EDUCATION
The final meeting of the school year for the Jones County Board of Education included reflections of events and appreciation for those who made the year a success.
Board Chairman Ginger Bailey called the May 14 meeting to order, and she was the first to give her report. Bailey said it was a pleasure to visit the end-of-the-year events, and it was good to see the seniors.
“I’ve enjoyed all the places I’ve gone,” she said.
Board Member Dr. Nancy Nash said it was nice to see pictures of students celebrating while end-ofyear testing was going on.
“That’s a great way to put students at ease. I appreciate all our schools do for our students,” Nash said.
Board Member Alfred Pitts said he appreciates the teachers and was glad for the recent Teachers Appreciation Week.
“It’s fine work they do. We could not do what we do without them,” he said.
In his report, Superintendent Charles Lundy said a meet and greet was held for the new Jones County High School varsity boys and girls coaches, and he appreciated the good support they received.
Lundy said there was good turnout for the Arbor Day planting of an Eastern Red Bud Tree at the Board office in honor of the memory of Linton Jordan, who served as Jones County school superintendent for 27 years.
Jordan died last year at the age of 93.
The superintendent said Senior Night was May 2 and grad walk was May 10.
“We appreciate all the support for Senior Night, and the grad walk gives the seniors a stroll down memory lane. It’s also a good example for our elementary kids,” he said.
Lundy reminded board members that graduation was at 6:30 p.m. May 21.
“You can feel the excitement at the Centennial Center,” he said.
The superintendent announced the dates of called meetings and public hearings for the upcoming budget. He said the draft 2024-25 budget would be presented at a called meeting 5 p.m. May 30, and it would be presented again at the regularly scheduled 6 p.m. June 11 board meeting. The final public hearing and the adoption of the budget will take place at 5 p.m., June 20.
Finance report
Jones County School System CFO Tonya Merritt presented the finance report for the month ending April 30, which is 83.33 percent of the school year. She said the total revenues were $53,473,490, and total expenditures were $49,434,516.
The April collections for the Education Special Local Option Sales Tax was $299,707, and the monthly average collection is $301,280.
Bailey thanked the people of Jones County for buying local.
“Our ESPLOST funds have done great things for us. It’s wonderful the way people support our school system,” she said.
Action items
• Lundyrecommended the approval of the following items, which were unanimously approved by Board members.
• ContractwithLexia Learning Systems LLC to purchase LETRS Face to Face Training Volume 2 for all Jones County Elementary Schools K-3 teachers. The estimated cost is $26,000 utilizing funds from the Professional Learning Budget
• ContractwithCDW-G to purchase 17 HP Chromebooks, Google Chrome Educational Licenses and 15 charging carts for Dames Ferry Elementary School under the Soucewell Contract for an estimated cost of $19,202 utilizing funds from Title I
• ContractwithArey Jones Educational Solutions to purchase 35 HP Desktops, 7 HP Laptops and 1 Lenovo Laptop for JCSS under the State of Georgia contract and Lenovo state contract for estimated cost of $33,214 utilizing funds from the technology budget
• ContractwithDellTechnologies to purchase 85 Dell Latitude 3540 Laptops and 80 Dell Desktops for JCSS under state contract for estimated cost of $135,115 utilizing funds from the technology budget
• ContractfromHeinemann to purchase Saxon Phonics and Spelling Kits for grades K-2 for estimated cost of $46,150 utilizing funds from ESSER III
• ContractwithHoughton Mifflin Harcourt to purchase one year subscription of Math 180 and Read 180 for Clifton Ridge Middle School, Dames Ferry Elementary School and Gray Station Middle School for estimated cost of $65,582 utilizing funds form ESSER III
• ContractfromIXL Learning to purchase IXL Site License renewal in the following subjects: ELA, Math and Science for Dames Ferry Elementary School for estimated cost $12,100 utilizing funds from ESSER III
• ContractwithProLogic ITS to purchase AV equipment and instillation for GES, MWES and TWES for estimated cost of $57,396 utilizing funds from ESSER III.
• ContractwithFollett School Solutions to purchase year two of renewal for Follett Destiny Resource Management System for estimated cost of $14,252 utilizing funds from technology budget
• Contractwith247 Security to purchase Zeus-Titan system, installation services and Live Track Activation for Jones County Transportation Department for estimated cost of $72,161 utilizing funds from transportation budget
• Approvaltoadoptresolution for the SWSS contract
• ContractwithHoward Technology Solutions to purchase District Firewall Renewal and Support Services for JCSS for estimated cost of $44,020 utilizing funds from technology budget
• ContractwithHoward Technology Solutions to purchase year two of renewal for Lightspeed Content Filter Software for JCSS for an estimated cost of $25,606 utilizing funds from technology budget
• ContractwithTyler Technologies to purchase year 3 of the annual renewal of Traversa Migration Student Software for JCSS Transportation Department for estimated cost of $15,712 utilizing funds from the technology budget
• ContractwithAceof Gray to purchase 2 Grasshopper Zero Turn Lawn Mowers for Maintenance and Operations for an estimated cost of $22,846 utilizing funds from M&O budget
• ApprovalofFY25Board Meeting/Work Session schedule
JCHS gym project
Board members Nash and Pitts had questions about one of the items presented by the superintendent. The question was the scope and cost of the JCHS renovation project connected to the contract with Parrish Construction Group that was recommended for approval. The estimated cost of contract with Parrish for professional services to handle the renovations was $230,000 and would utilize ESPLOST 2019 funds.
Both Nash and Pitts commented that they were glad to be working with Parrish again.
Lundy said the estimated cost of the renovations project was from $2.5 to $3 million and asked to postpone the item. He said more details of the project would be presented at the May 30 called meeting.
