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Lauderdale Board of Education meets at Halls High The
Lauderdale County Board of Education held its May meeting at
Halls High School with a tour of the school followed by a public
forum and the regular meeting.
At the meeting Assistant District Attorney Julie Pillow
addressed the Board on several items concerning school safety.
Among her recommendations were continued funding for the SRO
officer at Ripley High School and adding SRO officers to Halls
High School and Lauderdale Middle School. She also is in favor
of restarting the DARE program, implementing a Campus Crime
Stoppers Program and implementing more policies regarding adults
on campus and the accountability of parents for their child's
behavior. Drugs on campus, backpack regulations, review and
improvement of gang policies and the need to go to uniforms as a
means for addressing many of these issues were discussed by
Pillow, as well.
The Tennessee Consolidated System-Wide Planning Process for
2007-2008 was also approved by board members after a
presentation by Harriet Shelby, Beverly Taylor, Shawn Kimble,
Samantha Culver, Sue Toles, Susan Conner, and Phyllis Barlow.
“They have done an outstanding job in this work and we hope
to receive fours on all components this year,” said Lauderdale
County Superintendent of Schools Phillip Jackson.
The system’s policy on using animals for drug detection was
approved on second reading, as well as Jackson’s request to
accept the bids for improvements to Ripley and Halls high
schools and present those plans to the Lauderdale County
Commission. Replace carpet in Ripley and Halls High with tile
are among the improvements, as well as replacing the windows in
the math building and the old main building at RHS. Jackson also
asked permission to move forward with replacing the HVAC system
at Ripley Primary School.
Finance Director Rick Gilliland was given approval for budget
amendments and the 2007-2008 budget was discussed and put on
hold pending legislative decisions on the amount of revenue to
be received from the state.
Items set for future agendas will include gang policies,
uniforms, policies on minutes, and appointing a committee to
work with the district attorney's office on school safety
issues.
In Jackson’s report, he recognized Halls Elementary and
Ripley High schools for successfully completing their SACS
re-certification and reminded the board upcoming commencement
and Baccalaureate services for both high schools.
Chairman Evan Drain recognized SCOPE participants Cody Dew
and Thomas Pillow for their recent trip to Nashville to
represent the Lauderdale County School System. The students were
accompanied on the trip by RHS Principal Bobby Baker and will
serve as student representatives to the Lauderdale County Board
of Education throughout the 2007-2008 school year. SCOPE stands
for Student Conference on Policies in Education.
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