Haywood County school board approves $1.02 million SIG allocation, AI contract and personnel policy updates

The Haywood County School Board voted to accept a series of budget amendments, personnel-policy updates and contracts at its regular meeting, including a $1,016,009.49 School Improvement Grant allocation, a $37,000 contract for AI integration in instruction and communications, and revised background-check rules required by state law.

The actions were presented by district staff and approved without recorded opposition. The board also approved overnight and out-of-state travel for student groups, summer-program dates and a new campus monitor job description that reclassifies existing security staff.

The SIG funding — listed in the meeting materials as $1,016,009.49 — will be allocated across multiple departments and applied at the high-school level, district staff said. "This money will be put in four different departments," a district finance presenter said during the meeting. The packet identifies the award as a SIG grant and shows line-item increases and corresponding expenditures in the general school purpose fund.

The board approved a $37,000 contract to expand AI training and integration for teachers, administrators and — later in rollout — students. A district presenter described current AI use for communications and newsletters and said the vendor who provided earlier training would continue supporting the academic team and help the district meet policy-related deadlines by July 1, 2025.

Board members voted to accept two policy updates driven by state changes. One, policy 4.603, implements revised state-board rules for promotion and retention: parents or guardians who request voluntary retention for kindergarten through second-grade students must submit a written request within 30 days of the end of the school year; if a student is not eligible under state law, the district must respond in writing. The second, policy 5.118, aligns district background-investigation practices with state law and Tennessee’s enrollment in the FBI Rapback program: full-time employees must be enrolled in the state system, substitutes/contractors/volunteers will generally not be enrolled by the district, and some positions requiring higher-level checks may require the individual to pay for those checks.

The board also approved routine overnight travel requests: Haywood High FFA to the Tennessee State FFA convention in Gatlinburg, HOSA to the Tennessee HOSA State Conference in Chattanooga (March 30–April 2), and an out-of-state day trip for the high-school track team to a Laker invitational in Murray, Kentucky (April 5). The board approved summer program dates of May 29–June 27 and accepted amendments to the general school purpose fund, the federal projects fund (including final Title allocations), and the central cafeteria fund. Meeting materials described a $33,205.22 cut to Title I and various increases in other federal allocations.

District operations updates reported in the meeting included an upcoming ceiling restoration at several schools, recent approval from the fire marshal for security upgrades, planned playground installations, and continuing website updates. The district also reported increased use of PowerSchool, noting more than 163,000 combined parent and student sign-ins this school year and an average of roughly 840 sign-ins per day over the period cited.

Votes at a glance

- Consent agenda: Motion to accept consent agenda — Motion by Miss Farrington, second by Mr. Benchstory; outcome: approved. - Agenda acceptance: Motion to accept agenda — Motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Van Story; outcome: approved. - Haywood High FFA overnight travel to Tennessee State FFA convention (Gatlinburg): approved (motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Ben Story). - HOSA overnight travel to HOSA State Conference (Chattanooga, March 30–April 2): approved (motion by Miss Farrington, second by Mr. Van Stewart). - High-school track out-of-state (Laker Invitational, Murray, Ky., April 5): approved (motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Ben Story). - Policy 4.603 (Promotion and retention): approved (motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Van Story). - Policy 5.118 (Background investigations): approved (motion by Miss Barrington, second by Mr. Van Stewart). - 2025 summer program dates (May 29–June 27): approved (motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Ben Story). - Campus monitor job description (security reclassification): approved (motion by Ms. Farrington, second by Mr. Vanstone). - AI integration contract ($37,000): approved (motion by Ms. Farrington, second by Mr. Ben Story). - General school purpose fund budget amendments (including SIG $1,016,009.49): approved (motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Ben Story). - Federal projects fund budget amendments (final Title allocations, including Title I decrease of $33,205.22): approved (motion by Miss Reeves, second by Mr. Van Story). - Central cafeteria fund budget amendments: approved (motion by Miss Reed, second by Mr. Ben Story).

All motions listed above were called and approved during the meeting; the transcript records the board chair calling for "aye" votes and the motion carrying; individual roll-call vote counts or recorded no-vote/abstain tallies were not provided in the transcript.

The meeting included several recognitions and informational items — including athletics and staff acknowledgments, a Catherine Calhoun trust quarterly report showing a roughly 3% increase over the quarter, and announcements about upcoming events — but no additional formal actions were recorded.