JCS Staff Newsletter (March)

This newsletter will be distributed on the Wednesday following the monthly Board of Education meeting. This newsletter contains important information from district departments and other helpful tips. If you have suggestions for content in this newsletter, please send them to Collin Brooks at BrooksB@jcschools.org.

• Paraprofessional Appreciation Day - April 3
• School Librarian Appreciation Day - April 4
• National Assistant Principal Week - April 7 -11
• National Robotics Week - April 5 - 12
• Earth Day - April 22
• School Bus Driver Appreciation Day - April 22
• Public School Volunteer Week - April 21 - 25
• National Administrative Professional's Day - April 23
• Month of the Military Child
• Financial Literacy Month
• National Occupational Therapists Month
• Poetry Month

Calendars

• Printable Calendars for 2024-2025 (Updated 1-16-25)
  
• Staff Holiday Schedule for 2024-2025
  

In total, there were 21 applicants for the Johnson City Schools Superintendent position. The Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) screened the applicants and then recommended the top three who met the criteria best.

The three finalists include:

• Dr. Josh Carter (Science Hill Principal - Monday Interview)
• Dr. Corey Gardenhour (Principal at Ross N. Robinson in Kingsport - Tuesday Interview).
• Dr. Erin Slater (Superintendent at Fort Madison Community School District - Wednesday Interview).

Interviews will take place on Monday (March 10), Tuesday (March 11), Wednesday (March 13) at 6 pm each night inside the Board Room at Central Office. The board then plans to meet on Thursday, March 13 at 6 p.m. to select the next superintendent.

Teachers and staff are invited to a 4 p.m. meeting with the candidates on each day. Please see the agenda for each candidates visit below. The interviews will not be live streamed.

Dear JCS Faculty and Staff,

We wanted to let you know that PowerSchool has started to notify individuals whose personal data was breached during their data breach in December. The email may be in your spam folder, but it is a legitimate email.

The email begins with the following (see below).

e-mail then goes on to tell people how they can sign up for two years of complimentary identity protection services through Experian. We encourage our employees to take advantage of this free service through PowerSchool. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused. This data breach happened through PowerSchool and Johnson City Schools was then notified. If you have any questions, please direct them to Collin Brooks at BrooksB@jcschools.org.

We are excited to open up the application for Cohort 10 of our Technology Teacher Leader Program! Members of Cohort 7 are also eligible to apply for a returning Teacher Leader Slot as well. Applications are due on Monday, March 31 with interviews to follow on April 15 via Teams. Meeting dates for 2025-26 will be on Saturdays from 8:15 to 12:00 plus one national conference. Dates of meetings are for 2025-26 are September 13, November 8, January 24, February 28, and April 11. Conferences of note next year are FETC (Orlando) and TCEA (San Antonio).

The application for Cohort 10 can be found here and is due by Monday, March 31 at 4 p.m.! Principals will receive an email asking for a Teacher Disposition before the interviews.

Tuition Rates

Tuition rates will remain the same as the 2023-2024 school year. For tuition students residing in Carter, Sullivan and Washington County it will be $1,200 per year. For students residing in other counties it will be $1,700 per year. Employees receive half-price tuition for their students. Out-of-state tuition is $12,266 or $6,133 for staff.

Tuition Schools

The tuition schools for the upcoming school year are based on a review of enrollment projections. After reviewing those numbers, Science Hill High School, Indian Trail Middle School, Fairmont Elementary and Cherokee Elementary will accept new tuition students for the 2025-2026 school year. The application will be available on the district website beginning April 7, 2025.

The following information is only applicable to children of employees of Johnson City Schools:

If the new tuition student is the child of an employee within the school system, the new tuition student may attend the school in which the parent is an employee (TCA 49-6-3113)

If the parent teachers at Indian Trail, the new elementary student will attend Fairmont Elementary. If the parent teachers at Liberty Bell, the new elementary student will attend Cherokee. If the parent teaches at Science Hill High School, the new tuition student will attend either Fairmont or Cherokee or Indian Trail or Liberty Bell, depending on the class sizes and student enrollment numbers.

