(The Pierce County Board of Education discussed and/or voted on the following during their monthly work session, Thursday, November 6 and their regular monthly meeting Monday, November 10.
Closed session and personnel:
The board adjourned into a nine minute closed session to discuss personnel. After the session, the board voted to hire Christy Walker and Herschel Wooten as custodians at the high school, Madeline Whitley as custodian at the middle school and Amber Steedley as a bus driver. Avery Jernigan was approved to teach four blocks at the high school. Josh Harris was approved as a boys community basketball coach at the middle school and Megan Nix was approved as a competition cheer community coach at the high school. The board also accepted the resignations of Rebecka Insalaco as a custodian at the high school and Courtney Grace and Lora Taylor as school nutrition assistants. At Monday’s regular meeting, the board approved the resignation of Kimberly Connell, administrative secretary and Cheyenne DeJaynes, paraprofessional, both at Patterson Elementary.
Handicap bus bids:
Yancey Bus Sales of Macon was awarded the bid for a handicap bus at $168,950, even though they were not the low bidder. Bids were also received from Peach State Truck Centers of Jefferson in the amount of $156,275 and Rush Truck Centers of Atlanta in the amount of $166,000. Transportation director Jamie Henderson explained the International model Rush bid has frequent maintenance issues with air conditioners on the bus. The 2026 Thomas built model Peach State bid is cheaper, but it is a smaller bus with only 42 seats, lower than the 66 seats the bid specs asked for. Fourth District Board Member Wendy Puryear asked if the board could ask Yancey to meet the lower bids in an effort to save the school system money. Board Attorney Dan Bennett Jr. said the other companies would have to be given the same opportunity to lower their price for the bid process to be fair. Henderson said the new bus will replace the current handicap bus which is a 2017 model and has over 220,000 miles on it.
Evaluation and assessment instruments:
The board approved its Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) evaluation and assessment instruments. The instruments are what the board uses to assess its performance each year.
Consent agenda: Several items were approved under the consent agenda. They include:
• approval of its meeting schedule for 2026. (See related story.)
• approval of a memorandum of understanding between the Pierce County Schools and Pierce County Law Enforcement Agencies including the sheriff's office, Blackshear Police and Patterson Police.
• approval of a first reading for use of electronic devices in school and equality in sports. The electronic policy will reflect the change next year that will not allow use of electronic devices during school hours for grades K8. The equality in sports reflects the changes to sex equity rules in athletics.
• approval of a partnership agreement with Valdosta State University to allow its educator candidates to receive clinical experience in Pierce County Schools. It will also be a teacher recruitment tool. The partnership is renewed for 10 years through 2035.
• approval for the school nutrition program to list cafeteria tables as surplus and to solicit sealed bids for the items.
Reports: Finance Director Melanie Helms gave the system’s financial report. Revenue was at $6.29 million, while expenses were $7.97 million. The school system has a reserve of about $16.6 million. Helms reported the system’s sales tax revenue was $279,920 in September up about $20,100 from August. Helms also provided board members with an activity report for all schools. The board approved the financial report. Facilities director Harbin Farr asked for clarification on the installation of new canopy at the high school softball field. The item is soon to be put out for bids. He also reported that a walk through will be done on painting the field house. He also said flooring at Midway would be reworked during Thanksgiving break.
Public participation: There was no public participation.
Minutes: The board approved minutes for its October meetings.
Information: Superintendent Dara Bennett announced Nov. 21 will be an early release day. The school system will be closed for students and staff Nov. 24-28 for Thanksgiving. She also announced the Georgia School Board Association’s (GSBA) annual conference will be held Dec. 2-5 in Atlanta. Schools and the central office will also be closed Dec. 22, 2025-Jan. 2, 2026 for Christmas holidays.
Next meetings: The next work session will be at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Dec 2. The meeting is being moved up two days due to the GSBA’s annual conference to be held in Atlanta. Local school board members will be attending the conference for training. The next regular meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 8. Both meetings will be held at the central office.
