News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Clay County Director Of Schools Diana Monroe will retire at the end of February.
Monroe made the announcement during Thursday night’s School Board Meeting. Monroe said she has decided to retire to spend more time with her family.
“I want to thank everybody for your support,” Monroe said. “I have a great debt of gratitude to all the teachers, all the staff of every kind. Every time I list them all, I leave somebody out. But all the bus drivers, all the teachers, the teacher assistants, the cooks, the nurses, the SROs, just everybody and every person that works in the clay county school system at all. We sincerely appreciate everything that you’ve done.”
Monroe also thanked the three school principals as well as the Central Office Staff. She said her husband’s health a big factor in the decision to leave the system February 28.
Monroe said being the director of Clay County Schools fulfilled a dream of hers.
“It’s been an honor for me to serve the children and the teachers and all the staff of Clay County,” Monroe said.
“When you look back on it, the amount that has been accomplished in the last three years, we’ve had a lot of opportunities, but you’ve handled that very well,” School Board Chair Benji Bailey. “And we can’t thank you enough for your dedication. When you came back to the school system, not only did you bring professionalism, but experience. And that’s going to be tremendously hard to replace.”
Monroe said she has been with the Clay County School System for 38 years. She spent some 24 years in the classrooms of the school system.
“I was a general sessions judge for seven years and I guess for four months before I decided to be the director I had always wanted to do that,” Monroe said. “That had been a dream of mine for a very long time.”
In other business, the board approved a contract with E-Rate Compliance Services. The contract allows the company to handle the bid process for Internet and Dark Fiber contracts for the school.
Bailey said the school system has not had much of a choice in this area previously, but now they have more options. Bailey said multiple bids should be competitive and save the school money. The board then approved to proceed with requesting bids for internet and a dark fiber lease.
The 2024 LEA Compliance Report showed that Clay County only has one teacher who is not licensed to teach in Tennessee. Bailey said the teacher is a K-8 art teacher and is in the process of taking the Praxis exam to get licensed. Bailey said it is pretty impressive to have only one teacher not being licensed and that teacher not be a grade school teacher.
