Sullivan director of schools contract extended through June of 2030

BLOUNTVILLE — Sullivan County's Board of Education has decided to keep Chuck Carter as director of schools through June of 2030. During the most recent school board meeting Wednesday, May 27, the board voted 7-0 to approve Carter's contract extension that also includes an increase in his vehicle allowance. The contract, per Tennessee law, was required to be the first agenda item at the meeting. Carter's new contract terms will begin July 1, 2026. It will run through June 30, 2030. By state law, director or superintendent contracts can be extended to a maximum of four years. Carter after the vote said he was honored by the board's vote and wants to continue working with faculty, staff and the board to make the school system better. CARTER HISTORY Carter started as director July 1, 2023, but began working for the school system in tandem with then-Director Evelyn Rafalowski March 27, 2023. She retired June 30 of that year after more than 40 years with the system, including about six years as director in two different stints. Her second time around as director came when David Cox retired shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Cox had replaced Rafalowski, and before Rafalowski Jubal Yennie was director. Carter's pay for the 2026-27 school year starting July 1 is $130,000, the same as his current pay, with any salary increase the same percentage all other professional employees receive in the yet-to-be done fiscal 2026-27 budget, according to school board member Michael Hughes, who helped craft the terms of the extension, and central office director's administrative assistant Kristi King. He has the same benefits as all other full time employees, including health insurance coverage, dental insurance coverage, life insurance in the amount of $26,000 and the accumulation of one sick day per month. He also receives $200 per month for telecommunications, cell phone and home internet and an automobile allowance of $950, up from $800 he got when he started in job in 2023. The amount hasn't increased since then until the board approved the latest contract. Carter also continues to receive membership dues for TOSS, the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents and AASA, the American Association of School Administrators. WHAT'S NEXT The Sullivan County Board of Education will next meet about 5 p.m. Thursday, June 11, in the first-floor meeting room boardroom of the Health/Education Building, 154 Blountville Bypass. Prior to the meeting, the board will meet in an attorney-client session behind closed doors, as allowed by Tennessee law. That meeting will be between the board with school board attorney Chris McCarty, a Knoxville attorney who is representing the BOE in a lawsuit from fired tenured teacher Matthew Hawn. The board has 60 days to try and appeal a recent decision by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville. That court ruled May 26 that Sullivan County Chancellor Katie Priester was correct in ruling that Hawn should be reinstated with back pay and interest following his firing in 2021. The board voted to fire Hawn 6-1 and then again voted to fire him 5-1, with one seat absent, after an impartial hearing officer said the school board was justified in terminating Hawn's employment. Hawn was fired based on insubordination and conduct unbecoming a teacher, although the appellate court ruled that the insubordination — for showing a video of a spoken word poem about racism that used obscenities to students without getting parental permission — did not rise to the level of a fireable offense under Tennessee tenure law. Hawn has testified that he unsucessfully tried to mute some of the obscenities, and the court record indicates auto captioning picked up on the rough language and put it on the screen used to view the video. Anyone wishing to give public comment at the June 11 meeting must complete Form 1.404.F1. This form will be available at the meeting and should be turned in to board Chairman Matt Price or Board Secretary Kristi King, also the director's administration assistant, before the meeting begins. A tentative agenda can be viewed online at https://meeting.boeconnect.net/Public/Organization/561. It includes only budget matters does not include any matter related to the Hawn case. Price Friday evening said he doesn't think the board will vote on a Hawn appeal June 11 since the board has 60 days to decide whether to request permission to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court. Price also said he thinks the board could vote on a budget proposal depending on revenue estimate details, which school and county finance officials said weren't available at the last school board work session May 27, before the meeting where Carter's contract extension was approved. "All we have are just estimates," board member Michael Hughes said Friday afternoon of details like the city-county split of revenues and how much a penny on the county property tax is to generate. "We don't really have any firm numbers."