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Board of Education Meeting Live Broadcast (Monday, May 12, 2025)

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I out yes ma'am Chambers vision is Jasper Scholars today's Learners tomorrow's leaders our mission Jasper cultivates an environment of Excellence through Innovation inspiration and opportunities in Partnership with the community okay we're going to call the meeting to order roll call please say your name out loud so the video can hear who's speaking Miss Riley Riley Miss Frasier celebration Miss um Mitchell Daisy Mitchell Dr B uh Tom Elliott Joyce Gerald Miss Bowen Carolyn Balden Ted MD Angela going to park at this point Mr Horton is absent the media has been notified Miss um right took care of that and they were notified according to section 32-4 d a t e of the state statute approval of the agenda please Madam chair I make a motion that we approve the agenda for today motion by Dr B um second by Ted mood to approve the agenda questions vote Miss Bonaparte we're voting yes yes yes Mr MD Miss Balden yes Dr B yes Miss Mitchell yes Miss Frasier yes and Miss Riley yes Joyce Gerald I miss Riley can you do the Pledge of Allegiance please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands 1 nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing for the moment of silence next item on the agenda is this session a motion to enter into executive session Madam chair I make motion that we enter into executive session uh for personnel Report with Dr Bethany gray and the organizational chart along with Dr Sam whack Junior second is that Miss Riley yes motion by Miss Bolden to enter the executive session for personnel report by Miss Betton Dr Bethany gray organizational chart by Dr somewhere second by yes yes all right let's vote part Tad moyeed Miss balding Dr Bali yes Miss Smith so yes Miss Frasier I miss Riley I I can Joyce Gerald a motion passes we are entering into existing executive session for personnel report Organization for we'll be back out as soon as we can everyone please wait until we yeah like you may have to thank you to come out of executive session and enter into General Session please some movement here that we enter back into a General Session second Miss Mitchell second Miss Balden made the motion all in favor say I I opposed all right so we are back in general section is there a motion to come out of um motion coming out of executive session that anyone wants to recommend any actions coming out of the uh Madam chair make a motion that we accept the uh Personnel report as presented by Dr Grant balmy Mitchell motion by Dr balliet all in favor say I I oppose motion carries Miss right do we have any public comments tonight okay so I need to read the rules for speaking The Jasper County Board of Trustees welcomes the public to our meetings we encourage the expression of opinions regarding matters being considered by the board or educational matters which are of concern to residents of Jasper County please remember that your comments should be directed to this board and should not be directed to others in the audience the board appreciates your interest in the Jasper County Public Schools each person will be allotted 3 minutes for comments there will be a timer up on the screen so you can see it the public hearing portion of the board meeting will not not exceed 30 minutes the following guidelines will be followed you must be a resident of Jasper County or have a child in the Jasper County Public Schools refrain from commenting on any students or any of our employees present your comments without using offensive language or making comments in a disrespectful Manner and you must comply with 3 minute time limit all right there is nothing in the law or anyone here that prevents you from saying anything you wish to say what you say will become public information which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act if you choose to call specific employees names we suggest that you don't it's my duty to inform you that you will also be subject to defamation laws according to your statements School District Pollock CLS 3 minutes of comments board members in the superintendent and not required to respond to your comments to the audience there will be no public Outburst of any kind please remember that this is a meeting of a government body and anyone person causing disruption will be subject to applicable laws that allow the removal of any disrupted persons from a public meeting Miss Tuma good evening Miss Tina good evening District staff I stand before you tonight as a parent and Advocate and someone deeply invested in the success and well-being of our students my concerns are too far the last visible for support for students on originally campus in the inconsistency and Conor and practices Across The District Number 1 board supporting our students last month our student athletes were recognized at a board meeting an article gesture that I'm sure that a great deal to them the recognition should extend beyond shaking hands in this room or a photo op it should be demonstrated for genuine presence at the event an achievement that mattered the most to these students I have yet to see this board at athletic games academic Awards ceremonies or celebrations for students on the original and candidates units work hard and your visibility sends a powerful message that they matter that your efforts are seen and that they have the unwavering support of those entrusted with shaping their education experiences I urge you to be present to show up and engage beyond the walls of this meeting my second concern the hiring practices across the district equally learning is the inconsistency in higher and practices between campuses every candidate deserves fairness transparency and an equal opportunity to apply and interview for open positions however we see differences and how hiring is handled from 1 school to the next leading room for uncertainty and inconsistency when positions are not publicly posted it says the message of favoritism to the community and denies qualified candidates the opportunity to apply this is not acceptable in a unified district I urge this board to establish a clear and standardized hiring policy 1 that ensures every position whether internal or external is advertised and conducted with serious across all campuses a school district cannot function effectively if 1 School operates differently from another and fundamental higher compress transparency strengthens trust within the community and it is imperative that all hiring decisions are made through an open and fair process these concerns are not just mine they are shared by parents Educators and community members who want the best for our students and staff this is an opportunity for the board to demonstrate leadership by implementing changes that promote fairness and equity and disability I sincerely appreciate creates your time and consideration thank you the timer went off Madam chair no ma'am we're not responding to that I have I have the right to respond if I choose to I call you I have the right respond go to policy now I will take that right now thank you um Mr thank you for your concerns um Madam chair thank you for allowing me this opportunity uh I agree with um we did have an athletes here and um shaking their hands let them know give them words of appreciation and encouragement and I do feel that you know something that we look into to wore them to let them something tangible to give them and I do agree with that and thank you for bringing it to our Forefront as for attending Awards ceremonies I myself have attended award ceremonies at the elementary school and so um maybe we need to just be more maybe more of us need to do that to show our concern but I do appreciate your coming thank you madam chair thank you for standing up um Dr whack did spoke on that and we all suggested at that meeting that next time we will have something to present the kids instead of just a handshake out of concern so we do appreciate you recognizing that but we also Dr whack he mentioned that and we all said that we are do better next time because it was the last minute thing and it's something that we knew he would be on it so he he that was something that we talked about so it's not unnoticed it's not about just the handshake I want to see the board member I'm sorry I missed tumor your