The Ware County Board of Education unanimously approved a series of routine, but consequential items during its meeting October 20.
This list included the continuation of the JROTC program at Ware County High School, a foster care transportation plan, multiple grant applications, and a package of personnel changes.
Board members present were Chairman Barry Deas, Supt. Dr. Lynn Barber, and members Rusty Ganas, Wendell Bagley, Brandi Waters, Buster Tyre and Toni Nelson.
Also present were Executive Director of Technology, Safety, and Communications Paige Coker, Executive Assistant to Superintendent Selena Tyre, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Dr. Shelli Tyre, Director of Human Resources Dr. Lezley Anderson and Director of Professional Learning and Testing Dr. Shawn Benefield.
• MOU for JROTC continuance: Board members voted to approve continuation of the Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Army for operation of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program at WCHS.
The agreement covers program administration, instructor qualifications and oversight, student participation, facilities, equipment, and student safety. The motion was made by Ganas and seconded by Tyre passed unanimously.
• FY27 Foster Care Transportation Plan: The board approved the FY27 Foster Care Transportation Plan between the Department of Family and Children Services (DFACAS) and the Ware County BOE.
The plan is intended to support educational stability for children in foster care by coordinating transportation to their school of origin when it is in their best interest.
Mrs. Nelson made the motion, which was seconded by Bagley and passed unanimously.
• Records disposal and organizational change: Dr. Anderson received approval to dispose of three boxes of employee personnel files dated 1970-2019.
The records have met the required retention period of seven years after separation under retention schedule LG-16-018.
The motion by Waters was seconded by Ganas and passed unanimously.
In a related personnel structure matter, the board approved revising the organizational chart of the Student Services division by changing the current Executive Director of Special Education and Student Services position to Director of Special Education.
The motion Tyre was seconded by Bagley and approved unanimously.
• Grant and Funding requests: The board approved several requests to seek outside funding, all of which passed unanimously on a motion by Mrs. Nelson and seconded by Mrs. Waters: ∞ David Rowland, Business and Computer Science teacher at Ware County High School, may seek up to $10,000 through the Georgia Department of Education Computer Science Teacher Equipment and Community Grant for 3D printers and electronics to support hands-on projects with existing Arduino and Raspberry Pi devices.
∞ Dr. Jennifer Strickland, Agriculture teacher at Wacona Elementary, may seek up to $5,430.19 through the GaDOE Gold Grant/Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia to equip a school greenhouse as a living laboratory for elementary agriculture students.
∞ Aimee Mancil, Media Specialist at Ware County Middle School, and Jessica Cox, Media Specialist at Waycross Middle School, may each seek up to $2,500 through the Satilla REMC SMART Grant to expand media center and classroom library collections.
∞ Jay Bennett, Agriculture teacher at WCHS, may seek up to $3,000 through the Whitetails Unlimited Grant for trail cameras, GPS units, and inert training rifles to support wildlife instruction and FFA competitions.
• Field trips, fundraisers: Field trip requests from Daffodil, Wacona, Waresboro, WCMS and WCHS were approved, as were fundraiser requests from Ruskin, Waresboro, WCMS, Waycross Middle, and WCHS. Both packages passed unanimously.
• Personnel: The board approved the classified, certified, contracted services, and coaching personnel reports. Notable items include: ∞ Classified: Employment of Elizabeth Godwin (bus driver, Transportation) and Jeniece Thornton (bookkeeper/data clerk, Memorial Drive); of Gina Bryson to full-time counselor secretary at Wacona; resignations of Jessica Griner, Chesley Lairsey and Teaia Morgan; and the retirement of John Proctor, Assistant Director of Transportation, effective December 31, 2026.
∞ Certified: Internal recommendation of Amber Smith as Special Education co-teacher at Wacona; transfer of Madison Robbins from Special Education co-teacher at Daffodil to psychologist; resignation of Ashley Vickers (science teacher, Ware High); ∞ Retirements of Andrea Douglas (media specialist, Wacona, effective February 1, 2027) and Holley Todd (instructional coach, Waresboro, effective November 1, 2026).
∞ Other: Contracted services for Lisa Durrence for Migrant Student Support (pending TRS approval), and coaching recommendations for Hunter Evans (head wrestling, Waycross Middle), Aiden Vergara (assistant swim community coach, Ware Middle), and Chad Whitley (assistant wrestling, Waycross Middle).
All personnel actions were approved unanimously on a motion by Ganas and seconded by Waters.
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