Ask the Director Feature

Do you have a question for the Director of Schools? Click the "ASK" link below and submit your question.

Then come back and see your answer in this new feature from your Board of Education.

I am concerned about the 6 days that we get out at 1:00 and have two hours of professional development. Can we not go back to the two full days we used previously. As I have afternoon duty, on our professional days I don’t usually get to our 1:00 session until car riders and/or bus students have left which is around 1:20-1:30, which causes those of us on duty to miss a lot of time. Most of us prefer the 2 full days (one in the Fall and one in the Spring.) Thank you for considering my suggestion.

A: Dear Teacher,

Thank you for bringing your concern to me. In my opinion, it is too early to determine if the 1 p.m. dismissal days are effective. The idea of having time throughout the school year to discuss the needs of students seems to be based on sound research. Some have suggested we do four half days which would use two of our stockpiled days. Our current method does not use up any of our weather stockpiled days. Although, it has been a very, very long time since we’ve used all 13 days!

After reviewing the surveys from the last early dismissal day, I would say that the November day has been the most effective. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, the average from the schools was 7.86. The range was from 9.67 through 5.67. All in all, those numbers are pretty good. Those teachers who shared with other like teachers from other schools seemed to really gain a lot from this interaction.

As to your bus duty, that is an individual issue. I am confident that you understand that we can’t change course over one individual issue. I would suggest asking your principal to swap these duties around so that the same person isn’t always missing part of the sessions or have a teacher’s assistant cover bus duty. Bus duty, like a lot of issues, is always a challenge.

Let’s keep our eye on this practice and see if we can’t help it work. Thanks so much for all you do!

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My question is regarding the hazing policy of the Cheatham County School Board. According to your website, hazing is a practice that is strictly prohibited. However, I have been told by a sponsor of a club that they were grandfathered in, and therefore are not subject to this policy. Is this true?

A:

I can assure you that no club has been grandfathered to allow hazing. I would encourage you to help us put a stop to any such activity by revealing the name of the club you are referencing.
Lynn Seifert

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I recently read an issue of The Ashland City Times & I noticed that it mentioned a $40,000 cost toward a VersaTrans program that was to improve communication between the buses & schools. I heard that the program is not working properly in the individual schools. First of all, is this true & if so why have we spent this amount of money on something that is not working properly when we should allocate funds towards more needy areas like: gas for the buses, teacher raises, etc. Also, if this is not working who should be responsible to making sure that it does.

Thanks,

A concerned Cheatham County citizen

A:

Thank you so much for your question. Unfortunately, the information you have is incorrect. VersaTrans is NOT a program to improve communication between the buses and schools. It is routing software and is not and was never intended to be in the schools.

I was informed that the software (VersaTrans) had been installed at each school and that it was not updating properly and therefore was not working at the schools. Is this true? Why would it be installed at each school if it was never intended to be so, and if it is in the schools why is it not updating properly?

A:

Again, I am sorry your information is incorrect. It has not been installed in any school.

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Can you give me any information about the Ensworth High School Kids Academy Camp as is related to Cheatham County schools?

For the past two summers Ensworth, a private school in Nashville, has graciously invited, free of charge, a group of 4th grade students from ECES to a four week summer enrichment program. Teachers recommend students for the program based on need. Ensworth pays all expenses and transportation to and from ECES. I have heard great things about this program and appreciate Ensworth’s sponsorship.

Well a couple of parents have heard that it is wonderful too, but wonder about the criteria to get to go. They seem to think that the children picked to go are kids of faculity members and not necessarily underprivilaged kids. These parents would like me to ask you, what is the criteria to go? Do the teacher's have sole discrescion over who goes or do the kids have to meet certain income requirements. Also, why is EC the only school. I was originally contacted because my son went to EC last year and he was in several honors classes and ect and they heard it was for very smart kids and I knew nothing about it so I just passed it off. Now aparently they have found out it was for low income kids and wondered why they had not heard of it. I told them I did not know but they asked me to email you and see if you could clarify the program and the eligibility and why it is just EC.
A:

According to Mrs. Young, teachers recommended names of economically disadvantaged students to attend the sixteen allocated slots. The parents of those children were contacted. The parents had to commit to the entire four week program. While transportation from ECES was provided, parents were required to have their child at the school by 7:00 a.m. and pick them up at 3:30 p.m. each day. At the last minute, two slots remained and children of two classified employees did attend. I do not know why ECES was chosen but am glad it was.

