JMCSS School Board discuss Whitehall damage and teachers pay periods at Board Meeting

JACKSON, Tenn — Monday evening, the Jackson-Madison County School Board met for the first time in 2017 in a combined work session and board meeting.

“We would consider this a catastrophic event,” JMCSS Superintendent Dr. Verna Ruffin said.

The hot topic issue of the night revolved around the Whitehall Pre-K Center.

“We know there is extensive damage at Whitehall because of the roof that was caused by the hail,”  Ruffin said.

The school district is waiting for an important test before making a decision

“We had test done to determine if there was asbestos in the building and the results are not in at this time. We do not want anyone in the building until we know for certain,” Ruffin said.

The board meeting was packed with parents, teachers and staff waiting to hear the next steps in the early age learning center.

“If there is not asbestos in the building then we will move as planned of removing all of the items we have in Whitehall and relocating it to Nova.” Ruffin said.

But if there is asbestos expect significant delays.

Another big issue of the night revolved around teachers and their pay cycles.

“Now people have logged onto the new system and they are finding errors in their base pay,” educator Janis Carroll said.

The school district is moving from a semi-monthly pay period to bi-weekly, which is causing some changes.

“We are getting less money per month. We will get that money back because there is a third paycheck in June, but all that extra money we will see again but not until that paycheck in June,” Carroll said.

It is also causing budget issues.

“A lot of people when they started their budgets for this year didn’t realize that come January they will have, in my case $280 less a month,” Carroll said.

Dr. Ruffin assures teachers that her team is working hard to clear any issues.

As for Whitehall Pre-K, the asbestos report is expected to come back Tuesday. If none is found, they hope to have Whitehall relocated to the Nova building and open by January 23.

Also at Monday night’s meeting, the school board was informed the county rejected their offer to give Beech Bluff back to them.

They also heard an update on the superintendent search and were informed so far 12 candidates have applied for the position.