Huntingdon School Approves April 1, 2024 as Makeup Day

HUNTINGDON (March 20, 2024) — Huntingdon Special School District students will attend school on Monday, April 1 to make up for the missed day when the school system closed for the March 7 Class 2A girls state basketball tournament. Huntingdon Fillies were honored to make the state tournament.
However, the Tennessee Department of Education does not recognize that as an excused absence.

Huntingdon School Board voted Wednesday, March 20, to make up that absence on April 1, a previously scheduled Staff Development Day for teachers and administrators. It comes at the end of a week-long Spring Break.
The Board unanimously approved for Dr. Lee Carter, board chair, to seek one of two available leadership offices on the Tennessee School Boards Association’s board. The available statewide offices are vice president or treasurer. Carter is currently a director with TSBA, an advisory service for public schools across the state.

Four HHS students attended SCOPE - Student Congress on Policies in Education in Nashville, a TSBA-sponsored day-long discussion and debate on school policies.
SCOPE brings together 9th-12th grade students from across the state to discuss current topics in education. Participants explore education issues through mock school board meetings, group discussions, and debates with their peers. These events are designed to give students an understanding of how school boards operate.
This year’s participants were Katherine Meggs, Wyatt Forbess, Will Lewis, and Kayla Price. Meggs and Forbess spoke about SCOPE and the topics of Required Internships for Graduation, Artificial Intelligence Use for School Work, Four-Day School Weeks, and Cell Phone Use in School.
Tracy Connell, guidance counselor, accompanied the students to SCOPE, held at Belmont University. She said the students participated in the dynamics of the event and then continued their discussion en route back to Huntingdon. In future years, the students requested an overnight stay ahead of the conference. Connell said this year and last, the students’ travel was impaired by wrecks. This year, the students missed a planned breakfast because of the traffic delay.

The students thanked the Board for allowing them to attend.
In other business, Dr. Jonathan Kee, director of schools, said the English/Language Arts curriculum will change at the high school, thanks to approval by the School Board and a vote by the teachers of the classes recommending the new curriculum by Pearson. It’s a four-year commitment for the materials.
The Board approved Dr. Kee as the school’s voting member on the Tennessee Risk Management Trust Board, an insurance consortium.
The Board approved teachers Courtney Cole and Sherry McGee to conduct their annual Super Summer Science Camp May 28-31 at Huntingdon Primary School.
They also acknowledged the retirement of Jenny Wilson, HHS English teacher.
Hannah Ball, HMS Educational Assistant, and Renee Allen, HPS Educational Assistant, tenured their resignations. Hannah Roach was acknowledged as a new hire for HMS Educational Assistant.
Dr. Kee announced the FFA Plant Sale is April 24-27 at the HHS Greenhouse behind the high school. Weekday hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon.