The BOE will hold a special called meeting 4:30-6 p.m. July 17 at the Loudon County Courthouse Annex. The school district website notes the meeting will be for “discussion and deliberations relating to the director’s contract and options regarding the same.”

“Hopefully just some clarification how we can move forward and start getting down to the issues to be able to help the school system and help the kids all in general,” Zack Cusick, school board member, said of what he hopes for the meeting.
 

The issue dates back to December when Vance sent an email to Loudon High School boys basketball coach Josh Graves, now former LHS Principal Cheri Parrish, LHS athletic director Ronnie Roberts and assistant director of schools Mike Garren. The email was later circulated in the community. The email pertained to a varsity position involving Vance’s son. Vance was criticized for what some believed to be bullying of Graves.
 

Attorney Lawrence Giordano, who works at the same firm as McCarty, conducted an investigation. He recommended Vance be reprimanded but not terminated. The report noted Vance acted in a way that was possibly appropriate for a person who is a parent, but not for someone in a position as director of schools.
 

Giordano’s report did not provide sufficient cause to terminate Vance. He recommended Vance be given a written reprimand for violation of the BOE’s harassment policy and receive corrective instruction related to his actions.
 

“We’ve got a lot of great teachers and we’ve got a lot of great supervisors and we have an excellent school system,” Scott Newman, school board member, said. “Like I said, this has been a little bump in the road. We need to get it behind us and move forward and start showing all the good things that are going on in our school system. It’s overshadowed everything. That’s all about everybody talks about. They don’t talk about the testing and all the good scores we’ve made, they’ve been talking about this.”