The Tennessee Department of EducationAlternative Education Advisory Council approved its May meeting minutes, elected new officers and accepted minor bylaw revisions at its recent business session.

Janetta (Susie) nominated Josiah Holland for vice chair, and with no other nominations the council conducted a roll call vote; the executive secretary later announced, “Josiah Holland will assume the role of vice chairperson and Brian Douglas will assume the role of secretary for the council”. Josiah verbally accepted the nomination during the meeting. Josiah Holland is director of the Williamson County Alternative Learning Center; Brian Douglas is a student-support supervisor for Cobb County Schools and principal of several alternative programs.

Before the officer votes, the council approved May minutes by voice vote (the transcript records members responding in the affirmative) and then opened nominations for the two offices. Leslie Watson, the councilexecutive secretary, read the bylaws that govern elections and noted that a vice-chair vote effectively commits a member to a two-year role because the vice chair assumes the chair position the following year.

Council members also reviewed and agreed to several limited bylaw changes. The edits approved on the record included making the annual report to the governor available "upon request" rather than requiring submission every year; permitting electronic delivery of minutes rather than insisting on hard copies; updating remote participation language from "conference call" to "virtual"; and adding email as a valid method for members of the public to submit requests to speak. Legal counsel recommended changing distribution language to "commissioner or designee" to reflect how policy-team materials are typically shared.

The meeting concluded with the executive secretary confirming election results and thanking staff for preparing voting scripts used to manage the process.

The council noted next procedural steps include finalizing the edited bylaw language and publishing the updated minutes and the annual report once communications approval is complete. No new policy was adopted beyond the bylaw language clarifications; these edits were procedural and intended to align council documents with current practices.