time is up okay no we're not going to continue and back and forth uh it's on the video so everyone's going to see your concern and hear your concern Dr whack will handle it I could comment about what I did about it when I first found out but I'm not going to and you will it'll be handled that's how I can say all right thank you consent agenda a motion to approve the consent agenda well Madam chair I'll make a motion that we approve the consent agenda which includes the uh minutes of the March 10 March 15 and March 31 2025 meetings by Dr to approve the consent agenda with all the minutes from the March meetings that we've met the 10th 15th and 31st 2nd Madam chair I second and Miss Bolden just second all in favor say I I opposed no discussion you want to discuss Mr free um yes ma'am um it's just a few things in some of the minutes that would not include it um the March 10th meeting um did not include the information that um um I have requested of you bringing up me as for and being censored and that policy all all that information is missing out of the minutes and I had requested that it be in there March 15th meeting um there was no reason given why the board went into executive session um on that day and it was not stated um who made or second the motion when we um selected The Firm for the stew um the superintendent search that the March 10th meeting no the first 1 was in March 10th the other 1 was the March 15th and the other 1 I think was the March 31st which March 15th is the 1 had no reason of why the void went into EXE session when the the motion was made and I thought we have to state that why we going into executive session it was not put in the minutes and then the March 31st 1 did not stay at home made a second the motion when we selected The Firm for the superintendent search it's just a correction of the minutes just Corrections Madam chair on the March 1 5 um minutes that we have in our pack today uh there is a motion to go into executive session to discuss receivable advice regarding superintendent contract I made the motion Bertie Riley seconded it that is in the minutes so the 1 of your concerns that was and what's the second concern March 31st the 131st um mhm I saw I was uh stated that who made the motion and second the motion to go into executive session yes turn to go into yes okay all right but she changed it on the paperwork because it was not on the computer when I read my packet so now we will vote for the consent agenda love to watch them if I'm right May 13th budget workshop at Hollywood media center no that's on I'm coming board huh it's coming up this week yeah yeah but it had to be 13 that I wanted to make sure it wasn't it was a 15 on the second page on the board monthly attendance information upcoming board Workshop good so that's the view on that it met yet it's tomorrow no I thought that was on the consent agenda no ma'am okay okay we good all right all in favor all in favor of the consent agenda now all of the questions have been addressed say I I opposed the motion passes reports and information we saw Mr Castillo the video from Mr kastilyo after him will come Dr lecio and half for him and we missed his Zimmerman that is not a video in order to ensure that that board meetings are not running so 11 or 12:00 at night a request was initiated beginning of this school year for presenters to send a video of their PowerPoint to the board and when we received 10 minutes we all reviewed the video of the information now is the time for everyone if they have any questions at all for Mr B the other Mr B please ask him any questions about what you saw in the video it was sort of a small for me um so um what I would like to do if if possible to have a tour of what they're doing out there that's possible okay Miss Frasier what part was small sorry I mean the pictures that they had on the on the on the video on the video it was definitely small definitely yes yes definitely and please know that anyone on the board at any time when we received updates from SSC if you're not clear on what you're seeing please know that you can contact came through the board chair to request a walkthrough so you can actually see physically see what is happening our campus is a very important to us we need to be sure that everyone when we're voting on things that are being presented to us that you're voting on what you you've seen if it's not clear in the presentations that we're giving you you have a right to request that okay just just submit it through through me and I'll send it to Dr whack and he'll let you know why can't we go to Dr W because I I need to know if there's a question about what's happening at the buildings it may be the same question that I have too so you know or you can just see see it to both of us it doesn't matter to me I just need to know what concerns are they solve okay apparently there are no questions for you Dr balliet yeah it's not a question sorry um you guys sure are busy there's a lot going on maybe the question is so so what about the rain that we just had is that the slowing you guys down or impacting anything we do sorry about that that's okay okay we do have some dates put in each month uh for inclement weather and we did that plan it out for the end of the project so what we're currently experiencing it's not affecting what we're doing and the incredible wind that has come through it pretty much up at the storm do we have any leakage anywhere in any of our campuses I I was aware this morning I was informed over at Ridgeland campus we did have a few roof leaks and we're reaching out to bone dry to come out and address those issues uh there was a few leaks there at Regional none at Hardeeville that I'm aware of there is Hardeeville okay I'll meet with Dr whack and get that information get that addressed as well okay Dr wet can you update us please as to how fast the problems are going to be resolved but this is rainy season right now and no 1 should be sitting in the classroom with water coming on top yes ma'am may I ask a question to that yeah of the leaks in the parts where we just had done for these are new leaks on parts that wasn't done of the roof but I got was a picture of floor there was a pretty substantial weekend uh Madam chair yes follow up with Mr Miss Frasier I believe that mikon was our project manager on the roof replacement they hired bone dry and I believe we had our entire roof he took a period of time to do that and we have a warranty on that so we need to really make them come back and make that right because that was something we clearly specified what is the warranty from the and become the project manager to bone dry the installer and then we even have a warranty on the manufacturing of the product yes so it's less than a year it's not even 6 months so you're not the person that should be giving this update it should be uh imbe con the project manager for that project well I can tell you the steps that we're taking today if it helps okay that's fine but I'm saying as far as the actual roof and the damage we need to have that company come back and tell us why I we're getting leaks less than 6 months down the road it has yeah thank you thank you appreciate that you have an update for us yes ma'am uh for Hardeeville the uh the growth with the brush and the new these pine trees in between we're working that through the RDO for SSC we're getting that scheduled within the next few weeks to come in there and get that taken care of it's that's the heart of a camp yes ma'am okay you had asked a question at the last meeting I just want to hear a date yes ma'am we we cleared it out because of the security risk that it was yes ma'am and now some of those trees are as tall as I am so it is a problem thank you so what what will your company do in the future to ensure that this does not occur again we're going to be working on scheduling that year after year to make sure it's done once a year because the last time it was done was 3 years ago it's a yes ma'am yeah those trees grow fast they do thank you very much thank you and I believe Dr lecio is next good evening good evening good evening good evening this is my first time so I've I've submitted the video and now it's questions it's questions we're going to grill you oh that's my job I do have 1 please ask Miss um you listed um meeting with the counselors um between a and the School yes okay when you have that meeting