The Board of Education discussed/approved the following agenda items during the Thursday, November 6 work session and Monday, November 10 regular meeting.
• Superintendent’s update: Dr. Kim Morgan told board members about a walk-thru in the new gymnasium facility.
“We’re at about 53 percent completion on the budget,” she said. “We’ve had 16 weather days that has pushed it (completion) back to early March.
“It’s (building) just looking so good. As they (contractors) start putting more in there, we’ll schedule the board a second walk through.”
The superintendent explained to the board the annual title budgets.
“You’ll see the Title 1-A - improving the academic achievement, and then the Title V-B - Rural and Low Income Schools in your package,” said Dr. Morgan. “These are the DOE (Department of Education) budget sheets. On the far right column you can see what the money is being spent on.”
The superintendent said a majority of the Type 1 money is used for reduced class sizes, so that means for personnel at the different schools.
• Millage rate: On the recommendation of the superintendent, board members unanimously adopted the millage rollback of 15.128 based on a Net Digest Value of $454,027,002 with a bond mill rate of .61 for a combined mill rate of 15.738.
• Infinite Campus Implementation Service Agreement: Dr. Morgan’s recommendation to change from using Power School to Infinite Campus during the Thursday, November 6 6 work session was approved during the Monday regular meeting with a cost not to exceed $81,652.
“Every year we do our Power School renewal subscription,” Dr. Morgan told the board during the work session. “Through the years, we’ve had addons and its not cost efficient. We’re paying about what we would be paying for Infinite Campus.
“We’re also having more and more errors with our FTE reports and student class reports using Power School. The DOE (Department of Education) is telling us most of the errors are with schools using Power School.”
The superintendent said there is going to be a cost rise to switch to Infinite Campus in the first year.
“Switching is going to be a process and not done in a month or two,” said Dr. Morgan. “We have to decide now, because we have to go ahead and start getting ready to make that change. It’ll come out of next year’s budget.”
•Bus 151 engine rebuild: Dr. Morgan’s recommendation for the $9,055 bid from Albritton Equipment Repair was approved during the monthly meeting.
Transportation Director Jeff Johns told board members he thought “it’s smart to rebuild and use busses as long as we can,” during the work session.”
“We have rebuilt several of these busses already, and we haven’t had any issues,” he said. “We bought three busses in 2023 replaced all three of those engines under warranty. We bought nine of the 2024 year model busses and I took one to Macon today to be worked on.
“I do expect them (other eight) to fail. We have received funding for one bond bus, but I recommend waiting before we try to purchase, especially with us having to rebuild or replace these other engines.
“We’re in pretty good shape with busses, but that’s my recommendation. Just rebuild 151 for a cost of $9,000 is cheaper than replace these other engines.”
• Welch Allen Spot Vision Screener: The superintendent presented a recommendation from School Health to purchase the product for $8,699.49 and funded by Medicaid Funds.
There is a $2,000 rebate if purchased by December 31, 2025.
Board members approved the purchase during the Monday, November 10 regular meeting.
The purchase will allow students to completing vision and hearing screenings in Brantley County instead taking them outside the county.
• FY26 Title Budgets: Board members approved the recommendation of Dr. Morgan for the FY26 Budgets for Title 1-A - Improving the Academic Achieve of $1,417,928 and the FY Title V-B - Rural and Low Income Schools of $116,200.
Personnel: Following an executive session, the board approved the following recommendations from Dr. Morgan.
Retiree resignations were accepted from Assistant Superintendent/Director of Curriculum/Instruction and Assessment Dr. Angela Haney and Waynesville Primary School custodian Valerie Drury Custodian.
The board accepted the resignation of Nahunta Primary School parapro Danielle Freeman.
Board members terminated the contract of Nahunta Elementary School Media Specialist Josh Rowell.
The board approved the hiring Lauren Blankenship (nurse at WPS), Cassandra Mason (NPS parapro), Annslee Jacobs (ELA teacher at BCHS), Thomas Davenport (Sped Para EBD at BCHS, Jessica Rainey (secretary at BCHS) and Betty Sue Crews (School Nutrition Program).
