change [makes spring break] fall at a more reasonable time with our schedule.”

The proposal, which received a 78 percent favorable vote from teachers and was unanimously approved by the school board on April 11, would permanently set White County Schools’ spring break as the week following the start of Daylight Saving Time. Dronebarger explained this would line up closer to the completion of the district’s third nine-week grading period among other academic benefits.

“This year, we gave the ACT test two days after the time change, and now we are administering state testing just two weeks after returning from spring break,” he explained, saying that changing the timing of spring break would provide better testing preparation and experiences for White County students.

Other items of discussion during the meeting, which all received approval from the board, included the approval of tenure for 10 White County teachers: Aaron Brown, Kevin Copeland, Jerrica Demps, Courtney Ferris, Drew Haston, Martisha Hedgecoth, Deleesa Price, Steven Ray, Gregg Segraves, and Shayla Shoemaker.

“I know every teacher on this list, and I can attest that they are all amazing,” Jill McGill, one of White County High School’s student school board members, said.

White County’s tenure policy has changed over the years. The policy now requires that teachers have completed a minimum of four complete years of service and have received scores of 4 or higher on their evaluations for two consecutive years. Additionally, tenure can now be lost if a teacher scores below a 3 for any two consecutive years.

School Board members also approved allowing staff members to recoup some of the time they missed because of inclement weather. Dronebarger explained that support staff, such as paraprofessionals and cafeteria staff, do not work and do not get paid during snow days. The board approved allowing those employees to work extra hours to make up the equivalent of five working days. The choice to do so is optional, and the employees will get paid for what hours they choose to make up.

The School Board also opted to approve a contract with Total Care ABA Inc. The company will bring ABA specialists in to work with students at a parent’s request and at the expense of the parent’s insurance. Before an individual can work in one of White County’s schools, they will have to pass both a background check by Total Care ABA and an independent background check by the White County Board of Education. The decision was made to allow the therapy services in the school after it was explained that therapists would attend class with the students, all of whom will be at the elementary level, minimizing the lost class time that is now taking place when these students attend therapy sessions at outside agencies throughout the week.

Travel requests for the Archery Team to attend the national tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, May 10-12; the high school volleyball team to travel to Chattanooga for a tournament, Aug. 30 and Aug. 31; and for the school’s FFA chapter to attend a leadership conference at Camp Clements, June 17-21, were all approved.

The next White County School Board meeting will take place 6 p.m., May 9, at the Board of Education Building, on Hale Street.