is it a joint meeting between all counselors from Jasper and Buford or are you doing it individually with just the council at each School my Council usually meets with the the counseling team at each School usually at a it occurs on the day that we are at the school doing our recruiting presentation but at times the counselors aren't available so she returns to the school to meet with them would it not be best to best practices to do it with um the schools combined so that way you'll get information uh needs or something from each 1 ideas I mean well we we do get the ideas and and I'll give you an example at um a few of the schools we went and we were looking at reformatting our um cosmetology and barbering program was in in programs that have been struggling with some of our scores lately and the feedback we got from different counselors in meetings Force us to go back to the table look at it and come up with a different option than we had originally planned on going forward with so 1 of the the things that I think is um beneficial in the small intimate meetings we can hear almost school specific um questions or problems they may run into or suggestions as opposed to having a big group of counselors together where um people may not may be a little bit more reluctant to share information with us and give us some feedback and suggest as well as and sometimes it goes both ways too you know we we might see some Trends somewhere and say you know you've sent us some applications of students who um are in 10th Grade when they really need to be in 11th or they're looking for EMS which is a 12th grade program you're sending them over as an 11th grader we're going to put them and recircle around next year but they can't apply till next year so we have that dialogue and I think it's important that that's constant and I know my counselor is in constant communication with the feeder school counselors from all 8 high schools because it's critical because they're sharing students so they're going to be talking about everything from credits to to um igps when they have those conversations question another School enrollment data um of course this proportion in Jasper County students and Youthful County students how do you go about seeing those students I mean what's the message for that I'm sorry how do I go about what seeing determining how many students from Jasper County and how many students from beautiful entered each class um well we we go by the the funding formula of 2/3 1/3 so I'm use a class of 18 in his example because that's a number of our classes have caps at 18 Beaufort will have 12 seats in Jasper will have 6 seats in those classes to match the funding formula if in fact um there are discrepancies or there are not enough applications then we go to fill the programs after that but initially when we go in and we start this process we allocate per the 2/3 1/3 funding allocation 2/3 1 2/3 is I'm sorry yeah in 1 third is Jasper for the that's the operational costs that each district contributes to to Ace so now what are the courses that you know that you kind of students enroll in mostly uh I looked at that data and had my counselor do it for this group that we're currently sending out um acceptances for for next year and there was no um it was pretty consistent among all the programs so it varies year to year but we had no program that had a bubble over the other ones it was maybe 3 or 4 applications per program across the board with some obviously a little bit lighter but um it was consistent so there was no cosmetology or Auto Tech was much higher than the other uh areas so this was for this past so those are those are the 2 areas that just kind of students use the uh sometimes yeah it varies a little bit you know and it varies in both districts I mean it it sometimes few years back we had really low enrollment in electricity maybe this is maybe 5 or 6 years ago and now electricity is full so there's es and flows I think in each program um cosmetology remains popular um this year the applications were down a little bit compared to to past years um borrowing we're expanding so we're going to be able to take more students and there's been a little waiting list um and sometimes the waiting list is Buford sometimes it's Jasper sometimes it's neither sometimes it's both so there's no pattern really over time with enrollments each cohort seems to tell its own story when we when we go through the application data every year no this is how often students from Jasper County coming in to to it's like to throw the site we usually have a tour from every High School in the um hold on I get this backwards because we're changing it up next year we had we used to have them in the fall and then we would go to the schools in the spring but we're going to flip it because we feel like if we go to the schools earlier it'll then some of the students that might be on the fence will be able to go on those tours and walk the campus and get a good idea of of what it's like feel the culture feel you know the the look around and and meet teachers and students so we're going to flip that but every High School tours Ace so both um of the high schools in Jasper do come over um and we we have a middle school day that we host where we send it out to all the middle schools and say if you're interested sign up we do 2 days where we do a full day 2 full days because it's intrusive on instruction where we have all the middle schools who are interested come over and tour and then we usually go to Elementary's when they ask for career days and we'll send students down and they'll do presentations talk about the school so we try to talk uh each level appropriately where but we also want to maintain that um sanctity that goes on in the classroom where we don't have tours there constantly in the in the different programs or our students out of class all the time for visit but we realize the importance of of networking and branding ourselves in both communities at at each level so um when our students go to to or whatever yeah um oh when you come here to them do you take an interest inventory yes um what we do is when we tour um I try to meet with the whole 10th grade that's the expectation I have when I go there I share that with the with principles sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't I can't control the audience I have in front of me from a feeder school um but what we do is we present we have students from the school so if I'm at Ridgeland we'll have students that are originally and Hardeeville will have students at Hardeeville who have completed but also students who are currently enrolled and they'll talk about their experience and I tell them to share The Good the Bad and the Ugly of their experience because the students are making a commitment to me it's it's similar to maybe a college of career commitment right we want to make sure not only that we're good fit for them they're a good fit for us you know that when they come there they feel confident about about enrolling there and feel comfortable on campus and know that this is something they want so we have the students speak to them we do a presentation and explain the different programs um we share the a little bit of career interests you know talk about some stories of of salary potential College and Career and and Military and what we do is we hand out an interest inventory we collect those I go back and have them put in to expel spreadsheet at that point we send them back to the feeder school counselors but we also send an email to the parents saying Ace applications that do on this day your child um shared that they were interested in Ace so please if this is the case encourage them to apply and speak to their feeder School counselor at that point so that's the process we do to reach out with them after that interest inventory comes in and the interest inventory we we always get a large number because they just hear the presentation they're gung-ho um so that's usually a a very large number of kids so usually if we're we're we get about 60 plus percentage of the audience to to submit those so we we do reach out um I think we're going to use some we're looking at different strategies next year about you know shooting up maybe more of the the emails to potential students and as well as trying to send them out to students even who don't do the interest form but maybe grade