The Jones County Board of Education recognized two award-winning student groups, presented six policy updates and announced an upcoming board retreat at its May business meeting.
Board Chairman Ginger Bailey called the May 12 meeting to order and before any business was conducted, members of the Mattie Wells Elementary School Science Olympiad team were recognized for their third-place win in the region.
All board members were present with the exception of Mike Gordon.
In her chairman’s report, Bailey said the school year is winding down.
“When children go home, we go to work on next year,” she said.
The chairman said Gov. Brian Kemp has bills on his desk from the legislative session. She said he has options, and it will be interesting to find out which will get signed.
Dr. Nancy Nash reminded her fellow board members that it is time for their self-assessments. She said they have nine standards to consider and asked the documents to be completed and returned to her at the next meeting.
Bailey added that board members are required to continue their training as long as they remain on the board. She said 12 hours of training are required each year.
In her report, School Superintendent Jessica Graves said the search continues for the next Jones County High School principal, and she hopes to have an update at the May 21 board retreat. Graves noted that the school system was approaching 20 percent of students on residency affidavits, but since the new nonresident policy has been in place, there have been 346 applications with 266 of those approved. She said 274 will be required to renew their affidavits from June 9 to July 17 for the upcoming school year.
“We’ve had 40 applications for out-of-district students who will pay tuition. If they are approved, that will generate $100,000 in revenue to increase opportunities for our students,” the superintendent said.
Graves said the FY27 budget will be voted on in June to begin July 1. She said that budget recognizes the work of custodians, bus drives, bus aids and nurses who will all receive a pay increase.
The superintendent said they are also bringing back the position of lead nurse.
“We are listening to our focus groups,” she said.
Graves announced the summer office hours for administrators during June, which will be Tuesday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
She said the public is invited to the May 21 board retreat that will be held in the Jones County High School cafeteria from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“We want to look at what we believe and expect with instruction and give the community a voice in what we do,” Graves said.
Information session
Sylvia McGee with United Way of Central Georgia talked about a partnership opportunity with school districts. She said 10 years ago United Way changed its model to include community impact.
McGee said all communities are concerned with graduation rates, and efforts need to start at birth to impact those rates. The speaker said United Way has started a reading focus for students in kindergarten to the third grade.
“Reading proficiency in the third grade indicates if a student will be successful,” she said.
McGee said United Way recruits, provides materials and trains volunteers to work with students working toward reading fluency and comprehension. She said the agency is already involved in Bibb, Spaulding, Houston, Twiggs and Peach counties.
“We are excited that Jones County is interested in partnering.”
Stacy Carr, executive director of federal programs, gave a program update. She said the programs are audited every five years, checking 21 indicators. She said the procedures are updated every year, and this year the process started with 250 pages and was reduced to 40.
Carr said each department worked hard, and she was happy to report that Jones County met requirements for all areas but one. She said corrective actions were submitted, and they should be able to check that one off too.
Dames Ferry Elementary School staff was presented with a banner from the Georgia Department of Education recognizing it as a 2025 Title I School of Excellence. Carr said the award means the school is ranked in the top five percent in the state.
Safety update
Director of School Safety and Security James Burton spoke to the board about new upgrades for district safety. He said the Gray Police Department would be providing fulltime officers at the schools inside city limits.
Burton said two GPD officers would be at JCHS with one officer at Gray Station Middle School and Gray Elementary School. There will be a part-time officer at Pre-K. He said the Jones County Sheriff’s Office would have fulltime deputies at three of the four county schools with an independent contractor filling in the gap.
The director said that contractor would be an off-duty officer.
“This is the most effective way to work with limited resources to provide full-time coverage,” he said.
Burton said a guard shack is being built for the JCHS parking lot. There will be a guard in the shack and staffed patrol of the parking lot.
“The point is to limit points of entry at the high school,” he said.
The director said there are metal detectors at all schools.
“We are not taking away anything; we are adding resources,” Burton stated.
Bailey asked about the alert buttons that teachers and office personnel wear around their necks. Burton said those are crisis alert badges, and they are worn by all staff. He explained pushing the buttons in the designated manner can alert responders to a variety of issues from a medical emergency to a fight.
The director said the response time to an alert at the high school is 30 seconds. He added that he and Graves receive all alerts.
“They can go as far as locking the school down if needed,” he said.
Graves stated that a positive and safe learning environment is the priority.
Finance report
CFO Tonya Merritt presented the finance report for April 30, which is 83.33 percent of the school year.
She said total revenues are $59,122,600 and total expenditures $57,457,536. The ending cash in the bank is $26,706,788.
Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Collections for April totaled $326,617, making the average monthly collection $328,395.
Bailey thanked the community for buying local.
Action items
Graves recommended and received acceptance of the following contracts:
• 95PercentGrouptopurchasethe Phonics Core Program for Mattie Wells Elementary School for grades 2-4 at the estimated cost of $12,541 utilizing funds from Title 1.
• ContractwithRenaissanceLearning to purchase the renewal of Renaissance Products and Services for the Jones County School System at the estimated cost of $43,782 utilizing funds from the technology budget.
• HowardTechnologySolutionsto purchase internet connect filtering for the district at an estimated cost of $93,028 utilizing funds from the technology budget.
• AtlantaAccessControlsIncto purchase two servers and installation of services for JCSS at an estimated cost of $42,882 utilizing funds from the technology budget.
• VircoInc.topurchase50student desks and 50 chairs for Mattie Wells Elementary School at an estimated cost of $23,001 utilizing funds from the maintenance and operations budget.
• HardyChevroletBuickGMCto purchase a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 4WD Double Cab Work Truck for the maintenance and operations department at an estimated cost of $60,939 utilizing funds from the maintenance and operations budget.
• DHPaceDoorsServicesGroupto purchase two exterior doors at the Board of Education Office and an estimated cost of $24,544 utilizing funds from the maintenance and operations budget.
• ParentSquaretopurchaseEngage 2026 Soft Launch and Custom Virtual Training Hour for JCSS at an estimated cost of $23,000 utilizing funds from the technology budget.
• CommunicationsTechnologiesIncto purchase 3 CEIA Opengate Weapon Detection System for Jones County High School using state QBE Security Funds.
• SheridanConstructiontopurchase CM-at-Risk Services to renovate an addition to Jones County High School at an estimated cost of $1,423,446 for the updated total contract amount of $4,423,446 utilizing funds from the 2024 SPLOST.
The following policies were tabled to be voted on at the June 9 meeting: first reading policy for the Homebound Instruction Program along with updates for suicide prevention, student records, parent’s bill of rights, bullying and transfers and withdrawals. Policies may be viewed on the Board of Education website for 30 days.
Public comments
Zalonie Thomas spoke to the board requesting reconsideration of a non-residence issue.
After listening to the concerns, the meeting was adjourned at 7:10 to enter a closed session for personnel. Three actions items listed under the session were for student tribunal information.
