Burrell hired as schools attorney; board extends director’s contract
The Anderson County Board of Education at its March 6 meeting voted to hire Elizabeth Burrell as the school system’s new attorney.
She was a law partner of the previous schools attorney, Salvatore Varselona, who died in February.
The meeting began with the board honoring a teacher who died by suicide in Tipton County Schools on March 6, with a moment of silence. Chairman Scott Gillenwaters declined to name her.
“When one school suffers, we all do,” Director of Schools Tim Parrott told The Courier News.
Later on during the meeting, Scott Gillenwaters honored the memory of his predecessor, Peggy Hayes, who had represented the sixth district from 2002 through 2010. She died March 2.
The school board also unanimously voted to extend Parrott’s contract, allowing him to continue to serve as director for three more years. Teresa Portwood said she and other Board of Education members gave him perfect scores on an evaluation.
The school board passed several policies on second reading, meaning that they will now go into effect.
The school system reviews these policies regularly. Changes involved banning employees not just from using illegal drugs, but “any lawful substances that could result in impairment of physical or mental capacity that is threatening to the health or safety of the employee or others.”
Students trying to move to fourth grade can now miss only up to a total of three days from summer school.
