By JONAH LOSSIAH
ONE FEATHER STAFF
The Monday, Jan. 6 meeting of the Cherokee Central Schools (CCS) Board of Education was called to order at 4:45 p.m. with Chairperson Jennifer Thompson; Vice Chair Isaac Long; Board members Gloria Griffin, Karen French-Browning, and Regina Ledford-Rosario; School Board Assistant Sunnie Clapsaddle; HR Director Heather Driver; Superintendent Dr. Michael Murray; Assistant Superintendent Dr. Beverly Payne; and Tribal Council representative Chelsea Saunooke present. Secretary Tara Reed-Cooper and HR Director Heather Driver arrived after roll call.
The Cherokee Boys Club (CBC) Board and CBC General Manager Greg Owle were the only guests at the meeting. They were there to offer a quarterly update, and there was little to discuss. The CBC and the CCS remarked on their good standing, and Owle said that the CBC annual report would be coming out soon.
There was no consent agenda, and so the Board moved on to discuss old business. The first item was a look over on pulled resolution 20-103 that would approach Albert Arch as the varsity softball coach for Cherokee High School. When it was previously up for approval, it was noticed that there were only two names listed in the interview process. The School Board requires three interviewers to insure they receive the best candidate for recommendation. Heather Driver reported that there was a third, but they had been unintentionally left off the recommendation form.
Though this was clarified, the Board still wished to discuss specifics in the resolution and called for a closed session. The meeting was closed at 5 p.m., and was reopened at 6 p.m.
“We are changing the procedure of how long applicants stay on our application list. And that will be updated and sent out to the public whenever it’s available. And, we’re looking into the athlete drug policy and seeing if there needs to be any changes to those policies and procedures.” said Chairperson Thompson after re-opening the meeting.
The Board then voted 5-1 in favor of Resolution 20-103, with Long being the only vote against.
Old business also included a slight reworking of the Board’s committee assignments. Ledford-Rosario requested to be assigned to the security committee, which had been assigned to French-Browning. The Board approved both of them to be on the security committee, and Ledford-Rosario will still attempt to cover her original assignment of the Sacred Path committee as well.
The Board also took a further look at the procedure for allowing recent graduates using CCS athletic facilities. Currently, to use the facilities one must be a graduate who is currently part of a collegiate athletic program, and they would still need supervision from a member of the CCS staff. If this is not the case, they would have to sign up to be a volunteer at the school. The Board discussed requiring non-students to sign a waiver before using any facilities, and this issue would be drawn up and voted on at the next meeting.
The final item for the meeting was to approve an edited job description for the vacant position of Accounts Payable Processor. The only changes made were grammatical errors and adding a term of 12 months, which had previously been left off the description.
The next meeting of the CCS Board of Education will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 4:45 p.m. at CCS. They are not meeting on that Monday due to leave on Martin Luther King Jr. day.
