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Members of the Coffee County Board of Education met last week for its annual Fall Retreat, where a number of topics were discussed ranging from athletic gate fees to School Board meeting times.

Board member Scott Hansert said even before he was elected to the board this year, he received comments from community members about the 4:30 p.m. start time for school board meetings as being too early in the day.

“A lot of places don’t get off until 5 p.m. and even if they were to get off, they wouldn’t have very much time to get here,” he said.

Hansert proposed to move the meeting start time back an hour, to begin at 5:30 p.m.

“We also want to keep the teachers in mind about being able to come here and it not be so late,” he said. “Personally, I think it would be a better time for everybody to move it up to at least 5:30 p.m.”

Hansert said he wanted to hear what other board members thought of the idea.

Board member Gary Cordell said he agreed with Hansert and that 5:30 p.m. would be a good time to begin the meetings.

“We don’t want to make it harder for our teachers….but I am just concerned that a lot of parents might not come because they are at work and they can’t get here and we need to get input, feedback from our parents so they can feel a part of this team and a part of this process,” Cordell said.

Board member Robert Gilley said he believes changing the meeting time is something the board will have to do and proposed adding it as a future agenda item for more discussion and a vote.

“I am not the only one on this board and I am not speaking for everybody, but it is hard for me to get here at 4:30 p.m. a lot of times with my work…but I get it, the school staff that have to attend, they are staying after…we have to find a balance there…,” he said.

Board member Beth Yentsch said she had concerns with moving the meeting times back one hour.

“I understand the parent involvement, that that is important,” she said. “I also understand that teacher involvement is important.”

Yentsch said teachers attending the board meetings are staying after work several hours at times in order to attend the meetings.

“My feeling is if we have parents who truly want to be heard, they are going to take off work a half hour early in order to be there, she said.

Yentsch said she believed meeting at 5 p.m. was more fair to both district employees and parents interested in attending meetings.

On a different subject, board member Holly Matthews asked about gate fees for high school sports.

“What I have learned is there is a percentage of our gate fees at football games and I think basketball games too, I don’t even think the percentages are the same…that are taken from the programs…like say football games 10% from what I understand is taken out of the total amount of money that was taken up that night at the gate,” she said.

Matthews said her understanding was that 10% was then put into a general athletic fund, and the same for the 8% that is taken out of basketball game gate totals.

Matthews said with all the fundraises student athletes have to do, that those percentages could be better utilized supporting those sports.

“The expense that football has is probably a lot greater than any other sport that we have,” she said.

Matthews said she is not for taking away from non-revenue sports but proposed that maybe those sports could be funded in another way.

“I think those programs for those sports should be able to keep 100% of those gate fees,” she said.

Co Athletic Director Brandon McWhorter said that Matthews is correct in those 8% and 10% figures and it is something that Warren County Schools also do, while Tullahoma City Schools puts all gate fees in one fund and then divides them out amongst the different sports.

“Lots of other schools do the same things we do, and it is not just high school, universities have done it,” he said. “Your football and your basketball are your money makers there are going to be more people in those games than all the minor sports combined could do in a year.”

Board members discussed the possibility of budget options for extracurricular activities.

The next meeting of the Coffee County Board of Education will be 4:30 p.m. October 14.