A proposed school calendar (A) with students beginning on Aug. 5, 2010 and teachers beginning on Jul. 29 was discussed at the December meeting of the Cleveland City School Board.

Calendar A includes a full week for fall break in addition to Good Friday and the Monday following Easter. Board member Tom Cloud asked that a substitute calendar (B) be created and posted on the city schools website for input from parents and teachers. Go to clevelandschools.org to view the calendars. The Board will vote in January on next year’s calendar.

Cleveland High (CHS) Principal Autumn O’Bryan informed the Board that an Advisory Panel made up of a wide range of representatives of business and community is being created at CHS and will have their first meeting in early 2010. A school-wide Community Service Day is planned for Mar. 10, 2010.

Director of Schools Dr. Rick Denning distributed a Long Range Facilities Plan broken into the Board’s Top Ten Priorities, Paving Projects, Flooring, Phase II Arnold, Furniture, and Renovations. Among the Top Ten are the resurfacing of the front and side parking lots at the Teen Learning Center and painting both the interior and exterior of Stuart Elementary. The plan also includes a Wish List which would add tennis courts at CHS and Cleveland Middle School and a performing arts center at CHS.

Dr. Denning addressed the board with a timeline for a new Federal Program called Race To The Top, a four billion dollar Federal project directed at education with a possible $400 million for Tennessee systems.

The state must make application by Jan. 19, 2010 and is asking all 136 systems in Tennessee to participate. Only systems who sign the agreement will be eligible for Race to the Top funds. Dr. Denning believes that these are the first steps to create a national curriculum and to eliminate tenure for teachers. A significant element of this reform plan deals with improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance.

The board voted to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which must also be signed by the Dr. Denning and the local Teacher’s Union representative.

The board voted unanimously to accept and approve Part II of Dr. Denning’s evaluation.

Brian Templeton of Upland Design Group, architects for the CHS Science Wing addition, recommended Mid-State Construction of Cookeville as general contractor for the project, slated to begin in as little as two weeks. Mid-State submitted the low bid of $7,694,00. The board approved this unanimously.

The next board meeting will be Jan. 11, 2010.