This information will be posted on the district website for 14 days beginning on March 24 through April 6. The open enrollment period will begin on April 7 and close on May 6. Criteria used to identify available spaces are Grade Band Average, Individual class size and grade level limits, potential growth, actual number of classrooms at each school and number of teachers.

Transfer Spaces Available for 2025-2026 Open Enrollment

Cherokee: 8 in first grade, 2 in third grade, 5 in fourth grade.

Fairmont: 5 in second grade, 3 in fourth grade.

Towne Acres: 8 in second grade

Woodland: 5 in fourth grade

Indian Trail: 6 in sixth grade, 6 in seventh grade, 8 in eighth grade.

• Visit our updated Human Resources web page to find assistance with your employee benefits and questions about the hiring process.
  
• Johnson City Schools is hiring Educare assistants, custodians, and instructional assistants. View our current job postings and apply today!

• Johnson City Transit is in need of bus drivers. For current bus driver position openings visit https://johnsoncitytn.applicantpro.com/jobs/.

• Please visit our updated web page at Finance | Retirement.
• Sharron Livingston in Human Resources now manages most benefits for our system. Christy Fair in Finance manages the Hartford Life Insurance only.
• Our Employee Forms page will assist you with finding commonly requested forms and the contact person for each one.

The new annual contribution limit to a 403(b), 401(l), or a 457(b) for 2025 is $23,500. The catch-up contribution limit for those age 50 and over is $7,500 (for a total of $31,000 that can be contributed for 2025). Staring in 2025, those age 60-63 may be eligible for a higher catch-up contribution limit. The higher limit is $11,250 (for a total $34,750 that can be continued for 2025).

Employees enrolled in the Consumer-driven Health Plan (CDHP) also have a Health Savings Account available to put aside funds for medical expenses. For 2025, the maximum that can be contributed to a health savings account $4,300 for individuals and $8,550 for family coverage.

In-service transcripts can be printed from within your account by clicking In-Service Transcript > In-Service Transcript Summary. Enter the start and end dates for the time frame you wish to view, and click Filter By Date > Click Here for Printable Version. Ctrl + P gives you the option to save the transcript as a PDF and print if desired. Learning Stream account correction requests can be made by contacting Tracey Coffey by email or by phone at (423) 434-5218.

Instructors, please review your sessions in your Learning Stream instructor accounts. Please confirm attendance for all sessions, or send the sign-in sheets to Tracey Coffey at TLC.

Please submit your final spring sessions (i.e. special groups, school & district-wide) to be entered into Learning Stream by the end of March. We begin focusing on summer session planning in April for early May registration. TLC will pay $20 per instructional hour for presenting district-wide sessions, and we’d love to have a variety of offerings to finish the year strong! Use the 2024-2025 JCS New Training Request form on our web page to provide the details.

We have great news! The TLC is getting a makeover this spring! We will likely have a few days booked on the calendar for improvements to be completed. We ask that you keep this in mind when thinking about booking your mid-April sessions with us. We will keep you informed, and look forward to sharing this refreshing new space with you!

The next regularly scheduled Johnson City Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday, April 7 starting at 6 p.m. inside the Board Room at Central Office (100 E. Maple Street). Board meetings can be viewed on the Johnson City Schools' YouTube channel.

Congratulations to Shreyas Singh and Ryan Zheng for being named as candidates for the 2025 Presidential Scholars. It is one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students.

Congratulations to these students for being named National Merit Finalists . These students were recognized for their academic achievement and potential. The following Science Hill students have been named National Merit Finalists:

• Shreeyan Papireddy
• Caleb Spurling
• Samantha Wilder
• Ryan Zheng

The Johnson City Schools' Communication Department is looking for suggestions for features stories to share with our community. This could be anything you think parents, students or the public want or need to know about can be good features. We're talking student achievements, teachers doing cool things in their classrooms, school programs or offerings that could benefit from a little awareness, clubs... Anything. If there's a visual component – something or someone I could photograph to go along with it – it will be even more engaging. We would love to hear your ideas!

Please reach out to Nathan Baker or Collin Brooks with your suggestions.