The Cleveland City Schools Board of Education voted to ground all drones for the 2016-2017 school year during its meeting at the Cleveland High School Raider Arena classroom on Monday evening.
Due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s ever-changing policies and guidelines for unmanned aircraft systems (drones), the board voted to only use drones in classrooms as examples of resources that will eventually become available once a policy is in place to address the liability concerns.
“We don’t know how we are going to be regulated,” said Steve Morgan chairperson pro-tem. “It is better to be safe than sorry with legalities and policies changing that fast.”
Another concern with the use of drones is whether or not they are being used for profit. When a drone is being used to stream a football game, it could be considered as making profit due to the ads that are sold to help pay for the cost of the live stream.
In addition to the drone policy, there was a second reading of the student wellness and student suicide prevention policies. A first reading of the policy for school district records also took place.
Requests were presented for new personnel for Cleveland High School, and a storage building for Yates Primary School. All readings and requests were approved with the exception of the drone policy, which is set to have a second reading.
The student wellness program outlines the different requirements for student physical activity. For kindergarten and first grade, the requirement is three 15-minute periods of non-structured physical activity per day. In grades two – six, a minimum of two 20-minute periods of non-structured physical activity at least four days per week is required. For grades seven – 12, there is a required minimum of 90 minutes of physical activity per week.
The student suicide prevention policy was revised to clarify that the parents or legal guardians can obtain information about mental health counseling resources.
The policy for school district records was approved on first reading, which clarified the acceptance of email requests, and the requirement for records request coordinator/custodian to provide a records production letter indicating the time needed to complete the request, if it cannot be completed within seven business days.
A personnel request for Cleveland High School was presented to accommodate the growing number of students. An additional fine art teacher will allow three survey classes, two Art 1 classes, and one Art 2 class to be added.
The storage building for Yates Primary School is needed in order to meet Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) guidelines. The 12-by-24-foot building will cost $6,200, which includes delivery and set up fees and will be split between Yates Primary School and Yates Parent Teacher Organization.
Prior to the meeting, a reception for the retirees was held in the Raider Arena lobby.
Retirees were who were recognized at the meeting included Michael Baker, Leon Brown, Lea Broussard and Wanda Dent of Cleveland High School; Dianna Johnson, Jack Kidwell, Katherine Rock and Donnie Yates of Cleveland Middle School; Sylvia Coates of Denning Center; Sondra Park of Blythe-Bower Elementary; Glenn Dent of Mayfield Elementary; Cathy Silkett of Ernest L. Ross Elementary; Joy Fleming, Marie Howard, Ruth James, Mary Rose Lyle, Karen Malik and Cindy Newman and Angie Williams of George R. Stuart Elementary School; Nancy Buxton and Carolyn Ingram of Yates Primary School; Frank Julian and Rodney Morris of the maintenance department and Brenda White of the Administrative Office Building.