Board plans to put more police officers in schools
The budget and school buses highlighted the June meeting of the Jones County Board of Education.
The June 14 meeting was called to order by Vice Chairman Dr. Nancy Nash in the absence of Chairman Ginger Bailey.
Nash gave the opening report and spoke about the professional learning board members recently attended. She said they heard about a lot of legal issues.
“No one has all the answers for education,” she said. “We just want to keep on our No. 1 goal of student achievement.”
Board Member Kim Washburn said, when he listens to other school systems, it makes him glad to live in Jones County.
Board Member Alfred Pitts said he left the meeting with hope for education.
“I think we are finally working to fix what is going on,” he said.
Pitts went on to say he was glad to have public comments included in the board meetings.
“Parents need to have more input,” he said.
In his report, Superintendent Chip Lundy announced that new teacher orientation would take place the next morning, and new employees were also attending.
The superintendent said the Jones County Sheriff’s Office and Gray Police Department would be having Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training in two sessions July 11-12 and July 13-14 at the Calif Complex.
He said Capt. Travis Douglas and Lt. Kenny Allen would be in charge of the training.
Lundy also previewed the purchase of 10 International buses that would be coming up in the action item portion of the meeting.
The superintendent said he had been contacted by JCHS Alumni David ‘Demun’ Jones in reference to a future fundraising event. He said Jones has previously raised over $100,000 for schools. A tentative date was for the concert was Sept. 17, but he said the initial contact was to make sure there would be no objection to the event.
Pitts spoke about his concern that people understand one board member can do nothing alone. He said he wanted to assure the public that they are working together to do everything possible to make sure children are safe at school.
“I’m asking Mr. Lundy to let the experts and law enforcement look at our schools and come up with a plan to protect our students,” he said.
Pitts thanked the superintendent for the steps that have already been taken with the purchase of metal detectors.
“We are all in this together,” he added.
Board member Mike Gordon said he agreed with the school safety review.
“It’s the next logical step We need to use all means necessary to keep our students safe,” he said.
Nash commented that the Jones County Sheriff’s Office and Gray Police Department ALERRT training would work right into the effort.
Report items
Raymond James representative Tom Owens talked to board members with an update of the Education Special Option Sales Tax. He said the one-cent sales tax would run through April of 2024, and it made sense to start looking at the process to renew the sales tax.
Owens said the Jones County School System was in good financial shape with its General Fund reserves, and it made sense to earn additional funds through investments using safe and legal means. He said the federal funds that flowed during the pandemic have allowed the additional funds.
Owens said the funds were reserves and not excess. He explained that, due to regulations for government funds, local banks may not be the best place to hold the reserves. He suggested the Local Government Investment Fund or investing directly in U.S. Treasury bills.
Pitts commented about the importance of transparency with all funds received by the Board of Education, and all members agreed.
JCSS CFO Tonya Merritt presented the Finance Report for the period ending May 31, which is 91.67 percent of the school year. She said the total revenues received were $50,245,821 and total expenditures $48,133,722. The ending cash balance was $23,353,178.
Following her monthly report, Merritt went on to go over the draft budget for the next fiscal year that would end June 30, 2023. The estimated beginning fund balance is $22,805,314. The total combined estimated revenues, including tax collections, local sources and state revenue is $51,865,246, making the total of all available sources $74,670,560.
Merritt said the draft budget includes a 2 percent growth of the 2021 tax digest and the millage rate of 17.989 mills.
FY2023 expenditures for the draft budget totals $46,674,776 with the ending fund balance estimated at $17,995,784.
Nash questioned the inclusion of the Gray Police Department in the budget. She referenced an email from GPD Chief Adam Lowe, and Lundy said he had not received the email. All board members agreed they had received the email with the plan to have the additional officers in the schools.
Pitts voiced his support the additional officers.
“We need to have as much law enforcement presence as we can,” he said.
The budget will be considered for final adoption by the Board at a public hearing and called meeting at 10 a.m. June 21.
Action items
Lundy brought Board members recommendations that were all unanimously approved.
• Contract with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Math 180 at JCHS at a cost of $68,662 utilizing ESSER III Funds
• Contract with Renaissance Learning for K-8 at a cost of $30,322.46 utilizing funds from the Technology Budget
• Contract with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Saxon Phonics and Spelling Kits for Grades K-2 in the amount of $173,491 utilizing ESSER III Funds
• Renewal of Worker’s Compensation with Georgia Education Worker’s Compensation Trust with a premium of $189,143 and General Insurance renewal with Liberty Mutual Insurance with a premium of $326,634 for the 2022-2023 school year
• Contract with Atlanta Access Controls Inc to purchase metal detectors and mobile caster sets for an estimated cost of $16,517 funded from the Maintenance and Operations Budget
• Purchase of Chromebooks and license for Clifton Ridge Middle School utilizing ESSER III funds
• Board of Education meeting dates for 2022-2023
• School nutrition vendor contract bids for food products for the estimated total amount of $1,246,588 using school nutrition funds The superintendent brought the recommendation of the school nutrition director, which was the adoption of Community Eligibility Provision to allow students at the qualified schools to eat all meals at no charge. Those schools were Wells Elementary School, Clifton Ridge Middle School, Gray Elementary School and Jones County Pre-K.
Lundy’s final recommendation was to purchase of 10 International buses. JCSS Transportation Director Wendy Vaughn explained the purchases that included three propane special needs buses and four propane 77 passenger buses in addition to three 77 passenger gas buses.
The total cost of the buses was $1,243,000, but after deducting the numerous Georgia Department of Education rebates for cameras, fire suppression systems, propane and the state allotment for buses, the total cost to the county for 10 buses was $227,400.
Public comment
Simeco Vinson spoke to the board about an issue with a policy at the high school. She said if a student is sick when a test is given, the student receives a zero on the test. The speaker said she believes that puts the student at a disadvantage and would have a harmful impact.
Vinson went on to say that the policy would have a bigger impact on the segment of the student population without quality healthcare.
The meeting was adjourned to enter into closed session to discuss personnel. The next meeting of the board is a called meeting at 10 a.m. June 21 to vote on the budget. The next regular board meeting is 6 p.m. July 19.
