Board Approves Calendar, Offers Contracts

Members of the Jasper County Board of Education approved the FY19 school calendar during their business meeting Tuesday night. They voted to pass a full calendar of 180 days for students and 190 days for teachers.

With the passing of the FY19 calendar the FY19 school year will begin on August 10 for students. There will be six pre-planning days for staff with the Convocation being on August 6, and with school safety the topic of many discussions and onsite safety training held with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office. Open House is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 8.

Spring Break will be the first full week of April next year as faculty was polled and the response overwhelming—at almost 91 percent —for that week. This week will give students four weeks of uninterrupted instruction prior to end of year testing. With the current calendar the students have five weeks of uninterrupted instruction.

In addition to the calendar the board approved the below contract renewals for FY19. Those teachers receiving an offer for contract renewal include by school include:

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Jasper County Primary School (JCPS) – Tricia Akin, Amanda Allen, Rebecca Ammons-Warren, Kimberly Attaberry, Keicha Bridges, Lyn Brown, Brittney Bryant, Melanie Cagle, Elizabeth Cain, Amanda Cheek, Patricia Coady, Ashley Cole, Deirdre Copelan, Delta Corrigan, Kevin Crabb, Karen Dotson, Pam Edge, Jena Fowler, Courtney Greene, Stephanie Hays, Patti Hobby, Lois Jackson, Regina Jackson, Amanda Jenkins, Brittany Kimble, Shelley Kirchner, Joan Lackey, Suzanne Lindsay, Alicia Lindsey, Nanette Manning, Lynn Matthews, Sandra Lee McDonald, Shakeirra Middlebrooks, Shannon Moore, Camilla Moss, Tonya Newton, Rachael Pitts, Jessica Ravenel, Meagan Richardson, Laurie Robinson, Kimberly Savage, Autumn Warner, Vickie Vickers (49%), and Shanon Willard.

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Washington Park Elementary School (WPES) – Sandra Adkison, Eunice Blackmon, Allison Booth, Deanna Briscoe, Marie Brown, Shawna Clemons, Ashley Coplan, Kimberly Couch, Elisabeth Dignan, Brandy Fair, Alexis Grzybowski, Chassidy Hoffman, Erin Kinard, Christi McDaniel, James McMichael, Sonja Morris, Amanda Norris, Kimberly Ragan, Jessica Sargent, Laura Smith, Susan Stone, Karen Taylor, Deloris Thomaston, Laura Thompson, Shelley Tingler, Ashley Turner, Amy Wade, and Jamie Whittaker.

Jasper county Middle School (JCMS) – Mindy Andrews, Mandie Behling, Kamwanya Belle, Amanda Billings, Tomasa Bowden, Arvel Buck, Pamela Burkhead, Caroline Button, Clarissa Cavender, Michele Celani, Scotti Ann Cummings, Dionka Davis-Jackson, Yelberton Frazier, Joan Frix, Justin Hamby, Mary Harris, Janet Hudson, Rydell Jackson, Jerri James (49%), Mary Key, Jeanie Lockett, Ashley Long, Cheryl Marrett, David Pritchett, George Roberts, Laura Rolader, Anita Ryan, Hattie Sands, James Schulte, Carol Shell, Mary Tumlin, Angie Lee Willis.

Jasper County High School (JCHS) – Frank Altschul, Suzanne Arena, Patty Cole, Michael Cooper, Amy Cox, John DeGarmo, Charles “Buddy” Cain, Amy Fontaine, Caleb Fontaine, Jennifer Fowler, Bonnie Garvin, John Graybill, Tyson Harty, Douglas Huff, Ethan Huff, Heather Huff, Matt Hyde, Cheryl Jacobs, Chris Jenkins, Breanne Jones, Karen Martin, Matthew Martin, Kelly Maybin, Christie McAlum, Phillip Meadors, Johnnie Sue Moore, Alicia Moore, Lianna Nix, Denise Parker, Brian Patrick, Christopher Pennamon, David Pittman, Elizabeth Proctor, Peyton Proctor, Andrew Rewis, Mark Richardson, Bobbi Sauls, Angela Savage, Christopher Savage, Amy Scroggs, John Scruggs, Jessica Sills, Jim Strength, Lionel Taylor, Matthew Tumlin, Stephanie Willocks.

Jasper County Pre-Kindergarten and Headstart – Jessica Babb, Mary Sue Carter, Vickie Crutchfield, Deborah Edwards, Cynthia Jackson, Lynn McWaters, Brenda Nelson, and Kristen Pierce.

Central Office – Kristina Brooks, RaNae Fendley, Angela Gordon (49%), Rebecca Guyton, Kathleen Hatchett, ty Snyder, Ella Walker (49%), Cora Whidby (29%), Jerry Williams and Leigh Wright.

