BOARD OF EDUCATION
Jones County Board of Education members shared their gratitude for community support and JCSS staff at September’s business meeting.
Chairman Ginger Bailey called the Sept. 13 meeting to order. The chairman’s report was brief, simply thanking the people of Gray and Jones County for their continued support.
Board member Kim Washburn commented on the board’s recent visit to elementary schools.
“The presentations were very well done,” he said, and board member Dr. Nancy Nash echoed his sentiments.
Board member Alfred Pitts said he was encouraged by the Sept. 8 visit to Dames Ferry Elementary School by State School Superintendent Richard Woods. The school was presented with its STEM certification at the visit.
“He was pleased with the progress at the school,” Pitts said.
The board member also took the opportunity to thank Charlotte Foskey for her report about Georgia Milestones test scores at the Sept. 8 work session.
“She did an excellent job,” he said.
In his report, Jones County School Superintendent Charles Lundy said the school visits were informative and productive. He congratulated DFES for the STEM award.
Lundy said the board would be making school visits to the middle schools, pre-K and Jones County High School the following week.
The superintendent thanked Capt. Michael McMillan and the cadets with the JROTC program for their presentation at the work session about the JCHS Greyhound Battalion Raider Challenge Course.
“They did an excellent job, and I think it’s something we can do. I was asked if we can afford it. My question is how can we not afford something like that for our kids?” he asked.
The vote for construction of the challenge course was not on the meeting agenda. Lundy explained the reason for the delay in a text prior to the meeting. He said they had received an estimate of the cost for the project but need to get a firm price before they can move forward.
The superintendent spoke about the school safety report presented by Raymond Braziel at the work session.
“Mr. Braziel reminded us that safety is not only about uninvited guests on campus. It’s also about fire, weather and emergency preparedness,” he said.
Lundy said Foskey’s report was encouraging, showing that Jones County was below the state average in some areas before the pandemic but experienced significant growth to rise above those averages.
The superintendent reminded board members about the Lt. Governor’s Business and Education Summit at Butler Hall Sept. 29. He said the Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan would be helicoptered in for the event. Lundy reported that the school system website had been built, but not all the information had been updated. He said it was his hope it would be back online by Sept. 26.
“We felt like we needed to wait for it to have correct information,” he said.
He said school officials met with JCI representatives at Dames Ferry Elementary School earlier in the day. He said the meeting was a walk through in preparation of the upcoming refresh project.
Finance report
In the absence of CFO Tonya Merritt, the superintendent presented the finance report. He said the report was as of Aug. 31, which represented 16.67 percent of the school year.
The total revenues were $7,004,638 and total expenditures $8,904,896. The total cash in the bank was reported as $10,560,233.
Lundy noted that the school system purchased a US Treasury Note in the amount of $9,963,677 as an investment, as advised by financial consultant Tom Owens, a Raymond James representative, at its June 14 meeting.
The investment of the funds is estimated to accrue interest in the amount $200,000 before the end of the school year.
The superintendent explained that adding the amount of the T-bill to the cash in the bank would bring the account balance up to the amount board members are used to seeing.
Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax collections for August totaled $290,395, and the average monthly collections are $290,503.
Bailey said she would like to celebrate the community for buying local, which is the reason for the hefty E-SPLOST collections.
“People are faithful to our school system,” she said.
Pitts stated that Jones County students deserve the best and the E-SPLOST funds help make that happen.
“We are so blessed to be able to provide these wonderful facilities for them,” he said.
Action items
Lundy recommended approval of the following purchases:
• Science Interactive Read Aloud texts for Mattie Wells Elementary for an estimated cost of $17,263, utilizing L4GA funds
• Contract with TRANE US Inc. for HVAC repair services for Gray Elementary for the estimated cost of $27,924 utilizing funds from the Maintenance and Operations budget
• 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 from Hardy Chevrolet for the transportation department for the estimated cost of $58,960 utilizing funds from the transportation budget
• Contract with Virtucom to purchase 60 Chromebooks and Google licenses for Gray Elementary for the estimate cost of $19,005 utilizing funds from ESSER III
• Contract with Virco to purchase 300 student replacement desks for Gray Station Middle School and 300 student replacement desks for Clifton Ridge Middle School per the US Communities 2022 contract for an estimated cost of $46,365 for each school utilizing funds from the Maintenance and Operations budget
• Contract with White Rock Cybersecurity to purchase antivirus and firewalls protection for JCSS for the estimated cost of $12,306 utilizing funds from the technology budget
• Contract with Windstream Services LLC to provide Wide Area Network Services to JCSS for an estimated cost of $7,984 per month over a period of five years utilizing fund from the Maintenance and Operations budget All the recommended purchases were approved unanimously by board members.
The superintendent also recommended and received approval of the FY24 State Capital Outlay Projects application to be submitted to the State Department of Education and approval of the Board’s local school board governance annual training plan for FY23.
Board members approved the FY23 board meeting/work session schedule and the Divisive Concepts Complaint Resolution Process policy that had been set aside for 30 days for review, as required by the state.
At the conclusion of the Action Items, the meeting was adjourned to go into closed session.
The next meeting is a regular Board meeting scheduled Oct. 4.