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I graduated from CCCHS in 1982. I need a copy of my diploma. How do I go about getting it? Thanks

Simply call our office @ 792-5664 and ask for Janice. She’ll lead you through the process. We are always glad to help!

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What is Cheatham county’s policy on hiring for librarian positions if the candidate is not yet certified as a teacher but is currently going to school for a masters in Library Science?

If a librarian position comes open, the school system will advertise for a certified librarian. This is, of course, our first choice. If no qualified candidate applies, it is possible for someone with the credentials you mention to be chosen.

Lynn Seifert

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I have noticed a problem with textbooks & workbooks not being available for my children weeks after the school year begins. We have four children in this system and see this continue every year. Why does this happen?

I apologize for taking so long to respond to your question. I have been out of the office for a few days. After speaking to everyone concerned with the textbook process, I believe the books were ordered in a timely fashion. We are very, very hesitant to order books prior to the Board and Commission approving our budget. Imagine if we ordered several hundred thousands of dollars in books only to have to cut our budget. That would be very bad.

I also offer the following from Kathy Adams and Jo Jones who both worked on textbooks:

In response to the 11th grade history books, I assume this is the American Vision books. They were ordered July 1. We received a partial order and the remainder were on backorder from Tn Book Co. When this happens, we must wait until the publisher ships them to Tn Book Company and then from Tn Book Co to us. This can be a two to three week turnaround for this. The mix-up on the Soc Studies books for HMS was an error in the Tn Book Company Catalogue

When books are on backorder, we try to send two schools the books they need and one school must wait for the backorder. This often happens with several subject areas. Say HHS has to wait for History, but they receive their full order for Government books while SHS has to wait for their complete Government textbook order but received their complete order for American Vision.

As far as the free materials, we are at the mercy of the publisher to send these. These are ordered in the spring for delivery by July 15. We are never told by the publisher when these are shipped or if there had to be an additional printing of the workbooks because they ran out of copies. We just wait, call periodically, and continue to hope they arrive soon.

We do not keep a stockpile of extra textbooks because that is money sitting on the shelf that may never get used. When a request for text books is made, our first step is to try and find these in the county. YES, the ordering or materials and textbooks is getting done…..we cannot expedite the process when we are at the mercy of the publishers and Tn Book Company to get them to us.

Again, I understand your frustration. Luckily, good teachers are not tied to their textbook. They teach the state standards using a variety of teaching methods, including a text book. No, things are not ever perfect! I certainly wish they were.

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Is there an income requirement for pre-k in Cheatham County? Can you make too much money to have your child attend pre-k?

Yes, there are requirements for children to be accepted into the Pre-K program. First and foremost, children who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program are placed in the program. If there is any room after these children are served, then children who have IEP’s, are English Language Learners, or who are in state’s custody get the next available slots. If, there is still room available, then we look at children who barely missed the cut off for free and reduced lunches.

Lynn Seifert

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With the abolishment of time for time this year, is it correct that if a child is late or has to leave early they are marked absent for the entire day?

Thank you for your patience as I researched your question. Schools can mark a child absent if they miss a portion of the day. This sounded harsh to me. So, a call to every high school and middle school revealed that, while they can, no school operates under this procedure.

Please let me know if you encounter a problem.

Lynn Seifert

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What is the policy on contacting teachers? or should I say is there one. At ECES at the beginning of the year you are given your teachers extension #, you can call anytime and punch in that extension and get their voicemail. If you do not have their extension, you can even search for it. At middle school it is different, you get a message that says basically call back during hours. I know their phone system has the ability to let you enter an extension but I guess it is not used perhaps? It is very frustrating for working parents who may wish to leave their teacher a message after the 2:45 time frame. Does the county have any position on the schools using the extensions feature for parents to be able to reach teachers after hours or is there a reason why the middle school chooses not to use this option?

I asked Mrs. Bell, principal at SMS, to reply to this question. According to her, parents receive a letter about SMS's voice mail system every year. The letter details how to get to your child's mailbox and when they go to the child's mailbox, there are options to leave a message for the teacher. The students are just now receiving these letters to bring home. Although the instructions are the same each year. This would certainly be good information to have up on the Sycamore Middle School website.

Thanks again for asking!
Lynn Seifert

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During the first PVES PTO meeting of the year a question was asked and a discussion was held about the intercom system at PVES not working. Apparently, this has been reported more than once (at the end of school last year and before school started this school year) and we still do not have an intercom system that works. It appears that someone removed a component from the system several weeks ago to see if it could be repaired and as of yesterday.....we still do not have an intercom system that works. So, the front office has no way of communicating to the entire building at once.....if such a need should arise.

