School Board Approves New Hires

The Jasper County Board of Education approved several personnel items at its regular meeting last Tuesday as it is that time of year for contract renewals. The board approved extending a contract to Kelly Burke, teacher at Jasper County Middle School (JCMS).

The board also approved the following new hires— Cynthia Duffey, Jasper County Primary School teacher; Rebecca Whittle, paraprofessional for Washington Park Elementary School (WPES); Heather Shirley, WPES custodian; Cynthia Rountree, eighth grade teacher at Jasper County Middle School (JCMS); Alan Shurling, teacher at Jasper County High School (JCHS), and Gary Anglin, JCHS paraprofessional.

Other new hires include Celeste Welch, Speech Language Pathology; Mary Richardson, School Nutrition Supervisor, Amber Upright, substitute teacher; and Brittany Finger, substitute custodian.

Two retirements were approved and include Ty Snyder, Executive Director of Teaching & Learning, and Karen McWaters, Jasper County preschool teacher.

Resigning from their positions include Samatha Wilcox, Tiffany Salembier, Alex Smith, Brian Patrick, and Victoria Ross.

Those moving to new positions within the system include:

•Shawn Dean, to teacher from paraprofessional at WPES.

•Tracy Glawson, to teacher from teacher assistant at WPES.

•Josh Stone, to teacher from paraprofessional at WPES.

•Ardasia Benton, from PT to FT Paraprofessional at Jasper County Preschool.

•Shannon Moore, to PEC Teacher from teacher at JCPS.

During the regular board meeting Tuesday, the board heard from Pat Matthews, Student Governance Team (SGT) chair for Jasper County Middle School.

Ms. Matthews highlighted important happenings in the middle school including:

Using Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) to look at defining behavior and working to have awards streamlined. Some of the most recent awards included a field day last fall, a skate day where over 300 students participated; and a spring field day. Also, due to these awards JCMS has seen a significant decrease in behavior referrals especially in eighth grade, she said.

AngieLee Willis has reviewed and studied federal documents. She has also researched the number of parents participating in parent surveys, the implementation of online and paper surveys and how to get more parent involvement

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Some of the ideas to keep parents engaged include family engagement nights to review federal programs and combining sports banquet nights with parent engagement nights to “get the parents while they’re already here.”

JCMS is searching for a new principal as Cheryl Marrett is retiring at the conclusion of the current year. The SGT has looked at faculty surveys and met and discussed with incoming superintendent Kenny Garland regarding what specifics they are looking for which includes leadership skills, concern for students, good communicator, and someone that communicates well with the community.

The SGT has continuously been training. Trainings included Cloud Campus, MAP data (looked at data reviewed and determined next steps for students), and MAP data in conjunction with Con academy. Con Academy is a program that will coordinate with MAP and will allow teachers to create groups based on data.

Budget has been a continuous learning and training with the SGT. The SGT also asked to send a representative or to the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL) Conference and the Charter Schools Conference.

The board heard from Dr. RaNae Fendley on attendance. She said that at the 150th day of school the absentee percentage was 18.4 percent. She said that the number of unexcused absences was down significantly, but the end of the year goal was 20 percent or less and that the schools would be close if not over that at conclusion of the year.

Perry Hyde gave the board an update on the JCHS Athletic Complex stating that it is still moving, but running behind schedule because of the earlier weather. The current work includes getting grass on the fields to be that much closer to finishing up the baseball and softball complex. Mr. Hyde is hoping to turn the fields over to the softball team in July.

When asked about when it may be ready for football, Mr. Hyde replied “we’re hoping for the end of September with Rabun County game or October 1 with the Putnam County game.”

Currently the field house undergrounds are going in and the slab for the visitors’ locker room should begin next week, according to Mr. Hyde. He also said that the track is scheduled to start around May 1, and the fence people will come in May 1st and then on the schedule is the sidewalk and the baseball/softball complex bleachers.

After the update the recommendation was made to approve moving around money, the approval of two change orders was made. The orders included adding the retaining wall for the bleachers and the funds to come out of contingency. The $75,000 footers for the foundation for the bleachers and retaining wall required were budgeted at around $30,000 so the additional $45,000 was paid out of contingency.

After the bleachers were paid for there was still $195,000 still in contingency according to Anne Harrison, Finance Director. She did note that there were still outstanding items for the project that had yet to be awarded. The total projected cost of the project to date came in at just under $11 million with the architect fees, according to Ms. Harrison. The board approved the recommendations for the athletic complex.

The board also got their first looks at the FY20 budget during the regular business meeting Tuesday. The budget included a first look based on projected tax numbers. The budget also included a proposed $3,000 raise for teachers and a possible three percent raise and two percent raise for those not covered under the $3,000 recommendation.

The governor recommended a 2 percent raise for those that include bus drivers, school nutrition, and nursing positions. With the projected balanced budget the numbers showed $700,297 into fund equity before any of the individual school requests were included.

After hearing each of the individual school requests the board agreed by consensus to move forward to hire two teachers for Washington Park as the largest classes are coming into third grade next year. The goal is to decrease the class size from 24-26 to 21 children per class. They also approved a 49 percent person for English Language learner and a speech aide person. Each of these positions was approved during the meeting to get the best qualified candidates as contracts are currently being extended.

Items highlighted included that equalization funds were projected to go down, but were actually increased. The systems is getting $349,000 in transportation and it costs $1.8 million to run the program; forest land money estimated to received 75 percent of what was received previously. The biggest expenditure is $19,365,000 for salary and benefits and is the bulk of the expenditures.

The next board work session will combine with the SGT’s for training on May 14, at 6 p.m. The board business meeting is scheduled for May 21 at 6 p.m.