Votes at a glance: Lincoln County School Board approves consent agenda, policies, budget amendments and facility fee changes

The Lincoln County School Board approved a series of routine and substantive items during its meeting, including the consent agenda, a set of policy updates, budget revisions for state and federal grant programs, and a revision to facility-use fees.

Consent agenda: The board approved the consent agenda, which included minutes from the previous meeting, a purchase from a Nashville vendor, an out-of-state field trip for Lincoln County High School to Indianapolis and the transfer of equipment from Highland Rim School CTE to the high school. The motion to approve the consent agenda was made by Mister Phelps and seconded by Mister Miller and passed by voice vote.

Policy approvals: The board approved the policies recommended by the policy committee, including: 1.404 (appeals to and appearances before the board); 4.6 (grading system); 4.602 (honor roll awards and class ranking); 5.106 (application and employment); 5.118 (background investigations); 5.3051 (FF, CRA leave); and 4.214 (use of artificial intelligence programs). A board member noted that policy 4.214 (AI use) will add responsibilities for IT staff and teachers and urged that the district provide training and resources to implement it. The motion to approve the committee's policy recommendations was seconded by Miss Thomas and approved by voice vote.

Accountability and procurement: The TISA accountability report was accepted by voice vote. The board authorized the executive committee to approve bids for the sale of CTE surplus items and authorized the executive committee to approve bids related to the CTE surplus sale; both motions passed by voice vote.

Facility and fees: The board approved a revision to the facility-use request fee (described in materials provided in the meeting drive) to better cover staff costs for events that require staff on-site. The facility-fee revision passed by voice vote.

Budget revisions and financial reports: The board approved multiple budget revisions in the general-purpose school fund and the federal programs fund. Key amounts read into the record include: - General-purpose (Fund 141) items: $95,749.27 (state special education preschool grant setup for 25-26); $75,846.73 (25-26 public school security grant); $366.58 (insurance reimbursement for CTE suburban windshield replacement); $18,216.76 (insurance/bus-accident reimbursement to roll into current year project); $2,000 (teacher-paid bonus from state); $15,542 (insurance for two waste pumps at Unity School); $250 (lead each grant budget adjustment). - Federal programs (Fund 142) items: $200,712.66 (Title I revision); $83,071.03 (Title II revision); $3,204.82 (Title III correction); $12,351.42 (Title IV revision); $2,301.62 (CTE Perkins correction); $20,000 (setup of Preschool Access for All Networks 25-26); $27,100.70 (IDEA Part B revision); $1,860.86 (preschool federal grant revision).

The board accepted the year-end financial reports and other routine financial items by voice vote.

Other informational items: Staff gave an update on school fencing and safety-dollar use, noting South Lincoln and Unity have three sides fenced and playgrounds fenced using approximately $33,000 in safety dollars; Flintville was identified as a $100,000 project that will be funded when money permits. Facility requests for Lincoln County High School by community groups were reported as points of information.

Most items were approved by voice vote with no recorded roll-call tallies in the meeting minutes that were read into the record.

Clarifying details: several motions were passed by voice vote; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the transcript for many items. A board member specifically asked that the district ensure training and resources for staff to implement policy 4.214 (AI programs).