We do feel that we have a great school and that the teachers and administrators do all that they can for our children and that they continue to do the best that they can with what they have. However, not having an intercom system that is functional (throughout the entire school) is a security issue for everyone. I'm sure I do not need to express to you how disturbing this is to the parents whose children attend PVES.

I respectfully request that you provide us (PVES parents, teachers, staff, and administrators) with a plan of action to address this security issue.

Thank you for the opportunity to address this issue. Kathy Adams, Elementary Supervisor, spoke with Mr. Dyce concerning when the intercom problem was first reported. He said that he reported the problem about two weeks before school was out. On August 7, the motherboard was removed and taken for repair. The technician said that if he couldn’t repair it, he would let someone know. When maintenance was notified of the problem on Monday, the technician was called and stated he thought it was fixed. Of course, this is not correct. Why didn’t we act sooner? We are always leery of spending large sums of money over the summer not knowing which way the budget will be resolved.

As there are issues with the telephone and intercom system, on August 18th, I asked that we get a price for both systems. We have put in multiple calls to the contractor who has the state bid. We will try again on Monday to reach him. Honestly, if will be quicker to use the state bid rather than having to put this out for bid. I understand the frustration you may feel. I want to put in a new system rather than repair a 20+ year old system. I did not feel comfortable committing to the roughly $30,000+ dollars until we had a budget in place. This occurred Monday night, August 18th.

Mr. Dyce has assured us that he has a safety plan in place. No one cares more about your child’s safety than the fine employees of PVES or me. Should bad weather be predicted, Mr. Dyce will distribute instructions to all classrooms; such as: ringing the fire alarm means for students to get into the tornado drill position. All other communication is written or given orally by Mr. Dyce, Mr. Harlinger, and Dr. Barron, each taking a hall in the school to deliver the communication.

While this is not an immediate resolution to the fact that there is no intercom system in 18 of the 31 classrooms, we are working to remedy that situation in a manner which will address both the intercom and telephone systems.

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I have noticed that schools are closing at 1:00 once a month. Could you please tell me the reason behind this? I find it hard to believe that this is on the calendar and not once has it been mentioned from the schools. There have been many ways to convey this information to parents such as parent night, newsletters already being sent home, etc. I usually don't complain about our schools, but this is very disturbing in that parents are going to have an extremely hard time finding ways to get children home.

The early dismissal days are to allow our teachers time to meet together for professional development and planning. You will notice that the days fall about every 4 ½ weeks. This is basically the time in which progress reports go out. This will give teachers the time to discuss students who are not making adequate progress and formulate plans for success.

Buses will run those days which alleviates the issue of getting students home. The first day will be September 10th. I can only assume that principals have just not announced the information. However, your email is a good reminder and I’ll ask that they quickly send home this information.

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A small discussion has started about SMS being overcrowded. Is there anywhere to find out how many students are enrolled at this time and whether that number is too high for the school

As it is so very early in the school year, I caution you concerning the accuracy of this number. Currently, we are showing around 870 students. Last year they ran about 850ish. I do not mean to be inaccurate or ambiguous. Student numbers are like a moving target! Students come and go. Our numbers generally go up during the school year.

Capacity is a difficult number to put your finger on. SMS is said to have a capacity of 800- 850 depending on how the school is used. To explain, if you have several advanced or special classes, these classes traditionally have lower enrollment but take up a class space. These situations can decrease the number of students a building will hold.

At this time, every SMS teacher has their own classroom. This is not true at SHS ….which is another can of worms!

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Can you tell me if the energy savings program has been done away with and, if so, why is my Principal still driving a school provided car?

The Energy Education program will end in August. Two months of the contract were deferred and carried over into the 2008-09 school year. So, your principal, who I assume is Mr. Dyce, will turn in his vehicle at that time. He was given the old driver’s ed car in lieu of paying mileage. It was cheaper to provide him this car than pay him mileage as required by the Energy Education contract. While the contract ends at the end of August, the school system certainly hopes to retain many of the energy savings measures put in place.

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Does your website include daily grades and assignments of students at Cheatham Middle School. If so, please direct me how to get there. Your assistance is appreciated. Thank You.

No, I am not aware of any school website that includes this information. It is possible to allow parents to access this type information from our attendance program. However, there is a cost associated with this but funds are not currently available for such a system.

