School Committee Meeting Minutes
5 September 2025
Chair Commissioner Judy Pruett opened the meeting asking Commissioner Roger Reedy to offer a prayer and lead the pledge. The minutes of 8 August 2025 were moved for approval by Commissioner Matthew Hopkins, seconded by Commissioner Matt Rubelsky, and were approved unanimously.
A handout was provided showing proposed amendments to the Schools’ Budget Line Item 141 General Purpose School. The amendments addressed a Public-School Security Grant which was carried over from previous budget year; A FY26 Public School Security Grant of $70, 903.09; two alignments with state on Pre-K and LEAPs; a Special Education amendment reflecting moving from contracting speech pathologist services to hiring a part time pathologist at the fully loaded rate of $55,185; and lastly a Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) transfer of $2,317.50 which includes but is not limited to students with functional or mild mental disability and also students with emotional behavioral disability. The Chair mentioned the financial challenges the schools face this year with special education one of the major issues. School Board Chair Knox Vanderpool discussed information provided at the recent full legislative meeting where grants were called out as a potential help for school financial losses (due generally to reduction in federal funds). Per Board Chair Vanderpool while that may be true for some Tennessee schools, Giles County does not meet the necessary criteria to apply for those grants, and he said he does not see the state providing a safety net for the county. That criteria had three requirements, i.e., distressed county designation (Giles is not); Letter grades at certain level (Giles doesn’t have the final grades until after grant submission deadline); and you have to be a fast growth county (Giles is not). Knox also mentioned for the letter grade, with 20% of students in special education and their grades are included, that makes the letter grade unachievable. The Chair commented that our public schools are threatened now more than ever. A motion by Commissioner Terry Jones, seconded by James Lathrop was made to approve and was approved unanimously. The Chair asked if there were any public comments and there being none, she turned the meeting over to the Budget Committee.
ATTENDEES: Members of the Committee –Chair Commissioner Judy Pruett, Vice Chair Commissioner Terry Jones, , James Lathrop, David Adams, Matt Rubelsky, Joseph Sutton, Matthew Hopkins; Other commissioners in attendance – Shelly Goolsby, Evan Baddour, Rose Brown, Gayle Jones, David Wamble, Roger Reedy, Carman Brown, Annelle Guthrie, Tracy Wilburn, Erin Curry, Caleb Savage, Ricky Carpenter, Joyce Woodard Others in attendance –County Executive Graham Stowe, Deputy Financial Manager Shana Woodard, and Shelly Thomas, School Superintendent Vickie Beard, Board Chair Knox Vanderpool, Chief of Emergency Management Josh Young, and members of the public