Drug awareness and prevention was the focus of the called board meeting Monday evening.
“It also does not allow for protection of an employee that is impaired at work,” said Bill McCown, Gordon County Schools superintendent.
The policy will be added into the employee handbook, and will include rules on informing the board if employees are arrested for drug-related offenses and for any convictions.
“The drug-free work force policy demonstrates the board’s commitment to have a drug-free work-place,” said McCown.
Board members discussed concerns regarding employee termination, proper course of action and whether this policy will make offenders more conscientious. The district employs approximately 1,000 workers.
“I hope that it gives any employee (who is not presented in an impaired state) at work an oppor-tunity to seek treatment without the fear of losing their job,” said McCown. “We also want those to seek treatment before there’s an issue at work.”
In other news, the board approved purchasing two-90 passenger busses and two-48 passenger special needs buses using stimulus and maintenance and operation funds.
“The issue with the buses is to earn the state replacement funds, so a 72-passenger bus over 10-years-old earns replacement funds,” said McCown, due to the delayed tax digest.
“We still don’t have a digest,” he added.
Currently, they have 80 busses that service students, among those are substitute buses that are more than 10-years-old.
McCown stated that the older models have excellent service and maintenance records.
A decision on whether or not sixth-grade students should be allowed to play football with seventh and eighth graders was delayed.
According to McCown, parents and coaches will help board members decide the outcome of the decision.
“The premise of the decision is based on the parents and coaches together,” said McCown, in an interview.
The next Gordon County BOE meeting is Nov. 9.
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