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Can you please clarify what the board and the Jr Pro program finally hammered out. Just a brief outline would be great. Many parents missed the Aug meeting due to SMS back to school night.

Thank you so much for asking! Youth Basketball worked together during the spring and summer months to strengthen their organizational rules and procedures. Once the group was in agreement, they presented their constitution and code of ethics to the school board. The board was very impressed with the work accomplished. They agreed to accept Youth Basketball's agreements as part of their own. All said and done, most of us will see no real changes in the 'out-front' way this organization operates. They will still use the schools free of charge. They will still give our students a wonderful opportunity to participate in a wholesome activity. However, appropriate changes were made in their financial oversight and management of this program.

After this passed at the August Board meeting, the president of the YBA and the representative from Pegram met with the school board chair and director of schools to discuss ways in which the program could be made even stronger. Hopefully, YBA will be a work in progress with the goal of continually making this experience better for the students and families it serves.

In my haste to reply to your email, I neglected to state that one major improvement was increased communication with all parties. YBA copies the principals and me on all correspondence. It has really made everyone feel they are a part of the program. For my part, I really do appreciate their efforts and I am positive the other parties feel likewise.

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Thank you for your switft action, however there are still many parts of ebay still around alive on our system; the main ebay.com is blocked however you can still access any of the sub sites. Like:

listings.ebay.com
and a whole slew of other sites that start with the:
example.ebay.com

Thank you...

Thank you for getting back with me on this issue. I was speaking with ATT yesterday concerning how difficult it was to get a site blocked. They promised an easier method. I will send this information on. Again, please continue assisting us by making me aware of these issues.

Lynn Seifert

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I am concerned that so many websites are still open on our system, one in particular is www.eBay.com. Any user can search on that site for just about anything from shoes to bad stuff like rated x movies. It needs to blocked, the children are to important; to please a few adults can check up on their eBay auctions from work.

Thank you so much for letting me know of this situation. I have emailed your concern to our tech department and ebay should now be blocked. I urge you to let me know whenever you find an offensive site. Due to the change in our internet service provider, some sites have slipped through.

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Q: Mrs. Seifert:

I am the mother of a student that currently attends East Cheatham. I have been informed that he can no longer ride bus #51 to the caregivers address. Mrs. Craig phoned me yesterday to tell me that he can’t ride this bus and other children that do not live on this route are also getting their bus passes revoked. I am willing to compromise on this issue being Mrs. Craig advised that you all have a bus driver in training for this route although I am not very happy about it due to the fact that this negatively impacts our work schedules and our son’s daily routine at the caregivers’ home. I would like to know how many other family’s are being affected by the shortage of bus drivers?

I am aware that several kids graduated that lived on this route and rode the bus last year. I am requesting that his bus pass be reinstated so we may be able to continue to live in Cheatham County. If we could be guaranteed this pass would be reinstated in 6 weeks, we will try to make other arrangements until then. Will you please help us resolve this problem? Thank you for your time. I do choose NOT to be referred to speak with the Transportation Department.

I apologize for taking so long to get back with you. I try to contact parents within 24 hours but I am two hours late! I have spoken with the Transportation Department concerning your child. On those routes that are over-crowded, only students who live on those routes will be allowed to ride the bus. No bus passes will be given for those routes. I apologize for the inconvenience and sincerely wish extra drivers and fuel existed to allow your son to continue to ride on this route. I cannot guarantee that this situation will be resolved in 6 weeks.

The ‘no bus pass’ policy is in effect for approximately six routes and counting. The Transportation Department has not kept count as to the number of affected students. But I can assure you that your family is not the only one.

Again, I sincerely wish I could be of more help.

Lynn Seifert
Director of Schools

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Q:Hello Mrs. Seifert:

Are all Cheatham County Schools going to have early dismissal days once a month on Wednesdays? It was mentioned last night at KSES, but not at the HMS 5th grade orientation and it does not seem to be on the 2008-2009 approved school calendar? And will this be a part of our regular school schedule from now on? This is crucial to scheduling pick up for students on those days for those of us that work. Thank you for any assistance.

KFM

A: KFM, You are very correct. I just checked the calendar on our website and the abbreviate days were not listed. We will be dismissing students at 1 p.m. on the following days: 9/10/08, 10/8/08, 11/12/08, 2/4/09, 3/4/09, 4/8/09, and 5/6/09.