level you know when when they're in 10th grade is when we start recruiting at the end of 10th grade or when they're doing their igp sending a blanket email out so parents are aware of a if their student didn't come home with that information or the student that and also you know attaching some information regarding our program of studies and registration we used to do our fifth graders coming to A and doing the tour of the subject matter of course is there do we still do that we try not to have the Elementary in as much um there was a a year a few years back when before we had this new format where we had schools there all the time and the teachers were struggling because it's exclusive because when you have a shop in your in your in an auto shop the teacher would go up and then we started having students go up but they're still not engaged in what they need to be in that lesson so we tried to streamline them by having a day that the middle schools are invited and then obviously the high school schedule separately when they're when they're ready usually through their cdfs but we don't have the fifth graders in anymore we usually go to the fifth grade so upon request and we'll send 3 or 4 programs down with equipment and they'll speak to the students and that student LED you have to be sure uh first of all uh thanks I have my it was it was a good presentation thank you I'm I'm amazed uh with the data that you gave us here on the waiting list that only 4 Jasper students are on the waiting list for classes which I think is amazing whereas there are about 110 Buford students on the waiting list so that speaks to some of the you know us getting as many students we can in there uh the question I have for you maybe you can explain it a little bit more to us um you mentioned in your report some of the facilities upgrades that we've been looking out for different as can you go more in depth in terms of what some of those are because I know some of the board members have been privy to that but a whole lot of board members uh really have not well first and foremost the most important thing that we need to upgrade is our our Electrical uh system we have the original system from when the building was built in the early timid 70s and we have welders on campus that we purchase that we can't run because we can't support we can't support them with our current structure um in addition there are some safety issues um uh we we it might be a little its little things but things that are important there are things like um the bathrooms for instance when it was built they put a bathroom between the I'll give you an example between our construction and our marine tech it's a hallway with the bathroom as we continue to grow with the amount of non-traditional students which is female students and male predominant male according to the state program such as those and vice versa um it's just not feasible you know you can't have a expect a female student to sit in a stall in a hallway in the condition of them are are are really poor so there's a there's a lot of that in in addition to cosmetic and then we had a study done on our HVAC and I believe we're out of like the 15 units and I believe 7 of them are right at the point where they've over over outlived their cycle that they had been projected in a few more were a handful more were right within a year or 2 of that cycle so there's some major major things that need to get done um wiring internet um we don't have sprinklers in any of our shops and you there are fires you know there are small fires and you know I'll give you an example we had students welding in this was about 3 months ago but welding in a um collision shop in the inside carpeting of the trunk caught fire it wasn't anything major the kids handled it appropriately they use the fire extinguisher the alarms didn't even go off but those are those are concerns that um you know Safety First that we need to make sure that our our students are are taking care of with the most modern safety and facility upgrades we can provide them so on top of that is the cosmetics in each of the programs as as we have you know paling paint holes and walls and um just a number of things that the the technology as well the infrastructure could use an upgrade so um that's 1 of the things that we looked at um the aboard the superintendent myself have looked at probably for over a year now um and I think we're making some some serious inroads with that with the with again the um the referendum passed here buford's willingness to match that I think the next step is um where do we begin and it was talked about at our last governance meeting and I and my takeaway was once um we have some money for this year which I believe hopefully will be discussed tonight um we can start looking at Architects and and that next phase to put together a plan because as stated the last person you want overseeing a major um billing renovation is this guy because if you ask my wife every every corner will be crooked and uh nothing will look too good but in all seriousness I I think that we need to probably get the right people in the right position and and be to to move forward with these renovations to to continue our progress in progression towards meeting all of our goals publicly State then my audits are clear our bond that passed is not going to happen Okay that's just the fact because if we decide to go to a bank we're literally going to pay is for what the attorney said they Mafia race so that's that would be fiscally irresponsible of the school district to do that okay so it's not a matter of just Jasper County taking care of the issue it's it's a joint venture and we chose to put you on our bond referendum you for County did not when they ran their referendum and we chose to do that because we have supposedly 30% of the student population of that campus is from Jasper County but when I looked at Department by Department by Department the reality is that's not the case because there are many classes where the majority if not all of the students are coming from beer County so even though we are funding a third of the enrollment the enrollment is a third of Jasper County is not actually happening and that's for another discussion but I wanted to make it clear that um we included you in the bond and until this audits are cleared that's not going to happen um then you will speak to Dr wagon a superintendent Dr Rodriguez for them to do whatever thing they need to assist you to do we don't want the building going on fire and I've been there when the electricity is gone out so I know you're in I thank you for coming and presenting and giving an update what I really would like to see is Miss Metro reference the number of students in that chart I'd like to see an updated list per class that are students are registering for because if we're paying for a third of the students to be in programs and we only have 1 we're literally literally paying for Buford County students to attend those classes right and that that is just not right so if we have to go back to the legislators and make them do it p uh per pupil ratio then we'll do that but if we're going to pay for a third of the enrollment of DJ Ace then a third of the students standing BJ Ace must be coming from Jasper County School District that's just only fair and right and proper thanks for your presentation thank you finance update good evening been a while since I've done this um maybe the first thing there the audit update all documents have been sent to um green penny that's been approved by Manley Garvin remember the state came in and said Manley Garvin you look at please make sure they approve and uh they've been approved and been sent to uh green penny um green infinity has since requested that I send them updated copies of the information that we sent them in the past so that they have the current date on and uh manly Goblin is basically leading um for them and just a matter of now uh waiting on green Penny to submit to do their work um I can't give you a time frame on it because I don't know Green finish time frame I know that the lead person that we used to work with no longer works with green penny the 1 who did all the leg work in the past um who had everything just basically done um so we're waiting now to hear back uh from them after we sent them stuff but the current dates on it Mr Zimmerman in order for our