Board Approves 180-Day Calendar; Buddy Cain Is Principal
Members of the Jasper County Board of Education voted to approve a 180 day calendar for the 2017-2018 school year at their business meeting Tuesday night. This is the first complete calendar with no furlough days since the 2010-2011 school year.
With the approved calendar school will begin for students on August 11, 2017 and the last day of school will be May 25, 2018. The teachers will now have all of their planning days back (six) with teachers returning to school on August 3, 2017. Spring break will be the last week of March, the 26-30.
The board also voted to approve Charles “Buddy” Cain as the Principal of Jasper County High School (JCHS). His position was slated to begin yesterday in this role. Mr. Cain was in attendance at the meeting and thanked everyone for the opportunity and said that he would continue working toward the Charter standards and move seamlessly into the next year.
Also during the meeting the board handled a ton of business and worked on the budget for FY17. The board heard from Jessica Moore, a student at JCHS, that received an invitation to attend the International Science Fair as an observer, the first ever from Jasper County.
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Miss Moore shared, very enthusiastically, her project that she’s been working on in bio-technology with teacher, Elizabeth Proctor on Lichens and their genotype. She explained to the board and those in attendance about the steps it took to get Lichen’s identified by type—as they have no genetic code and is an innovative and modern science that’s being researched. She took the board through the steps of her project, adding the successes and the failures that occurred with her research.
Miss Moore scored less than one point under the winner of the state competition and was recognized by the judges and chosen to attend UCLA and do a research fellowship.
Ms. Proctor told the board how proud she is of Jessica and that all 15 of the students in the class were chosen to compete at state. She also stressed the amount of actual scientific research that had been put into the project, and that should the research continue Jessica has the chance to be published for finding the classifications of local Lichen.
The board also heard from Regina Nance, teacher and representative of the Jasper County Primary School’s Governance Team. She stated that the SGT had been busy looking at school data on performance and saw that the students were performing better while rigor has been increased. She said that the SGT has asked for a full time media specialist and for increased art and music programs to fuel STEAM at the primary levels.
The board also heard from Perry Hyde on sewage issues at both the bus shop and Rose Bowl field. Mr. Hyde stated that the septic tank at the bus shop would be replaced and everything completed on that project by the middle of next week.
At Rose Bowl, Mr. Hyde, told the board that he’d done some additional research and got an estimate of $75,000 to fix all of the plumbing issues there. He said that the work hadn’t been put out to bid, so that was just one estimate. Currently the field needs the home rest rooms and concession lines/sewers repaired as well as the field house/visitor’s side bathrooms assessed and replaced for the water pressure and drainage issues.
There was much discussion from board as to that amount money being put into Rose Bowl with the hopes of a new stadium being constructed in the future. The board asked Mr. Hyde to look into a long term rest room facility, similar to the one at the baseball field and to bring other options to the table.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Newton also asked that the project be put out to bid to see what other prices came in. Board member Lewis Rice commented that the board needed to advertise these bids better as no one sees them looking just at the school’s website and Facebook pages.
The board also heard from Dan Kelley, Executive Director of Technology for the schools, on a three year technology plan that focuses on replacing the core infrastructure, actual devices in student’s hands, devices for administration, lab updates, and presentation technologies. He told the board that the refresh cycles would enable the board to better budget and to get the most use from technology while getting the most life for the cost.
Other items discussed include:
•RaNae Fendley told the board that AdvancED would be at the school starting Monday, May 8. She gave them a printout of what they are looking for when they come into the schools.
•Heard from Kristie Brooks on Summer STEAM camps being offered this summer. There will be 12 camps occurring June 6-22.
•Recognized Young Georgia authors from Jasper County. There was one representative on the finalist list from each school in the district
•Heard about March MAP Projections and that the students in grades 3–8 were retested to see projected growth going into the Milestones that begin this week
Board members also approved the following personnel items:
Professional personnel contracts for FY18 that were approved include Kimberly Barkemeyer, Kraig Hawkins, and Lisa Perry at WPES; Tyson Harty, Lionel Taylor, and Stephanie Willocks at JCHS, and Jessica Babb, Mary Sue Carter, Vickie Crutchfield, Lauren Deck, Deborah Edwards, Lynn McWaters, Brenda Nelson, and Kristen Pierce for PreK/Headstart.
The retirement of Annette Howard, attendance clerk at Washington Park Elementary School (WPES).
They approved the hiring of Meagan Richardson, PEC teacher at JCPS; Janet Hudson, teacher at JCMS; Amy Fontaine, Spanish teacher, Caleb Fontaine, science teacher, Marc Richardson, English teacher, and John Scruggs, agriculture teacher, all for JCHS. Also hired was Dawn Miles, substitute food assistant.
Resignations received include: Shawne Holder, Adam Bryant, Lenrose Fears, David Felsberg, Latia Little, Karen L. Martin, and Justine Martin.
Transfers within the system include Jeanie Lockett, teacher from WPES to JCMS; and Emma Greenway Tillman, attendance clerk, from JCMS to JCPS.