I have asked our webmaster to update our calendar. As to whether this practice will continue, that depends on approval from the Board and the State.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Lynn Seifert
Director of Schools

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Q:My Grand-Daughter will be 5 Sept. 28 Will she have to start school this year.

Thanks T

A: T, Thank you so much for your question. The answer lies in Board Policy 6.201. That policy states: Any child residing within the state, six years of age on or before Sept. 30 of the current school year shall be enrolled in a school. The child must enter kindergarten the year he/she turns 6 on or before Sept. 30.

Lynn Seifert
Director of Schools

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Q: Lynn:

My daughter came home a few days ago and told me that she has to have a drug test on the first day of school. She will be in the 9th grade at Sycamore. My question(s) to you would be did the county vote in mandatory drug tests for all kids before school starts? If they did then I missed that one and I am truly sorry. Secondly, if that is the case, is this an expense that I as a parent must bear? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a drug free school, but we drug test new hire's here at work all the time…………but at our expense not the new hires.

Just curious…………thanks

PDN

A: PDN,

Thank you so much for the opportunity to clarify this information. If your daughter is participating in an extra-curricular activity (volleyball, track, etc.), then there is a mandatory drug test. As this is only for extra-curricular activities, this would be at your expense.

Please let me know if I can be of additional help. I hope your daughter has a great freshman year!

Lynn Seifert

Director Cheatham County Schools

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Thanks Lynn for the quick response.

I do have additional questions relating to this issue. Again, I apologize if this is something I should already be aware of. Between work and another child in another school, life can be very busy.

First let me say I think the testing is wonderful. You have my 100% backing.

Question #1: Was this something the school board recently voted on, perhaps following other county schools within the area?

No, SHS has been doing this for nine years.

Question #2: For the students that participate in several extra-curricular activities throughout the year, will there be more than one test required?

No, while I believe this would be a good idea, it would be cost prohibitive.

Question #3: Can I make this procedure part of the annual physical that my daughter gets every year (TSSAA requirement) to participate in sports? My concern here is getting hit for $28 by a company I had no choice in selecting for my daughter to simply urinate in a cup that gets sent off for analysis. I guess what I am asking is would my pediatricians testing procedures be acceptable for whomever is requiring the testing to be performed?

No. It is important that all students be tested in the same manner. That way no one can ever say that some students were tested differently from others. The $28 fee is a very good price, most labs charge much more.

Hope this helps and thanks for the opportunity.

Lynn Seifert

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Q: Why is it that the schools websites are not regularly updated? I am a parent of a soon to be 9th grader and the Tax Free Weekend is coming up. My child will be attending Sycamore High School and they still have the summer school schedule posted on their site. I want to be able to buy what my child needs for school during the tax free weekend to obviously save money and possibly purchase some items for the teachers “wish list”. This is very frustrating, in today’s tough times I would think that everyone is trying to save money where possible and having to try and buy specific school supplies for specific teachers is hard enough but to have to wait an extra week to get the list and all the stores have been mobbed by the parents of better prepared schools is even harder. I hope there is a way to correct this matter and possibly be better prepared in the future. Thank you for any assistance in this matter.

Sincerely, DS

A: School websites are usually updated by a volunteer non-paid faculty member. As teachers are not required to work during the summer months, many times the websites are a bit behind during those months. While elementary schools usually have teacher “wish lists”, this is not a common occurrence at the high school level. Supplies are also very basic such as paper, pencil, spiral notebooks, etc. I believe if you purchased these generic items, your child would be ready for school. If you need additional information, please contact the school. The staff is currently on duty.

Best wishes for a good school year!

Lynn Seifert

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Q:With the economy tanking and the gas prices rising, I know you are struggling to find an economically sound way to run our buses. I have read that some schools in the country are going to a 4-day school week with longer days to save on fuel. I'm assuming they are adding approximately 90 minutes to the day. Sounds like an interesting idea and it would save 20% of the transportation costs. Any thoughts?

JE (Parent/Teacher)

A: Yes, this has been a topic of conversation. Unfortunately, state law prohibits this move. Aside from that, skill retention would also be a concern. As students grow tired, later in the day, their retention level may fall. Having taught 18 years prior to moving to the central office, I well remember how tired students were in my 7th period class. Parents would also be faced with additional day care issues and costs.

Of course, if state law were changed, the system would certainly take each of these issues into consideration and develop a plan to save more fuel, help students retain skills, and ease child care concerns of parents. Now, that would take some doing but we'd certainly give it our best effort.

Lynn Seifert
Director of Schools