audience for watching the video you know who please explain who green and infinity is we know who they are they will not green penny is the auditor of Engagement and when I say Auto engagement that's the auditor that you hired to do the fy23 audit mainly garbing is the second audit firm that I hired to uh look at information and work with the staff so that we will be at a point where we won't have to depend on outside assistance to be able to prepare your books for an audit um since that time the state has turned around and hired Manley Garvin to basically do the same thing that we had them doing to begin with um so now that that's moved on we're moving on with that so that's the difference between um greenfinity and manly Garden okay okay all right now the other issue there that's an update on on that 23 23 24 is just in the uh Gathering of information now um and soon as it's 23 it's finished you can roll your balances and then once you roll your balances you can stop mhm okay right um impact fees you have a front that was a new 1 to me I'm reaching out to Hardeeville to try to find out what's all involved with that because that was probably me probably my time I should say here in the district to find out what all went on and done for that as of yet I have not seen any funds or anything from the impact on that and I think a lot of that has to do with the interchange at interchange 3 I'm not that's page separate from the impact fee of building homes okay because all these other the county meetings I've attended all the impact fees went to beautifully and and president unification and some other stuff that that I've seen okay yeah all right so I will continue to investigate that with Hardeeville yes and um if there's any way possible when you meet with them there's a lot of big developments going on down there also so maybe you need to check with them about impact fees on those development because 1 time I think this board had passed something we did with Hardeeville about impact fees but I don't remember exactly what it said and we are supposed to be collecting money now if I'm not mistaken so while you there if you could okay yeah I have to do it the uh administrator to find out this board entered into an agreement with Hardeeville for Exit 3 to delay that impact fee money that's the only money that was to be delayed to get Exit 3 developed and for houses you know even talked about a school potentially being in that area Exit 3 only all other impact fee is due the district okay oh it's not optional methods in all right I'll keep you informed of what I find out yeah all right summer pay schedule you have a copy of in front of you of the summer Pace schedule all about just a question do all of our employees have a copy of this no I haven't shared it with them yet okay any questions about the summer pay schedule okay if there are no questions on Dr W hang on no no we can't go forward shouldn't we be voting on this I don't think you have to vote on the pay schedule let's just regular pay schedule it's just a regular yeah that's for information purposes thank you go ahead Mr okay use the fund balance for Capital Improvement uh a while back the board approved uh several projects to use the fund balance to do um put a fence around bees Creek and and West Hardeeville campus also to do guard sheds at the entrance of Hartville and um Ridgeland campus uh and it was it was set aside in there for BJ Ace to help with their initial problems um with um electrical and some other things that needed to get done and we had that set aside in there that would put aside for that uh we have yet to transfer those funds to BJ's because I was waiting on approval to uh to do that but then we got into all the other stuff that was going on but I need to put it back on the table because that was a commitment we paid and we haven't delivered on that yet to PJ's uh those funds are still set aside because what it is These funds are still setting in the capital Improvement account uh that we have and um I mean it's a good thing they still set in there because the way Mr Skinner has it set up now the interest is really good piling up interest is really good on there so so Mr Zimmerman are you asking us to vote for you to do that because I seen as soon inside that well I mean you approved it already I I guess that was going on I was just skeptical about transferring it without coming back here and saying I'm going to transfer okay I want to transfer um for us when an asterisk is beside an item on the agenda it's something we need to vote on and there are asterisks under everything that you have right there so that is the why I'm asking that question so okay my understanding is that this was approved before by the board so okay is it more are you asking us to approve for more to know no I'm actually same 1 you already approved I'm just thank you uh putting it for you that I want to do it and complete it all right okay it was 1 million all right so I'm taking out the asterisk beside the things that we should not be approving and the only thing on here is going to be when we do the budget reading right and I can say that the fence work has already been done on that um and the guard shares have have a but because you wanted that uh project put on hold we have store those guard sheds over at the jcap campus because it was 1 of those things that you had already ordered and it was custom and it was no way to stop it right so we have them here and once we can get resolution on placement move forward on that okay okay and again now those those were the fund balance uh type issues BJ's and now we now I didn't get a chance to do a video uh of the budget process for the night the first reading uh just getting back in the office and I was catching up on a lot of things that just didn't get time to shut down and do the video for you so you have your hard copies in front of you there uh we went through these uh some of these the uh on the I think it was at the uh board meeting we had yes and uh as I promised through and uh make some notations for you again if you turn to the third page well let's go to the second page first of all which is the areas you notice there's 2 areas there in red the student services and administration again the first 1 used to be attendance and student service that has now been changed to just student services uh the area that was district-wide has been changed to Administration okay now the revenue part change at I'm still waiting to see what the final Senate version will be what you have in front you're not based on what the excuse me what the house had put together and in this section and what you're saying is not on the screen up there oh does he have have a copy of your presentation have this right I'm asking if this is up there no it's not it's not that's 1 of the thing I forgot to do and I left my thumb drive in the truck for the next time that we go can you please email it to Mr Shelton so that he can I can I usually do it it was oversight on my part my apologies thank you so anyway the uh 1 of the issues on their was the millage increased this here the value of a meal increase uh therefore creating a surplus of about an extra million dollars in Revenue um the state because we had some growth you you'll see there that we lost some Revenue from the state side hope we're hoping to regain that back in the Senate version of the um of the Appropriations and if you the bottom line is we're looking at 51 million 21,414 in revenue for next fiscal year if you flip the page to page 4 the um budget as as this reading we have allocated 50,953,446 toward okay we have a surplus of 67,000 that's not allocated so before you flip to the next page the Zimmerman last time that we went through the budget was actually 2 years ago the governor determined that he was going to cut funding to schools by 25% okay so are we still under that scenario the cut we've seen was that we've seen was for the growth not for anything anything any any other uh cuts to our allocation so he did not reverse that decision because what he said that literally was we are only going to fund the education of the children in the school districts at 75% it is a responsibility of the County Counseling each School District to fund the other 25% now that's what the governor stated 3 years ago and it has not changed and I'm making that clear to everybody so that when we bring our