Hamilton County school board members meet at 4 p.m. Thursday for the board's second official budget work session this spring.
Also on the agenda is the pressing topic of school safety. The board met in its regularly-scheduled monthly meeting on Feb. 15, the day after last month's shooting at a Parkland, Fla. high school that left 17 dead, but the entire board has not met since to discuss school safety and gun violence.
Local officials, including law enforcement and school officials, have had conversations since the Parkland shooting regarding school safety however. The district has also begun rolling out a new visitor monitoring system from Raptor Technologies at several schools in the past few weeks, according to a news release.
The district's tobacco policy is also on the agenda this afternoon. Last month, local Hamilton County high school students mets with Hamilton County Commissioners Sabrena Smedley and Chester Bankston to discuss a comprehensive tobacco-free policy for all schools. The students are part of a statewide youth tobacco prevention movement called "TNSTRONG" which is working to prevent tobacco use across the state.
Follow staff writer Meghan Mangrum @memangrum for updates from today's meeting.