The Cumberland County Board of Education met tonight.

The meeting started with a moment of silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance led by student Linsey Colton from South Cumberland Elementary School.

Here are some of the top stories from the meeting:

THREE SCHOOLS HONORED FOR HEALTHIER LUNCHROOMS

Three schools in Cumberland County were honored by the school board for being named gold level in the Healthier U.S. School Challenge. This is a voluntary certification initiative recognizing schools that have created health environments through promoting nutrition and physical education that exceeds what is required. Martin Elementary, North Cumberland Elementary and Pine View Elementary will receive a plaque, a banner and a monetary award of $1,500 for their gold level achievement. Crab Orchard achieved gold status back in 2012.

LOCAL TEACHER HONORED

The board recognized Pleasant Hill Elementary School teacher Amanda Mullinix for being named the WBIR Tennessee Lottery Teacher of the Week:

ETHICS COMPLAINT UPDATE

The Cumberland County Board of Education heard a report from the school board attorney regarding the status of an ethics complaint on two county commissioners. The complaint involves 6^th District County Commissioner Michael Speich and 7^th District County Commissioner Jerry Cooper, who are both school system employees. The two allegedly made threatening comments regarding reinstating personal days they had to take for a county commissioner orientation to two school board members. School Board Attorney Earl Patton requested the board’s permission to take part in the investigation (since it is not covered in his usual duties for the school system). Patton also said that County Attorney Philip Burnett is conducting an investigation into the allegations. The school board approved the request from Patton. The school board will get further updates as the inquiry progresses.

INSURANCE PROPOSAL PASSES

The following insurance plan was approved by the school board to phase in for a two year period:

NEW CRAB ORCHARD SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

A very brief update on the construction of the new Crab Orchard Elementary School was given to the board. The cafeteria and kitchen walls are going up. The gym and classrooms are starting to be built. The construction is coming along fine so far.

NEW STUDENT COUNT RELEASED FOR CUMBERLAND COUNTY SCHOOLS

Updated numbers will be presented to the Cumberland County Board of Education this Thursday regarding the number of students attending schools. According to the report, 7,402 are enrolled in elementary and high schools in Cumberland County. Stone Memorial has 1,010 while Cumberland County High has 1,004 and the Phoenix School has 79. As far as elementary schools, Homestead has the largest student body with 749 followed by Stone with 748, Martin with 694, North with 655, Pleasant Hill with 625, South with 615, Brown with 571, Crab Orchard with 459 and Pine View with 166.

SALARY SCALE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION

The Cumberland County School System will create a salary scale focus group soon to discuss ways to improve salaries of employees. A group will be formed in November that will get feedback from teachers and staff. Then an online survey will be done for employees to see where the needs are. In January, the information will be compiled and submitted to the board for consideration. The biggest need or option will be looked at in February to see how it can be addressed.

The board then approved several policies on second reading.