budget County Council the governor had and the state has increased the beginning teaching teacher salary okay so we can't pay our teachers less than that County Council needs to understand that he has a responsibility to pick up that 25% that the governor cut and never replaced okay currently the county provides Pro about then about 40 8 60% of our funding and the state provides the other thank 40% I just need need to make sure that everyone understands how that works because there is there are there is some misconduct misconceptions about what we can do with referendum money and we definitely cannot pay teacher salaries with their friend of money all right if you flip the page over on the instructional Services what I've done there I've put things in red that have changed um and you'll see the number of FTE that support each 1 positions and the total impact there and most of that has been that we reduced the number of FTE there from 8.25 down to 4 and the classified position from 3 from 2 to 3 was increased by 1 so overall effect there were probably I think 3 positions removed in that area okay okay even if you flip the next page is a detail of how you got those numbers page 7 is BJ Ace we added a 10% increase to the amount that we sent to BJ's um talking to Mr lecio that might be a little less than that but for budgeting purposes we put in 10% uh and I spoke earlier tonight about it so we'll be going from 1 million 72,000 to 1,179,250 annually in athletics there is no uh 5050 position anymore for athletic director correct Athletics director is now a stipend for a classified or certified employee at the school who was serving function and we'll be paying a stipend for doing that okay can I ask a question yes ma'am um the amount you have there for the stipend um is that enough um I'm just asking is it a enough for that person to do the duties of an athletic director they're not a director um basically the current athletic director is kind of submitted what they thought would be sufficient for that position uh for someone who is doing that but like I said this is the first reading of the budget and everything is kind of open but that's what they submitted to me and that's what I kind of yeah because they won't be a director anymore know they're they're they're certified yes and they're getting a stipend for doing the job uh plus having this time you don't have a future salary Plus or you know they'll have whatever yeah I understand that I mean okay um athletic director their description or job time uh what they have to do for that position does it entail where they have to um be on site for every athletic game or things that's going on at at the school do they have to I mean and I know they have to make sure we got the equipment and all that so I'm I'm just asking is is that enough stipend for the job description that they have to do right and they have down there in athletic supplements they do have what they call um the assistant to them to assist them in aspects of each 1 of them probably would have 1 other person at the school helping them who was getting a stipend also so it be just them themselves Mrs Zimmer I don't see athletic director on my copy the position was dissolved I see certified professional staff um for the right program right but is that because I don't see directed by that person so it's not a direct okay okay because I'm looking for the director and I okay and that was 1 of those levels this week that on the list correct we just needed to clarification okay I got it down to the question my name's job description on it before before you proceed you you said you increased Ace uh bja 10% yes ma'am and that was just a determined by a conversation you and Dr lecia or yes ma'am okay okay and his his thought is it may be less what is the legislation say we do 1:30 you know I I want to make sure we follow in the law we do we 1/3 that 10% is something that they're going to be an increase because salaries that are going to okay so we're doing this based on salary okay just say yeah don't say you talked to Dr levey we just didn't pull up I conversation all right very good thank you all right okay next in the student services again student services you see the FTE there and in that we have have the social workers the uh truancy officer and the director of student services all included you know the FTE next On The Board of Education so that changed to the number from 2 to 5 yes ma'am okay yeah so that bring the total up more because we put those social workers over there okay all right um On The Board of Education we increase the board a lot from 3,300 for travel to 4,000 we moved the uh teacher of the year bonus of $600 from um from this place over to HR budget and we move the national school board local supplement from the uh Board of Education over to the HR department okay okay that's what you see some reduction in your budget there and also we increase the torque liability uh by 75,000 based on the increase there okay the new category which call Administration and administration includes what used to be called districtwide and security uh they are in this area um well you have in there the sro's what we pay for sro's um we looked at the equipment that we had allocated for security and and we know we saw we purchased the majority of that equipment now it's more so paying maintenance to maintain it you know those uh bag scanners emit radiation so you have to have certification on those yes so we've got contracts that we put in place now to do that so they they have their annual inspection on there and we reduce that amount because we sort of no need to buy new equipment there we have it uh at the elementary side we go buy more of the Tower type ones that you walk through high school is going to be all bag scammers okay so miss before you go on on Mr Zimmerman I think that piece of legislation is going through Columbia right now on funding more sro's and school districts because of the need will we qualify for any of that funding well we have some now that are in there and some that we pay for uh we are hoping that once they look back at it that we'll be able to do that because you know the funding for sro's cover an 8 hour day correct and we have them for like 9 hours we have to pay for that extra hour and those kind of things so we're hoping to be able to put more of the sros into that especially in the heart of the area can we pay 100% for those yeah that we can get them back on the uh Grant or some funding like that okay okay thank you all right yeah yeah you'd be surprised what is the telephone service for 180 that's your your telephone system that's that's telephones in every classroom around in the up in maintenance on updates on the telephones and all that stuff that's what that's what okay okay next 1 is finance in the finance department we reduce 1 staff member um and we added a 0.5 on a receptionist that's being shared between HR and um Finance that position do does more than just receptionist a kind of like catch off between the 2 departments okay uh Food Services there were no changes on food service side again 1 of the things we will talk about food service clubs and food service we updated and replaced all broken equipment in the cafeterias um and we did that all through funding that was made generated through food service and um part of the issue you know there was you can't have so much um money in the bank for food service because the state department watches it and tells you say hey you got too much money we need a plan on how you plan on spending it down and what we did was look at all the equipment that was broken and we replaced all that equipment so Madam chair if you don't mind how much funding did we get off 2 how much did we get off of food service last year probably 6 it was a little over a million dollars here okay in that okay give you an exact number off the top of my head right now but I know yeah yep cuz that's almost what we spent on new equipment okay and that's for both campus right that's for both campus both campuses are identical with the equipment see uh HR we had increases we had a decrease actually in the workman comp compensation Insurance Fund of about 22,000 we added again the $3,000 for national school for the hundred dollars for teachers and uh we increase the legal fees by 75,000 yeah that uh next is maintenance what we did on the maintenance tab there as we