The Jefferson County Board of Education is discussing a preliminary decision regarding the separation of Gardendale schools, but their conclusions are not yet available to the public.

The board met for more than hour today in executive session — a meeting closed to the public and the media — to talk about a “preliminary submission sent to us from the state superintendent regarding a dispute resolution,” said Jefferson County Schools Supt. Dr. Craig Pouncey today following the board meeting.

State Supt. Dr. Tommy Bice was brought into the separation discussion after Pouncey and Gardendale City Schools Supt. Dr. Patrick Martin could not agree on certain aspects of the separation agreement.

The details of the disputed items were initially not revealed, but Gardendale officials have reportedly released some details to other media outlets, including a supposed requirement for the Gardendale City School System to pay $8 million to the Jefferson County School System.

Pouncey on Monday would not reveal details of the discussions.

Both school systems have until Feb. 20 to respond to Bice.

“The dispute resolution process has always worked well. We are going to trust that process,” said Pouncey. “We’re in the position of trying to review some of the preliminary segments of that resolution and are preparing to submit back to the state what our final position will be on this dispute resolution process.”

Pouncey said there is “no standard template that has been used in every separation that has occurred.”

He added that the current discussions with the state “speaks for the future of all county boards of education” because city school systems have more flexibility when deciding which students they will accept for enrollment.

“Our whole board’s actions in the last several weeks have been to reestablish those relationships with our municipal governments in this county,” Pouncey said. “Because the strength of our district, the strength of our communities, are the strongest when we work together. And that’s what we’ve really been focused on.”

After receiving the Jefferson County and Gardendale boards’ response to the preliminary decision, Bice then has until Feb. 23 to issue a final decision regarding the details of the separation agreement.