JONES COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
The Jones County Board of Education worked diligently to put the second round of federal COVID relief funds to good use before time expires for their use the end of the month.
Board Chairman Ginger Bailey called the Sept. 12 meeting to order, and following the opening prayer and pledge, spoke about the NASA STEM Day event at Dames Ferry Elementary Sept. 7.
“It was a big event and quite an honor for us to be chosen. I think they are still celebrating,” she said.
Bailey also recalled that she was teaching fourth graders when the attacks of 9/11 took place.
“We all remember where we were, and we were all affected,” she said.
Other board members also gave reports. Mike Gordon said he planned to be at the first JCHS JROTC Raider Competition Saturday morning, hosted on Jones County’s new obstacle course.
Kim Washburn said Greenwood Baptist Church was glad to host the Leaders in the Village meeting that took place the previous evening. He said 92 people attended.
The Leaders in the Village is a gathering of non-biological caregivers, grandparents and foster parents for the purpose of supporting their efforts and providing resources. The program is led by Shelley Dunlap and Shelby Henderson.
Dr. Nancy Nash said she also was looking forward to the Raider competition, and she congratulated DFES for the successful event.
Alfred Pitts said he was impressed with the information board members received at the Sept. 7 work session.
“Communication has been an issue,” he stated.
Pitts said presenters Mary Frances Stewart and Charlotte Foskey were spot on and gave the board a good picture of people involved.
“It’s good to see who is doing the work; as a board, we need more of that,” he said. “We spend a lot of money for technology, but there is nothing like a qualified teacher in the classroom.”
Pitts said he is thankful for the support the schools can give families.
School Superintendent Charles Lundy began his report by talking about the Family Engagement program and what they can provide for families.
Lundy said the DFES event was possible due to a lot of hard work by a lot of people. He also reminded board members of the State of the Schools report they would be presented Sept. 19 and 21. He said four schools would be presenting each day, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The superintendent said he intended to attend the State Department of Audit’s appeal the following day. He said Chief Appraiser Anthony George would be representing the BOE and the county in an appeal of the state’s Sales Tax Ratio Study.
Lundy said board members would have a training session Nov. 9 with the topic of Finance Training.
He said the remainder of the ESSER II funds needed to be spent by Sept. 30. He said several items were on the meeting’s agenda, and he would be sending board members and email for their approval of expenditures for any funds remaining before month’s end.
Finance report
CFO Tonya Merritt presented the financial statement for the month ending Aug. 31, which is 16.67 percent of the school year.
The total of revenues were $8,114,667 and total expenditures $9,430,220. The total cash in the bank as of Aug. 31 was $13,769,936.
The monthly collections of Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds was $373,402, making the monthly average $320,678.
Merritt said that total included an additional $93,365 in ESPLOST collections that was an adjustment by the Georgia Department of Revenue. According to an Aug. 25 letter from the agency, the discrepancy was caused by a coding issue that has been corrected.
Action Items
Lundy requested and received unanimous approval in the form of motions by board members for the following items:
• Agreement with Jones and Bartlett, McGraw Hill, Savvas Learning Company, Amazon, Cengage Learning and Stukent to purchase CTAE textbooks for JCHS for estimated $23,130 utilizing 2019 ESPLOST funds
• Contract with Tools for Schools Inc to purchase a Book Creator Site License for JCSS for estimated cost $10,500 utilizing ESSER II funds
• Contract with Dell Technologies to purchase 200 Dell Chromebooks for Gray Station Middle School under state contract for estimated cost $50,456 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Contract with Hand2Mind to purchase math manipulatives for Mattie Wells Elementary School for estimated cost $17,410 utilizing funds from Title I
• Contract with Dell Technologies to purchase 30 Dell Monitors and OptiPlex Small Form Factors for MWES under state contract for estimated cost $28,312 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Contract with Dell Technologies to purchase 32 Dell Monitors and OptiPlex Small Form Factors for Clifton Ridge Middle School under state contract for estimated cost $30,200 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Contract with Virtucom to purchase 240 HP Chromebooks and Google Licenses for JCHS under state contract for estimated cost of $61,440 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Contract with Dell Technologies to purchase 46 Dell Latitude 3540 laptops for CRMS under state contract for estimated cost $39,286 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Contract with Dreambox Learning to purchase Reading Plus Licenses and Professional Development for CRMS for estimated cost $18,807 utilizing funds from Title I
• Contract with Dreambox Learning for renewal of Dreambox Advanced licenses and Professional Learning for Jones County elementary and middle schools for estimated cost of $51,225 utilizing funds from Title 1 • Contract from IXL Learning to purchase IXL Site License renewal in subjects of English, math, science and social studies for GSMS for estimated cost $15,225 utilizing funds from Title I
• Contract from IXL Learning to purchase IXL Site License renewal in subjects of English, math, science and social studies for MWES for estimated cost $12,650 utilizing funds from Title I
• Contract from Studio Design Printing Company to purchase printing services from new math K-12 curriculum units for JCSS for an estimated cost of $14,437.29 utilizing funds from ESSER II
• Georgia Power Vegetation Easement Agreement for MWES
• Contract with K-12 consultants to cover the cost of ERATE consultant fees for JCSS for estimated cost of $21,483 utilizing funds from technology budget
• Renew subscription with Educational Networks Inc to manage the district website for JCSS for estimated cost of $16,500 utilizing funds from technology budget
• Contract with JCI Contractors for DFES renovation to include four classroom portables for a revised cost not to exceed $9,662,681 utilizing funds from 2024 ESPLOST
• Contract with RLR (Robertson Loia Rood) to determine the cost to remove existing ventilation system and add a new heating and cooling system in the JCHS gym and associated locker rooms The next meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled Oct. 3.