On other personnel approvals from Tuesday, the board approved the following new hires, Stephanie Dean, Paraprofessional (PEC), WPES; Kimberly Rabun, Lisa Simmons, Bionka Hargrove, Substitute Teachers. Also, Tiffany Nix, Substitute Bus Monitor, and Barbara Stockton, Substitute Bus Driver.

In addition the board also approved the FY19 Headstart grant totaling $633,822 for the next school year.

During the board work session on Thursday of last week, the board voted on personnel after coming out of executive (closed) session. The approved actions include:

New Hires: Stacey Moran, MaryAnne Hinkle and Stephanie Hayslip, Teachers at JCMS; Armanda Sands, Teacher, WPES; Simeco Vinson, Instructional Coach, WPES; Christina Hess, Paraprofessional, JCHS; Brandy Flynn and Tiffany Ingram, Substitute Custodians.

Resignations were received and approved from Shelby Varchmin, Dana Holloway, Zachary Norris, Neal Banks, Elizabeth Pratt, Kimberly Barkemeyer, and Francis Pompey.

Joshua Stone, PEC (non-certified) Teacher, transferred to PEC Paraprofessional at WPES. Brady McMichael, Teacher, JCMS transferred to WPES. Scotti Ann Cummings, Teacher, transferred from JCHS to JCMS and Stacey Bloodworth transferred to a PEC teacher at WPES from Paraprofessional.

Sabrina Harris, Bus Driver, was terminated.

During the business meeting on Tuesday the board heard from the JCHS School Governance Team (SGT) regarding progress, concerns, and highlights from the school. Representatives discussed that the SGT was spending time focused on preparing students for life outside of high school and getting parents into the school for knowledge and involvement.

They boasted that there had been two Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) nights where parents could come in and have assistance in completing the application for which all students need to have completed for any financial aid, including the HOPE Scholarship. They said that they’d assisted 39 families between the two nights.

The SGT also informed that board that they hosted a “High School Your Way,” informational on dual enrollment and CTAE offerings for students. They said that 68 families had attended those sessions which included showcasing classrooms and dual enrollment information.

The board was told that the school counselors had taken students to see four different colleges including, Georgia College & State University (GCSU), Georgia Military College (GMC), Athens Technical College and Kennesaw State University. The justification of these visits were to show 131 students a variety of college life experiences. They noted that 70 students had been accepted to southern schools to date.

Some concerns that the SGT members had were regarding speaking to the public about the athletic complex. They said that they had met with Superintendent Dr. Mike Newton for information and clarity.

Another concern was make-up days for those missed during Hurricane Irma. They were primarily concerned with the missed Economics test – but were elated when the scores from the test increased significantly from last year.

This year 56 percent of those tested received a score of 3-4. This is up from 25 percent in that same range last year and above the state average.

Those who tested within the 2-4 range (with 2 being passing) increased as well with 84 percent scoring in that range. The state average for those criteria were only 72 percent.

One of the outstanding concerns with school safety was the outdated phone and panic button systems. There was discussion about the main phone line and it being unable to be repaired due to costs and being so far out of date.

They also wanted to know about cameras and a monitoring system for the front doors of the school. The board informed the SGT that they were discussing that in the budget work session that followed the meeting, and it was discussed at length at the previous work session.

Some of the new items presented included the need of a new ELA teacher or at least a 49 percent teacher. They stressed that the Charter focus was on ELA and Science and literacy was a focus especially when it came to class sizes.

They also wanted to see what could be done about recruiting and hiring minority teachers. They stressed that that was a number one focus and priority to the SGT. They questioned what we were doing wrong and what we could do to attract those people.

They also mentioned the question of board members rotating on and off the board. They commended the board for all of the training that they’d experienced stating that they were more understanding of budget and finance now.

In a positive close to their presentation the SGT complimented the sports teams doing well and the work with Jones County on the STEAM campus talks. They also spoke to the silk screen that was put in around the student parking to keep the dirt from washing down into the parking lot.

Their biggest compliment of the night included that of the Title I walk through that was done at the school and how great those that participated felt about it. This was an unannounced visit and all of the teachers were welcoming, according to the SGT. It was noted that the public commented that “they felt involved and more of stakeholder,” after the visit and that there was the sense of “empowerment” felt from seeing things first hand.

In the financial review of the meeting, Dr. Newton informed that board that they had moved forward with the purchase of the bleachers and the spiral duct for the JCMS gym renovations that were recommended by Perry Hyde, Facilities and Maintenance Director, at the work session. This is an addition to the already underway larger project at that school.

The next board meetings are a board work session on April 19, 2018 at 6 p.m. and Business meeting on April 24, also at 6 p.m.

The board then moved into FY19 budget discussions that will be covered in a separate story.