separated out the purchase services and the outsourced contract so that you could see what the outsourced contracts were before it was all lumped together we separated that out this time so we can actually see it um so when we go out for RFP we know that that's around about our targeted amount if we go out for custodial yard and maintenance okay all right go and go over to public information in public information that used to be a 0.5 position there that we removed uh because it hadn't been filled in the last 3 years so we saw that there was be better utilized elsewhere so we took that position out going over to special services special services is 1 of these areas where we pay about 50% and stands um pay the other uh 50% Ida preschool and act regular Ida so you'll see but we have to maintain a certain level there for our Moe yes okay expensive effort the maintenance of effort is the is not going to know what m m o e means Mrs okay maintenance of the effort you have to show that you are spending equal amount of money on kids with special needs as you are spending otherwise on regular I'm might be the wrong word on regular population that you have to show that you're spending comparable in that and this is a small part of it because we have it spread out in the school budgets when you look at those 2 okay all right Madam chair I have a question yes ma'am um you a special services right um certified professional staff um you've got listed 2 last time you had 1 and it was the same amount right what we did there because we did the last time we had the whole position in their this time we got 2 positions in there we took at the director position and uh what was the other position director and coordinator in there okay okay so it's not just the 1 position this time it's just 2 of them and I'll portion of what we have to pay okay so that it'll be the same amount as if it was 1 that that figure may vary once I get the information back from um sped because they have completed their budget yet on that for the next year's allocation okay I'm just comparing it to budget because I got the ones that last so the numbers are the same so that's why I'm asking the question yeah yeah okay okay next we have the office of the superintendent uh on the office of the superintendent we kind of left the salary there because I'm not sure what um that's going to be so I just kind of left it at that um it also we added $20,000 in there for the purpose of now the board meetings have to be recorded transcribed and all these type things so that came up with a formula to use for paying for that so we added twenty thousand dollars to his budget for that purpose that's a state mandated type thing now oh it's now the law the law passed where whereas our board meetings have been televised for years and many schools districts were not the legislation is now passed where every school district has to televised their and having transcribed I'm transcribing exactly yeah data technology typically maintaining the same there with the exception of the some of the salary increases that have taken place Transportation transportation where we saw a big uh jump because what we did there we went out and made a concerted effort to make bus drivers pay attractive and I think we put together a plan that will help us reach that goal 30 bus drivers uh we had 26 now we hope that we get to 30 uh we have asked them a check yeah got 3 in train I was about to say we got 3 in training now so that's uh that's been working out pretty good so you'll see the changes down there that have been made along the line so there was a significant increase in the uh salary side and the benefit side for transportation okay all right now we getting into the schools what we do in the schools if you look at page 36 and the first line there it says instructional purchasing Services direct District assessment software subscriptions uh what we did there was the district assessment will use the same assessment software across every school all right in the past the the schools had substantial amount of money in that line but they had very little money in supplies so we redistribute that money because it was being redistributed by the principles so we just went ahead and say hey let's just put it up there where it needs to be to begin so we can show uh the public and everybody that we are spending significant amount of money at for supplies so if you look we uh last year for example instructional supplies that uh 100 developmental was 12,500 this year is 95,000 okay so in the bottom line down there we took out the repair and maintenance because that's handled by uh technology uh we increase the supply budget for the school about 146,500 and we did decrease the contractual teaching by 100,000 that's just a matter of Shifting that around we reallocated it all right and we did that throughout with all the schools because all the schools had that um type and we reallocated the funding so that we could provide more in the area of supplies teaching supplies for the to help the students you know teachers supply check for hundred dollars so we put the money where it should be so that the principles don't have to worry about doing that redistrict redistribution of it later on okay and again we talked about the salary increases and the salary schedules that we that we put out for teachers and you all all board members have had a chance to look at that schedule yes and see that uh there's significant increases for teachers in um especially in the first 5 years yeah okay and if you like I say flip through the schools is basically the same before you he said especially the first 5 years are there increases for the other years because I'm sure there's a there's a teacher sitting out there right now she's thinking really well yeah all because the initially you think the State schedule says beginning teacher salary is 48 500,500 yes what we propose is a starting teacher salary of 57,000 500 so with that increase that meant every step behind that increased so all teachers will see an increase Beyond you know what state had allocated I'm glad that you're saying that because B teacher sitting out there when I first heard you say was first 5 years okay and those folks who stood in the Gap and have been in the trenches for years they deserve any so I'm glad you clarified it thank you okay Madam chair although we do want to always acknowledge our teachers because of your phenomenal job you know our intent is to not definitely go back to 30 vacancies exactly yeah you feel like produces space showing our future that would appreciate you value them but B we want you to come to J County because some great things happen here so uh it's it's critically important uh that our kids on day 1 have certified teachers in their classrooms yes no I have a question um with the increase of teacher salary transportation and power pools and all that um it's it's in our budget when are we advertising this doesn't have to be after we passed the budget or are we advertising it now to bring people into our district well we haven't advertised it yet because it hasn't really passed that's what I'm saying it had really passed because you could tell me I remember we discussing it here in a public meeting and it's it's sort of out because we are televised and with all that but I'm just asking how how how are we going to bring the people in if they not know the changes in our sample we have 1 more reading we got to follow the law um but you can say we're projecting that correct correctly um that is what we're projecting and having the reading here publicly again helps us in that I can't help people are here to hear it uh and and that's what we want we want we get it through the great yeah and of course our advertisement we have 3 reasons for us South Carolina and Georgia uh as you saw it even in the report the number of teachers that we hired just this month and that that's not even from this knowledge being out there exactly so we we really feel good about that okay again like I said through the schools the idea was to actually show um Supply money being spent for supplies at the schools in significant amounts proportionate to the number of students you have hey I'm glad that was changed too because after all the teachers are the ones who are out there teaching they know what they need so we need to make sure they have the money to to get the