Red Clay board names members of new attendance‑zone committee, sets Jan. 21 start

The Red Clay Consolidated School District Board of Education on Dec. 18 received an update on a newly formed Secondary School Attendance Zone Enrollment and Programming Committee and set its first meeting for Jan. 21, 2025.

Dr. Prewitt, presenting the committee update, said the panel will be composed under board policy 9,004 of district administrators, school leaders, teachers and parents or community members and will meet six times between January and June. "Our first meeting is scheduled for 6 PM in the district office boardroom on January 21st," he said. He told the board the committee will "make a recommendation to you all at the July school board meeting as you requested." The board was asked to consider taking action on that recommendation at the August meeting.

Why it matters: the committee is charged with developing attendance‑zone and program changes that, if approved by the board, would affect where students attend school and when families make choice selections. The timeline presented would make new attendance zones effective in August 2027 if the process follows the proposed schedule.

Details of the committee and selection process Dr. Prewitt described the intended composition as three district administrators, three school leaders, three teachers and seven parents or community members (one from each nominating district). The district communications office distributed an interest form; Prewitt said the form "yielded 107 respondents." He also said, without reconciling the numbers, that "36 were staff members, and 88 were in district residents." Those counts exceed 107 and were not resolved during the meeting.

Miss Mobley of the communications office joined Prewitt to announce selections drawn from applicants by nominating district. The public members and alternates that Prewitt read into the record included: - Nominating District A: Val Gold (member), Latanya Powell (alternate) - District B: Caitlin Marto (member), Mike Brainerd (alternate) - District C: Eric Sanford (member), Tiffany Shockley (alternate) - District D: Madeline Reitmeier (member), Louis Diaz (alternate) - District E: Jennifer Ricciutti (member), Cynthia Donardo (alternate) - District F: Amin Farooq (member), Chang Kuo (alternate) - District (unnumbered): Antonio Gomez (member), Stephanie Schroeder Toomey (alternate) Prewitt said his office will confirm selections and notify the chosen members prior to winter break.

Teacher and board representation Prewitt said the Red Clay Education Association (RCEA) will submit two teacher nominees by Jan. 10; Dr. Green and his team will select one additional teacher from the interest list to complete the teacher representation.

Board participation was debated. Board member Cathy Thompson moved "that we create a process to elect the 3 board members to this particular committee that Dr. Pruitt has discussed." The motion failed for lack of a second, and board members instead indicated interest verbally. Several board members volunteered; the board decided to proceed with three members who expressed interest rather than hold a formal election. The board members who will serve on the committee are Mr. Leonard, Dr. Nesmith and Board President Matthews. Dr. Green and staff committed to provide regular written updates to the full board during the committee's work.

Timeline and next steps Prewitt presented an anticipated schedule: six committee meetings between January and June; a committee recommendation to the board at the July school board meeting; possible board action in August; a planning year (described during the presentation as September through June of the following school year) to work through implementation details; family choice selections in November 2026; and, if the schedule holds, students attending under new attendance zones and program placements in August 2027. He said the committee's work will include a town hall meeting and a community survey.

What remains open or unresolved Prewitt and board members noted several process items that remained open at the meeting: an unresolved numeric discrepancy in the interest‑form counts, the final teacher representatives (to be named by RCEA and district staff), and the committee's decision‑making rules. Board members requested written reports at board meetings and frequent updates from staff.

Ending Prewitt told the board the district will notify selected committee members before the weekend and begin committee meetings in January. The presentation closed with board agreement to proceed with the named board members and to receive regular updates as the committee develops proposed attendance‑zone changes.