BOARD OF EDUCATION
The Jones County Board of Education held its first meeting since the beginning of the 2023-24 school year with report of a smooth opening.
The Aug. 8 meeting was called to order by Board Chairman Ginger Bailey. The chairman welcomed attendees and shared her report following the opening prayer and pledge.
Bailey said the open houses were well attended by students and parents at elementary, middle and high schools.
“The schools were filled, and it’s great to get started,” she said.
Board member Dr. Nancy Nash said she attended the training for volunteers and wanted to brag on Shelley Dunlap for the way training is handled.
“Everyone should go through it. The bottom line is to keep students safe, and they do a great job for our schools,” she said.
Board member Alfred Pitts said he appreciates members of the community coming to the board meetings. He said he is proud to see the new school buses and glad people had the foresight to air conditions the buses.
“We need to prepare students for their future; not our past,” Pitts said.
The board member said he knows they cannot please everyone, and they just do the best they can.
In his superintendent’s report, Charles Lundy said school was off to a great start. He said open houses were a success, and there was excitement in the air.
“There was some back-to-school traffic, but that is expected,” he added.
Lundy said 4,872 students attended the first day of school, and the number of students to date was 4,900. He said the schools served 4,712 lunches and 2,098 breakfasts. He said the schools are utilizing more than 1,400 Windows devices, 7,900 chromebooks, 440 wireless access points, and more than 91 network switches with several hundred printers.
“We have approximately one million square feet of maintenance space to heat and/or cool and over 500 acres of campus space,” he said. “And we had 21 subs trained today.
We are back in the swing.”
The superintendent said Dames Ferry Elementary is preparing for the Sept. 7 event with the International Space Station. He said the school was chosen to have a live question and answer session with astronauts.
Lundy said the athletic teams were underway.
“The honeymoon is over,” he commented.
Bailey asked about the heat during the training and practices, and Lundy said the schools are following all the recommended guidelines.
Reports
CFO Tonya Merritt presented the finance report for the month ending July 31, which is 8.33 percent of the school year. She said the total revenues were $3,955,709 and total expenditures, $4,598,858. The ending cash balance is $4,943,189.
The Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax collections for the month ending June 30 was $271,820 and the average monthly E-SPLOST collection is $267,955.
Charlotte Foskey, assessment and federal programs director, spoke to board members about Exemplary Committee report and recommendations. She said as an Exemplary Board, Jones County is exceeding expectations of the Georgia School Board Association.
“It’s important to shine that light that you take more training than required,” Foskey said.
She said board members completed a self-assessment, and the committee also completed an assessment of the board. She said each rated one area as needing improvement.
The director said it was not the same area, but they are related.
The board members rated themselves as needing improvement in being more involved in the strategic planning process.
The committee suggested the board utilize the strategic plan process.
“Both the suggestions complement each other,” Foskey said. “I feel like those suggestions give the process more integrity.”
Action items
Lundy made the following recommendations:
• Approvalofcontract with Lexia Learning Systems to purchase Lexia Core 5 Reading Unlimited License with School Success Partnership Renewal for Mattie Wells Elementary, estimated cost $13,800 utilizing funds from L4GA
• Approvalofcontract with Studio Design Printing Company to purchase printing services for the new Math K-12 Curriculum Units for the Jones County School System, estimated cost $26,360 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Approvalofcontract with Heineman to purchase Leveled Guided Readers for grades 1-4 at Dames Ferry Elementary, estimated cost of $19,542 utilizing funds from L4GA
• Approvalofcontract with Southeast Outdoor Solutions to purchase services to pour a concrete foundation for an outdoor classroom at Gray Elementary School, estimated cost of $15,000 utilizing funds from the maintenance and operations budget
• ApprovaloftheFY24 nutrition salary scale to include a 5.1 percent increase
• Approvalofthe Jones County Board of Education GSBA Exemplary Board application
• ApprovaloftheFY 2024 contracts for the school nutrition program utilizing funds from the nutrition department budget
• Approvalofcontract with PortionPac Chemical Corporation to purchase SFSPAC Food Safety and Sanitation System for JCSS Nutrition Department, estimated cost $17,500 utilizing funds from the school nutrition budget.
• Approvalofcontract with TRANE US, Inc to purchase an evaporation coil replacement for Gray Elementary School under Omnia Partners Public Sector cooperative contract for an estimated cost of $21,931 utilizing funds from the maintenance and operations budget, Each of the above recommendations were unanimously approved by board members, and the meeting was adjourned to enter into closed session.
The next meeting of the Board of Education is a work session Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. and the regular board meeting Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.
