School Board Approves Calendars
Members of the Jasper County Board of Education adopted the school calendars for next year during their regular meeting Tuesday evening at the board office on College Street.
The student calendar is 178 days, with the first day for students being Wednesday, August 6, and the final day being Friday, May 22.
The calendar includes a week holiday at Thanksgiving and two weeks for the Christmas/New Year’s break, as well as a Friday and Monday for fall and winter breaks. There are a total of 12 workdays for teacher with the first six coming before school starts, with teachers reporting July 29. Supt. Kenny Garland explained some of the other breaks come at the end of a grading period, and one or more will be used for professional development. There are also calendars for teachers and other personnel for 185 days going up to 230 days for those employees who work year-round.
In addition, the board approved the calendar for board meetings for 2025 into 2026.
At the beginning of the meeting, the board saluted the math departments at the middle school and high school for exemplary performance last year (see related story, page 6).
They heard from Misty Garvin about standards-based grading review. She explained that through second grade children’s report cards show Meets Standard, Progressing, or Improvement Needed. She said that when children get to the third grade and have traditional A, B, C, D, F, sometimes parents are surprised and didn’t realize their child was behind. She, along with the board, individual schools, and the school governance teams will look at this, and determine if they want to change they way they grade in first and second grades.
The board heard from Supt. Kenny Garland about HB 581 which relates to how property is evaluated and therefore how taxes are levied. He said there is a way to opt out, and shared some pros and cons of opting out. He said more information will be forthcoming next month and urged the board members (including incoming) to educate themselves on the bill.
The board approved the consent agenda without question. It involved minutes, field trip requests, fund raising requests, and use of facilities requests. In addition they approved declaring surplus the old chairs from the board room.
They approved two personnel moves before adjourning the meeting in less than an hour. They agreed to hire Aubrey Wyatt as a teacher. Ms. Wyatt has been working since the start of school, but her status has been approved working on a provisional certificate which affects her status. They also accepted the resignation o f Veronica Blayton, a high school teacher.