With a vote tied at 3-3, the Clarksville-Montgomery County Board of Education had difficulty electing one of its members as Board of Education Chairman on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Since 2022, Kent Griffy, a Republican, has served as chairman and Jimmie Garland, a Democrat, has served as vice chairman.

During Tuesday’s meeting, School Board Attorney Mark Nolan led the nominations and votes and accepted nominations for both Griffy and Garland for the chair position.

Votes for Griffy included three Republicans: Griffy, Chris Lanier and Aron Maberry. Three Democrats voted for Garland as chairman, including Garland, Carol Berry and Herbert Nelson.

Education Committee member Kacie Bryant, a Republican, was absent due to a death in her family.

Three votes resulted in a 3-3 tie, with equal votes cast in each round.

Nolan reopened the floor for chair nominations, which went to board members Griffy and Garland.

The fourth vote, 3:3, changed nothing.

“We’re at an impasse,” Nolan said. “There are only six of you. Has anyone changed their mind?”

In a stalemate, Nolan said there was no further guidance and therefore suggested a member make a motion to postpone the vote until the October meeting.

Lanier made the request and Berry received a second request.

The motion passed unanimously 6-0. Nolan said the item would be placed on the agenda for October, with Griffy and Garland retaining their current positions.

This was the first formal meeting of the CMCSS Board of Education since Bryant and Lanier were installed as board members following the August election. Griffy was re-elected this year.

Awarded with the Blue Ribbon

CMCSS school director Dr. Jean Luna-Vedder was pleased to announce that CMCSS’s Spanish Immersion Elementary School at Barksdale Elementary is one of six schools in Tennessee recognized as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School.

The school honored by the U.S. Department of Education recognized the CMCSS school based on its overall academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

“Out of approximately 1,700 public schools in the state of Tennessee, only six schools received this award this year,” Luna-Vedder said. “Nationwide, 356 schools were recognized out of approximately 90,000 public schools.”

Luna-Vedder added that CMCSS is one of three school districts in the state to receive consecutive National Blue Ribbon Awards, one in 2023 and this year’s National Blue Ribbon School award in 2024.

Williamson County and Oak Ridge school districts were the other two districts with recognized schools in both years.

CMCSS Middle College at Austin Peay received the award in 2023.

According to Luna-Vedder, the two CMCSS schools named Blue Ribbon Schools were the first two schools in the district’s history to receive the designation.