NEWPORT-After weeks of speculation, interviews, and meetings, Cocke County Board of Education members selected Cosby Elementary School Principal Manney Moore to be Cocke County Director of Schools during a called meeting last night in the Cocke County High School library.

Contract negotiations between Moore and the board will officially begin May 29 at 6 p.m. at the Central Office. If Moore and the board come to an agreement, Moore will then replace retiring Director Larry B. Blazer upon his retirement in June.

By a vote of 4-3, board members selected Moore over Cocke County Schools Vocational Director and Technical Supervisor Donnie Frazier. The two had been named the frontrunners in the selection process after Tuesday evening's final round of interviews.

Voting for Moore were board members Richard Coggins, Dr. Ken Johnson, Otha Rolen, and Randy Shults.

Casting their votes for Frazier were board members Pat Proffitt, Jerry Ramsey, and Marty Denton.

School board attorney Rob Wheeler then told the board, "By state law, you cannot negotiate a contract with your new director for more than four years. Everything else is negotiable and all the negotiations must be done in writing."

When asked by the board if they could negotiate a contract for less than four years, Wheeler replied, "Yes. You can start negotiations as a group at whatever date and time you choose to do that."

Moore, a Cocke County native, has served as Cosby Elementary School's principal since 2000. Prior to that he taught both elementary and high school subjects at Cosby Elementary and High Schools from 1993-2000.

He also coached both basketball and football at Cosby High School from 1993-2001.

A Cosby High School graduate, he attended Maryville College and later obtained his teaching certification from ETSU. He also holds a Masters of Education in School Administration and an Educational Specialist degree in Administration and Supervision from Lincoln Memorial University.

Son of retired Cocke County teachers Mike and Janie (Carver) Moore, he is married to the former Liz Lunsford, also a teacher. He and his wife have two children.

In his cover letter of application to the board for the position, Moore wrote, "The opportunity to work and make decisions to benefit Cocke County and its students would be a fulfillment of my dreams. I am truly interested in an opportunity to affect lives and share my knowledge in the field of education for the betterment of everyone involved in the school institution."

Moore called attention to the achievements of Cosby Elementary School under his leadership, naming the "addition of a reading intervention program, science lab, math lab, and innovative scheduling process to add planning time to teachers' schedules" as specific points of his successful tenure there.

"As a leader, I know that I could motivate everyone involved in the school system and allow my passion for education to be passed on to future generations," Moore added.

In earlier action during the meeting, board members unanimously passed a motion by Shults, seconded by Rolen, to increase the price of elementary school lunches from $1.75 to $2.00 and the costs of high school lunches from $2.00 to $2.25 for the 2008-2009 school year.

Members also accepted Brockwell Construction Company's low bid of $148,524.00 for the construction of an elevator at Cocke County High School, with the money to be taken from BEP funds.

Members named Donnie Frazier, Wilbur West, Paul Cogburn, and Eddie Surber as management personnel and Kathy Holt, Andre Collier, and Dennis Balch as substitute management personnel.

On a motion by Rolen, seconded by Shults, the board approved the extended utilization of three school buses with 12 years of experience.

After a motion by Johnson, seconded by Rolen, the board officially named Wednesday, May 28, as the last school day for students and Thursday, May 29, as the last school day for teachers for the 2007-2008 school year, thereby making up two days missed for snow earlier in the year.

The school director received approval to advertise for bids for motor oil, anti-freeze, transmission and chassis grease, custodial supplies, and system insurance.

Earlier in the meeting the following teachers were recognized for having achieved tenured status: Meka Henderson and Sara Gray (Centerview), Andy Anders, Rick Drybread, Robert Mathis, Carol Johnson, Matt McNealy, and Kathy Sotelo (CCHS), Wendy Haney (Cosby High), Nathan Chambers and Teresa Robertson (Edgemont), Gary Bateman, Lisa Byrd, Cynthia Carmichael, and Jill Sampson (Northwest), Randy Bethea and Jodi Byrd (Cocke County Vocational), Holly Krieger, Melissa Walton, Larissa White, and Teri Williams (Cosby Elementary), Katie Fletcher (Del Rio), Heather Ball and Sandra Knight (Grassy Fork), and Pam Atha, Shari Perryman, and Dennis Wilds (Parrottsville).

School adoption contracts between Grassy Fork Elementary School, The Farm Market, and Uptowne Rental were signed prior to the meeting.