School Board Approves Tentative Calendar

The Jasper County Board of Education members approved a tentative “base” calendar for the 2016-2017 school year and it shows three more school days for students with the opportunity to possibly add additional days depending on budget. The action came during the regular business meeting Tuesday.

The additional three school days for students will equal 178 days total and 186 days for teachers. This calendar is an improvement from previous years when the district was at minus seven days. The calendar, passed Tuesday night, will have a minus four days on the regular 180/190 base calendar.

According to the tentative calendar passed, students will return to school on Friday, Aug. 5, and school will end on Friday, May 19, 2017. If the board determines that there are any additional funds to add more than the three days already included on the sample calendar, those days would be tacked on at the end of May, according to Supt. Dr. Mike Newton.

Also Tuesday, the board was presented with two bids that came in for the construction of a multi-purpose athletic facility with the low bid of $1,540,542 from International City Builders. This facility has been discussed for over a year and is proposed to add additional space to house a larger weight room, practice space for wrestling and competition cheerleading, physical education classes and storage for the band.

Dr. Newton made the recommendation that the board approve the low bid with International City Builders and to contract with them for a year so that the construction manager, architect, and others could get together to build something to fit the needs of the high school not exceed $1.1 million. He said that there was $900,000 to $1.1 million to build a facility and that he was “not comfortable and could not recommend building that facility at the $1.5.”

There was much discussion as to the cost “which is well over the initial $750,000,” according to Paul Kelly, board member. Dr. Newton explained that the board “has been looking at this project for a long time and initially the plans were to do the building for about that number.” Anne Harrison, Business and Finance Director informed the board that there was $500,000 budgeted for capital and there was another $400,000 in savings from the Jasper County Primary School (JCPS) TVAT Bond that had been paid off. “Those collections come in between $10,000-$15,000 a month,” Ms. Harrison said. Mr. Kelly pointed out that there was still $200,000 that needed come from somewhere.

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Dr. Newton assured the board that he had spoken with their attorney and that upon entering an agreement with the lowest bidder that the project could be modified to fit the school’s budget. Dr. Shannon Barton, board chair said “If we contract with them for a year, I want to be sure that we get something that we can use and that is going to benefit us. I also want those powers that be that will be using the facility to have a say so.”

Dean Rago with International City Builders was in attendance and spoke to the board and assured them that meetings on modifications and budget were a common occurrence and assured the board that once planning began that they would be in the loop because, “everyone is working for you [the board].” Mr. Rago also noted that he was a resident of Jasper County and had two children that graduated from Jasper County High School. He was grateful for the bid approval.

After much additional discussion on growth of the schools and board members being assured that they will get to see the modified structure plans Dr. Newton again made his recommendation. Mr. Kelly said, “I just can’t vote to spend $1 million without knowing what we’re getting. That $200,000 will have to come from somewhere, the taxpayers.”

Dr. Newton stated that some of the money would have to come from the FY17 budget as the facility would not be finished this fiscal year. He also gave the option of using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds for payment.

The motion was then presented with the recommendation that the board enter into a yearlong contract with the lowest bidder, International City Builders, and was passed 3-2 with board members Lewis Rice and Mr. Kelly against.

Upon additional discussion of the financial reports, the board was updated as to the local tax collections which have come in at about 90 percent, and “on track” according to Dr. Newton as the budgeted amount was close to 95 percent. Dr. Newton also added that he hoped to see the system receive its midterm adjustment come in at around $333,000 soon from the state. He noted that this will aid in making up for the salaries that came in over budget for this school year as previously stated to the board. Dr. Newton said “our salaries are more expensive this year due to recruiting qualified teachers early.”

In speaking of budget, the board agreed to the budget timeline set to work on the overall budget for the upcoming year. Dr. Newton mentioned that at the meeting on March 18, the board would get the first look at the budget during a work session. He said that he had hoped to get the state’s budget numbers soon and said that hopefully the board would see a reimbursement for $100 per classified employee with insurance in favor of the system.

During a called meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9 to review a decision made by the Student Tribunal per a parent’s request, the board also voted on personnel that included three retirees effective in May 2016. Those retirees included Linda Andrews, Paraprofessional, Jasper County Primary School; Martha Hewatt, School Food Assistant, Jasper County Primary School; Suzanne Lindsey, kindergarten teacher, Jasper County Primary School and the resignation of Valerie Fritz, a second grade teacher effective May 24.

Continuous Improvement Plan

At the conclusion of recent meetings Jasper County Board of Education members gathered to discuss the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) that focuses on four tiers of improvement for Jasper County Schools and its students.

The board generally does this review of improvements just before “budget time” begins. The four main focuses during these conversations included A (I) Academic, (II) Organization / Operations, (III) Professional Learning, and (IV) Parent / Community Involvement.

Under the academic category the board discussed focusing on attendance, literacy and mathematics. Supt. Newton stated that “we want students to be ready for whatever they choose to do after high school. We want kids to have some college under their belt if that’s what they choose. We also want to focus on those kids that are going to be career ready when they graduate.”

As far as literacy and mathematics, the board wants to focus on enabling students to excel and to promote programs such as STEAM and STEM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) that will broadly encompass what any student is interested in. There were some concerns among several of the board members, however that kids are “getting too much too fast” and would rather slow down the move on when ready (MOWR) idea.

As far as organization and operations are concerned, the board focused on AdvancedEd (formally known as SACS) accreditation. They also discussed moving forward with the multi-purpose facility that will be located at Jasper County High School.

Professional learning was explained in multiple parts that aid in tying the entire CIP together. The board members discussed literacy training and alignment of kids that need additional help and aligning students specifically with their needs. They also discussed accurate measurement of literacy from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Various tools were discussed as to how this is done and questions were asked about how measuring achievement was done currently versus what the future tools will entail.

Also with professional learning, mathematics improvement was named as a target for the district in more than one area. The board members discussed that it may take more resources and money to get the additional staff to help children after school and during school breaks. STEAM was also brought up in the discussion stated that teacher teams have been innovative in this process. Dr. Newton informed the board that teachers had been visiting other schools in Georgia that are STEM focused.

Board members asked with professional learning what they could do to become better informed. They also stated that there was still much confusion as to Jasper County schools becoming a charter system and not a charter school. The board asked if there could be a chart that compares the two that was easily accessed. Dr. Newton stressed that there were a ton of resources on the district website at www.jasper.k12.ga.us.

Professional learning also stressed the positive behavior intervention system (PBIS) which has begun to be implemented in both Washington Park Elementary School and Jasper County Primary School. This was explained during the January meeting and Dr. Newton stated that “this is a way to support individuals and cultural sensitivity to students.” Both of the schools have had positive feedback on this system thus far.

The final tier that was discussed was parent and community involvement and engagement when it comes to the children in Jasper County schools. Dr. Newton explained that the parent meetings in the community would continue. He stated that the meeting in Shady Dale was a huge success and that was what the district was looking for. Dr. Newton explained that in today’s world parents are busy and the more that the school can to do make reaching them easier and more convenient, the better.

Dr. Newton briefly discussed school governance training (SGTs), as the current School Governance Boards would be introduced as the leadership bodies of the charter system once it was final. He told the board that parents could get involved now to have some authority in future school decisions. He encouraged anyone interested to contact the schools. The boards will be made up of parents, students, community members, and faculty.