School Board Approves Overruns on Barn Project

The ground has been broken adjacent to Jasper County High School on the site of the new Agriculture Barn, Supt/ Dr. Mike Newton informed the Board of Education members last Thursday night during their work session.

There was further discussion and a consensus amongst the board members to continue with the project at an increased cost. Dr. Newton explained to the board Thursday that the project had to be rebid due to further research and information from Robert Cobb, FFA/Ag Teacher and Perry Hyde, Maintenance Supervisor.

The original barn was projected and approved for $79,000. The updated version of the barn will be around $102,000. The increased cost was due in part to the “skirting” around the top of the barn.

The original specs were also adjusted and after Messrs. Cobb, Hyde, Paul Kelly and Lewis Rice, board members familiar with Ag barns, all got together to discuss and review the final project.

Board member Bobby Norris asked why every meeting the cost from what was originally voted on continues to go up. The entire board agreed that for future projects more research and “homework” needed to be done before advertising for bids and the project coming in at a higher cost.

Dr. Newton commented that there had been more thorough research since that first approval including two site visits to other Ag programs, and further investigations which led to a much better facility with a longer projected lifespan.

During the regular meeting Tuesday night the board members approved Laura Stallings to be a paraprofessional at Jasper County Middle School (JCMS). This new employee was a replacement position that had yet to be filled.

The board also approved the resignation of Diane Parr, paraprofessional at Washington Park Elementary School. They also approved the retirement of Kathy Rice, bus driver and Dr. Vicki Rogers, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning.

The board then voted to approve a new paraprofessional position for JCMS that would be added to the In School Suspension (ISS) program. The reason behind this position, according to Dr. Newton, is that currently the alternative school and ISS are being held together and this is a more effective way to differentiate between the two.

Dr. Newton also told the board that the old WPES is up for bid through an online auction. He said that the auction is live and the website can be obtained from the school’s webpage and it’s also being advertised in The Monticello News.

During the work session on Thursday board members recognized Chris Savage, JCHS Band Director and the Marching Hurricanes. The senior band members and officers for the band were in attendance. Mr. Savage said, “we’ve had a great season. Marching season that is-football.” “We are now going into our concert season and have been working on things such as jazz band, and percussion ensembles.”

“This has been a fantastic group of kids, and one of my favorite groups to work with. These kids are great examples, they all got along, no complaints,” said Mr. Savage.

“We have completed our competition season as well, improving between our first and our last competitions.”

Mr. Savage went on to tell the board that both the drum major, James Sampson, and the color guard were first in their classes and were fifth out of the 21 bands in the competition.

After introduction and remarks for Mr. Savage from some of the students, he thanked the board for their continued support and invited everyone to the Christmas concert Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. and the Middle School Christmas concert Tuesday, December 10 at 7 p.m.

Mr. Norris said “I commend you all. You are the class of the region and I am proud to be a part of what you all do. I attend all of the games and there is not another that comes close to the class that this group has compared to all of the other bands.”

Over the course of the two meetings the Pre-K, Jasper Co. Primary School, JCMS and JCHS administration came and reviewed their SWOT evaluations. SWOT evaluation focus on the opinions of administrators, teachers, faculty and parents to evaluate the school on what their particular Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats are.

All of the school agreed that their top strength were the people—the faculty and staff that strive to better the lives of kids everyday.

Peyton Proctor, principal of JCPS said “our staff has about 107 employees and there is not one person on our staff that’s not 100% committed to our students and our message. They go above and beyond for me and our school.”

All of the schools noted that the lack of time and time management are weaknesses as well as an opportunity to find ways to combine paperwork and daily procedures to take some things off of teacher’s plates.

Another general weakness was math achievement, especially once kids get to the high school and are so far behind that catching up is a huge struggle, according to Robyn Mullis, principal at JCHS.

Several schools reflected that their biggest opportunities that were being worked on were gifted programs, bullying education and prevention, and ways to get parents involved.

The threats were mainly the math program and having enough staff and funding to better equip the schools with the personnel it needs to better educate the students. They also all feel that parent involvement is a threat, as well as an opportunity on some levels.