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West Carroll Announces New Principal, Administrators

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ATWOOD — It was a larger-than-usual audience at the West Carroll Special School District Board of Education meeting on Thursday, June 3 at the West Carroll Junior/Senior High School cafeteria. Attendees were there, some to voice their concerns over the school district’s recent change in the director, and resignations of principals, coaches and teachers.

Preston Caldwell, director of schools, now in his second month at West Carroll Special School District, urged the people of the West Carroll district to remain positive as he fills vacancies of teachers and administrators.

“We are working to create a positive atmosphere,” said Caldwell. “Our primary focus is on the students.”

During the meeting, the Board approved the resignations of Tracy Foster, principal at West Carroll Elementary School; Kerri Ballentine, a special education teacher; Josh Wolfe, head football coach and PE teacher; Megan Gottshall, high school science teacher; Ronn Cox, high school English teacher; and David Hochreiter, teacher of agriculture and FFA sponsor.

Last month, a number of teachers and administrators submitted resignations or retirements. They were: West Carroll Junior/Senior High Principal Kelly Todd and Assistant Principal Shane Depriest both resigned. WCJSHS secretary Schon Mitchell; Luke Anderson, eighth grade science teacher; Jason Fitch, basketball coach; Nancy Hopper, high school geometry teacher; Randy Wilson (junior high music teacher retired); and teachers Whitney Noble and Whitney Baird resigned.

During the June meeting, Caldwell introduced new administrators.

West Carroll Junior/Senior High Principal is Joe Tetleton, who comes to the school from Halls, where his wife, Molly, is also a teacher. They have two children, ages 10 and 7. Tetleton holds a Educational Specialist degree from Arkansas State. He graduated from Halls High School, Dyersburg State, Memphis State, and Arkansas State, earning a degree from each along the way. He has taught science and special education, personal finance and served as dual enrollment coordinator at various times during his careers at Ripley, Lake County and Halls.

Other new administrators are: Brittany Fowler is the new Technology Coordinator. She moves from a classroom teacher into the position vacated by Sheila Brawner, who retired after 20 years at West Carroll. Fowler has a degree in technology education.

Kellie Medina is the new K-12 Supervisor of Instruction attendance supervisor and the coordinator of Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funding, a grant program created during the COVID pandemic. She is a Level 5 teacher. This is a new administrative position approved by the Board and funded through the ESSER grant. She leaves Lake County High School, where Caldwell was principal. She resides in Ridgely. She studied at Bethel University, Freed-Hardeman, and University of Memphis.

Piper Jenkins is the new guidance counselor. She is from Humboldt and was the elementary school counselor at Humboldt City Schools.

Caldwell said he and the staff are conducting interviews to fill the vacancies.

During the meeting, bids for digital signage for each of the three school sites were opened. The new signs are to be funded through ESSER funding.

Frank Balton Signs of Memphis quoted $23,090 for the Junior/Senior High School, $22,285 each for the Primary and Elementary schools.

GSC Signs of McKenzie bid $24,624 for each of the three of all are purchased simultaneously. If purchased separately, the cost is $25,524. The Board will review the bids and accompanying photographs and vote in July on the bids.

The Board amended the budget the of the Food Service Department to reflect additional revenues and expenses. Janet Winchester, manager of the department, said it was simply moving funds within her department.

Caldwell said the Board will approve the 2021-22 fiscal year budget in August. David Huss, a fiscal consultant, is assisting with the development of the budget. Huss was former director of schools at Clarksburg and the CFO at Bethel University.

Mandy Drewry, Coordinator of School Health for Carroll County, made a brief presentation concerning the overall health of students. She noted many students’ weight increased during the pandemic. She said the Coordinated School Health program provided t-shirts for the nurses, water bottle filling stations, conducted a ‘red sand project’ to illustrate and static signage concerning ‘Rethink Your Drink’ concerning the amount of sugar in many beverages. Because of the pandemic, many activities were not conducted during the 2020-21 year. She noted the West Carroll six-member team of six adults walked 2,242 weeks during the eight-week challenge of Walk Across Tennessee.

Jackie Wester, principal at West Carroll Primary, said the end-of-year benchmark testing revealed good academic growth among the students. She noted the students had an Awards Day, pre-K graduation, second grade musical, and field days for each of the grades. Summer school started May 26 and ends June 17.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Becky Mueller, seated in the audience, rose and starting asking questions.

Chairman William Robinson advised the meeting was adjourned and encouraged everyone with concerns to address those to the elected board member representing the district in which they reside.