MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

The Tennessee School Boards Association will be conducting a series of meetings on Jan. 27 to receive input from various groups in the community on the desired criteria for a new Director of Schools for Coffee County.

There will be five different meetings throughout the day.

The first meeting at noon will be for the Mayor, County Commission, City Council, Community and Business Leaders and the School Board.

A second meeting at 1:30 p.m. will be for classified employees, which includes school system employees who are not teachers, aides, or administrative staff such as maintenance workers, office workers, bus drivers, janitors and others.

The 2:30 p.m. meeting will be for Central Office Staff, Supervisors and Principals, and the 3:30 p.m. meeting will be for teachers.

A Community Forum will also be held at 5:00 p.m. and is open to all Coffee County residents who wish to attend.

TSBA Executive Director Dr. Tammy Grissom will lead the meetings with a presentation on the search process and then a time for attendees to speak and give feedback.

“The whole thing is designed to solicit comments,” explained Coffee County School Board Chairman Thomas Ballard. “What we’re looking for in a Director, what people want to see and that type of thing, so that’s the whole public participation part.”

Ballard also noted that there will be an online survey available for anyone who is unable to attend any of the meetings.

The results of the meetings will be discussed at a Special Call School Board meeting on Feb. 12 where the Board will adopt search criteria based on those results.