After not meeting in November, the Carter County School board had a number of items to hear updates on during their December 12 workshop Thursday.

One of those items was a plan to institute a vaping policy for all county schools.

Secondary Supervisor Danny McClain said he met with several principals roughly three weeks ago to decide how to approach what they said is a growing issue in their schools.

The policy McClain presented has four tiers. First offense is a three-day suspension, a warning by the SRO and a required parent/guardian meeting. Second offense is a five-day suspension, a citation by the SRO and the required meeting. Third offense is a nine-day suspension plus all the above, and the fourth offense or more will constitute a “long-term alternative school placement.”

LaDonna Stout-Boone sought to clarify whether this new policy would also apply to sporting events.

“It refers to any school event; it refers to school property,” McClain said.

Kelly Crain said he wanted this new policy to come into effect by the time the spring semester starts in January, meaning the policy would only require a first reading in order to come into effect.

Special Education Director Terry Hubbard talked about Essilor Labs visit to Valley Forge Freewill Baptist last month and the free eye exams they provided.

“We ended up serving 178 [children],” Hubbard said. “We found two children, one of them with a definite tumor behind the eye and one child with maybe a tumor behind the eye.”

She said Essilor’s efforts to provide for Carter County students will open a new world for many children who have had vision issues before.

John Banks provided an update on the board’s efforts to accept community member Louie Greene’s land donation.

“He expects us to have something to look at in January,” Banks said.

However, he reiterated the points he made during the initial conversations: that officially voting on or making promises about the property could make things difficult in the future.

“The law says you have broad authority to act, but in the future you cannot keep some new board from taking action on something like this,” he said.

On another note, he said Director Kevin Ward had spoken to him recently about a potential issue with the ownership of the main office building, 305 Academy St.

He said he was able to find the deed to the property easily.

“It used to be Duffield Academy in Elizabethton,” Banks said.

He said the county school board obtained the deed for the property in 1968.

He also said there is what he called a “reverter clause,” whereby if the board was looking to sell or they ceased using the building for its primary purpose, the Elizabethton City School Board had the option of purchasing the property for $25,000.

“That was the price the Carter County Board of Education paid in 1968 for this property,” he said.

Stout-Boone said the NAPE scores are in, the national accountability tests fourth and eighth-grade students take.

“We are way down,” she said. “We are lower as a nation, […] We looked better in 2009 than we do right now.”

She said a large part of the lower scores is the reliance on screens for test materials, and she recommended the board take a larger focus on physical materials.