The Putnam County School Board approved a memorandum of understanding and cost share for the county’s new Assistant Director of Education Safety.
The position will focus on emergency operations and school safety for schools and Tennessee Tech. Director of Schools Corby King said the position is a great opportunity for the school system.
“Instead of being a school system employee, it would be an employee of the Putnam County Emergency Management Association,” King said. “That brings a lot of benefit to us because it’s somebody who specializes in schools or in safety and emergency operations planning, not just in school planning.”
Putnam EMA Director Brandon Smith said the position will improve the efficiency of communication between the schools and the EMA Department. King also said the position will relieve some of the day-to-day workload from the school system.
“The workload that Mr. Pierce has had to undertake in recent years, with some of the changes in school safety and the safety grants, it’s really increased a lot in the last four or five years,” King said. “And this would take that paperwork side and coordination with the SROS, making sure the emergency operations plans are up to date, submitted annually, to save that grant, grant submitted annually, the grants submitted annually. It’s just a lot of stuff, and Mr. Pierce needs to be able to focus on attendance.”
Smith initially proposed a three-year agreement with a 90-day opt-out clause. School Board Attorney Dan Rader said the memorandum would need to be reworked because the school system can not do a three-year agreement.
“Unless the County Commission approves, the Board of Education has to renew things on a one-year basis cause the county commission funds us on a one-year basis,” Rader said. “So we can enter a three-year agreement, but it has to be renewed every year as part of our budget. So, that’s not gonna be a real problem, I don’t think, but it is something we have to watch, though, so the comptroller doesn’t fuss at us.”
The school system will cover one-third of the total salary and benefits for a new position, while the county and Tennessee Tech will cover the remaining costs.