The news: Bartlett City Schools’ Board of Education is putting the superintendent search on its next work session agenda. On Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m., the board is scheduled to take a first reading of revised Policy 1031 (Recruitment and Selection of Superintendent) and consider a Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA) Superintendent Search Contract.

Where: The work session is listed for the Working Conference Room at 5705 Stage Road, the district’s administrative campus. The public agenda is posted on the board’s BOEconnect page.

Why it matters: Superintendent Dr. David A. Stephens has said he will retire effective June 30, 2027. He is the only superintendent Bartlett City Schools has had since the district formed in 2014. Choosing a successor is the elected five-member board’s job — and this agenda is the first clear public sign of how that search may start. (We covered Stephens’ announcement here.)

What’s on the agenda: Under Board Action Items, the Nov. 12 work session lists:

  • VII.A. First reading — revised Policy 1031: Recruitment and Selection of Superintendent
  • VII.B. TSBA Superintendent Search Contract

Staff action items that night also include a textbook selection committee and school support organizations. The board’s usual reports (chairman, superintendent, general counsel, TLN, and finance) are listed ahead of those items.

What a first reading means: A first reading is not final adoption. The posted agenda does not spell out the policy language or the TSBA contract terms, so we are not guessing those details here. Watch the meeting — and any packet attachments that become publicly available — for the actual text and any board discussion.

What’s next: We’ll follow the Nov. 12 work session for what the board does with Policy 1031 and the TSBA contract, then any later business-meeting votes. Regular board business meetings are typically the fourth Thursday of the month in the auditorium at the same Stage Road address.

Sources: Bartlett City Board of Education work session agenda, Nov. 12, 2026 (meeting 776635); Bartlett City Schools Board of Education meetings; Bartlett Report: Stephens retirement.

Photo: Bartlett City Schools (Altruria Elementary groundbreaking; same district photo used with our Stephens retirement coverage)