The April meeting of the Jones County Board of Education celebrated young authors and ended with the announcement of the school system’s first communications director.
At the conclusion of a closed session that lasted approximately and hour and 15 minutes, Superintendent Dr. Jessica Graves announced Adam Gillhouse as the Communications Director for JCSS.
“We are so excited. This is such a need for our school system,” she said.
Gillhouse is a CTAE teacher at Jones County High School and will officially take the position of Communications Director for the district July 1.
“Thank you for the opportunity,” Gillhouse stated. “I am humbled to be able to tell the story of our wonderful teachers and students.”
Board of Education Chairman Ginger Bailey called the April 13 meeting to order at 6 p.m. and thanked everyone in attendance.
She spoke briefly about the state legislative session.
“They didn’t do too much damage, but they tried,” the chairman said. “I sent out information every day. Many bills passed and are now on the governor’s desk.”
In her superintendent’s report, Graves began with a shout out to the hard work being done.
“We have a truly committed team doing great work,” she said.
Graves talked about the teacher of the year process and the search for a new principal for Jones County High School. She said a survey was sent to faculty and staff at the school for their thoughts about what is needed in a principal, and 79 responses were received. Number one on the survey was discipline oversight and then teacher support, administrative alignment and emotional intelligence.
The superintendent said the questions of block scheduling was asked, and 77 percent of the responders stated they were ready to move to the model.
Graves thanked the centralized enrollment team and Gray Police Department for their work and recognized Joe Evans and the maintenance team for their hard work during spring break.
The superintendent said she will complete her first 100 days in May and thanked everyone for their partnership.
Young authors
Literary Specialist Kristen Beaver led the recognition for the winners of the 2025-26 Young Georgia Authors competition.
The winners beginning with kindergarten, Kenslee Kaegi at MWES; first grade, Kiley at GES; second grade, Allie Bunn, DFES; third grade, Liam Smith, TWES, who also won second place in MGRESA; fourth grade, Autumn Allen at TWES and also won third place in MGRESA; fifth grade, Liberty Heyward at GES also won second place in MGRESA; sixth grade, Ariana Abney at CRMS; seventh grade, Abram Shinholster at GSMS; eighth grade, Addison Meares, CRMS; ninth grade, Iverson Evans, JCHS; 10th grade, Shelby Mitchell at JCHS also placed third in MGRESA; 11th grade, Sophia Johnson, JCHS; 12th grade, Kamiyah Adams, JCHS also placed third in MGRESA.
Finance report
CFO Tony Merritt presented the financial report for the month ending March 31, which is 75 percent of the school year. The total revenue is $53,210,157 and total expenditures $50,403,631. The total cash in the bank was $27,848,251.
March collections for the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax is $300,866, and the average monthly collection is $328,592.
Merritt also went over a budget amendment in the amount of $2,114,224 that included grants that are not added into budget revenues until they are funded.
Action items
Graves recommended and received unanimous approval for the contract with Imagine Learning to purchase Edgenuity Academic Integrity site licenses for Jones County High School for an estimated cost of $43,261 utilizing funds from the technology budget and the contract with ESS to provide substitute staffing and management services for the Jones County School System.
Graves recommended the renewal of the contract with K-12 Solutions Group for the infinite Campus Student Information System for the estimated cost of $69,323 utilizing funds from the technology budget. Board member Mike Gordon made the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
The superintendent recommended the approval of the contract with On Solve by Crisis 24 for the purchase of One Call Now for the Jones County School System at an estimated cost of $10,714 utilizing funds from the technology budget.
Board member Kim Washburn made the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
Graves recommended approval to renew the contract with Follett Software LLC for the Follett Destiny Resource Management System for JCSS in the amount of $10,683 utilizing funds from the technology budget. Board member Dr. Nancy Nash made the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
Graves recommended approval of the contract with AMA Speaks for the services of Anne Marie Anderson to serve as convocation speaker for the 2026-27 school year for the JCSS for an estimated cost of $10,000 utilizing funds from the general budget.
Nash made the motion to approve the contract and the motion passed with a unanimous vote.
The superintendent also recommended the approval of the following policies.
Policy JCDAF about the use of electronic devices for students. The policy states students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade are not permitted to access personal electronic devices while on school premises.
Board member Brady Skinner made the motion to approve the policy, and the vote was unanimous to approve.
Policy JCDA is about the student code of conduct. The policy states the primary goal is to educate each child in a positive and safe learning environment and spells out the authority of the principal and teachers. It also covers zero tolerance for criminal law violations and gang related activity.
Washburn made the motion to approve the policy, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Policy JBCB addressed nonresidential students, their eligibility and tuition requirements. Skinner made the motion to approve the policy, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
The fourth and final policy presented was policy IFBG about internet acceptable use. Skinner made the motion, which was also unanimously approved.
The last action item was the approval of the amended budget as presented by Merritt. Gordon made the motion to approve the amended budget, and the motion passed with a unanimous vote.
There were no public comments, and the meeting was adjourned to enter closed session at 6:45 p.m. The meeting reopened at 8:05 p.m.
Graves made the recommendation to approve the personnel items as detailed in closed session. That motion was made by Washburn. The motion was approved, but Skinner abstained from voting for one of the items than involved a family member.
All the April 13 personal recommendations can be found on the jones.k12.ga.us website.
The next meeting of the board is scheduled May 12.