supplies they need in the schools all right so now we go on down through career and Technology um they're basically changes their only on the salary and what we're doing also with career technology a lot of that's being rolled up on the high school because it's just a arm off of the high school there so we just rolling that up out of there yeah that's what I do Alternative Program uh the only thing we did there was removed and special ed um teacher that was allocated there because the person wasn't really there so we removed the person from there and we are still using the um teach by committee that's working over there um 1 of the teachers uh want to work with uh the kids over at the jcat building doing their planning period we've paid them a stipend for doing that okay something of their choice not something we forced them to do is they choose to do it all right today we have you in a nutshell the budget for the first reading um for your life or just like and uh suggestions and improvements takeaways and additions okay Miss Bolton well I actually don't have any takeaways I think uh we are to be commended that we are uh going to exceed the salary for the teachers um but I would like to see that uh 10% that's down for Ace I'd like uh if we're going to do that let's roll that in and um that would be their increase and make an indicator stating that why we're doing that that that's the indication because of the uh state required the um teachers to be increased that we're doing it for across the board for our bja student uh teachers as well thank you yes ma'am mhm I would like to say something about the budget I think that they work real hard on this budget and that it's falling in place feel good and I'm going to commend Dr whack and his back and everyone else on this and let's make sure this budget keep to what is supposed to be thank you Cam Madam chair I make a motion that we that the first reading of the Jasper County School District budget second second environment High Enough discussion I think so should we go ahead and vote unless there's something else we want to talk about it all right so all in favor say I I opposed last reading passes thank you thank you very much what Madam chair members of the board I'm here to do superintendent update um if I can go a little bit out of order so we can go ahead and approve uh the field trip the overt overnight field trip that's in your packet that is for our Kate students that have made it to the National level and we're excited about that um Dr heart got in contact with me and so uh the school and the office of the superintendent will be covering the expenses for all of our children and so uh we're excited about them participating in that so we we just need your approval for the overnight uh trip portion of that where are Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta is it Atlanta this thing at the Omni in in Atlanta all right so we need a motion to approve the field trip so move Madam chair motion by Miss Mitchell for us to approve the field trip second at field trip to Atlanta for 8 second by who it's Frasier second by Miss Fraser and you need Priscilla first is there any for discussion let's vote by saying I I opposed motion passes thank you madam chair secondly if we could look at the student uh out of district attendance request you see that again students uh I believe parents work in um Buford and they're requesting uh there are 3 children a second grade or sixth grader and seventh grader uh to attend that we accept the uh recommendation from the superintendent to uh allow the parents to move the students to Beaver County School District all right so motion by Miss Bolden to release the students according to parents request for them to go to where the parents is second bonus to my any opposed all right so let's have a vote by saying I please opposed so the eyes have it okay thank you um just briefly uh on faculty staff housing update uh I was asked to look in into faculty staff housing uh we did even look at the option of trying to use bonds to do that we uh after speaking with our bond attorneys and financial persons that is not an option that they can take uh at this time but there was a suggestion of the use of fund balance to do that and I did uh thanks to 1 of our board members who turned uh a resource over to me speak with a gentleman out of Alan uh about some possibilities of uh building housing for our staff yeah well yes sir it was you to Mr Moy and uh so I got an opportunity to reach out to him we had a an hour plus conversation he talked about the work that they're doing in Allendale uh he said if we had about 5 Acres or so uh about 4 to 5 million dollars would do about 30 units uh and some other options are once we uh move the district office to the auxiliary building taking that building and possibly again transitioning it to housing as well so there are several options uh our fund balance is strong uh we have property and taking advantage of that so that we can have a proper housing for our staff here funds as mentioned to the uh budget committee funds that could come in from that would just simply be re uh uh put back into not only the maintenance of the building but also to helping raise or give bonuses to teachers you just want to be able to take advantage of that money to show that we're not just taking it and packing it away but we're taking it and making sure that we're we're moving forward with our staff celebrating our staff and so being able to do that is critical uh to the housing piece and so we're excited about that just wanted to update you on that uh we are uh going to continue to look at that 1 of the things I think Mr um Zimmerman mentioned was the idea of moving fund balance or are taking half a fund balance and moving it into capital which will allow us to do some of those very things and so uh we we're excited about being able to bring you more information on that this is just an update to you so you could be a breast of what the options are uh this is a beautiful place a great place but it's an expensive place and we want to bring some of the best uh and brightest but we we want them to be able to find some place to live that's adequate that they can afford uh specially and although we're doing a a nice starting teacher salary it still takes you know living and so we want to want to make sure we do that so that is my update on housing are there any questions to that yeah no Dr work but I would like to say that you know we consider what our teachers are making they should not have to pay 50% of their annual salary which is what's happening right now for housing in Jasper County it's it sounds ridiculous but that's the fact those of us who brought property many many years ago don't have that expense but today is close to impossible to find a place for less than a quarter of a million dollars I mean seriously no teacher that works anywhere it's going to be able to afford that and I'm concerned that yes we're giving you a raise but if you have to pay $3,000 a month for rent you're not going to survive not in this economy so I'm glad that um we're able to look at that Dr work it's just it distresses me that what's happening to teachers right now and not just here but you know the places so thank you yes ma'am and of course Fairfield county is 1 of the leading counties in our state that have actually done this correct they have teacher Village and I would encourage this board to take a field trip uh and see the work that they have done in Fairfield uh now they they want a different route they did use private funding through an Educational Foundation which might not be a bad idea but bad idea for Jasper County to try to push forward with that kind of support but this district has the capital to make happened for teachers and I would highly encourage it uh because again you you got everything that you need here you've got amazing facilities wonderful Community great people people will come to work here and we've just got to able to make it affordable for them to come and stay not just come for a year or 2 and move on so any anything else on that thank you so much uh the attendance report uh oh Lord we have 2 2,930 8 children in school today all of our all of our schools are over 700 now we had a few that were under so we actually gone up in these last few weeks uh and so uh forgive me for not calling out the individual numbers I wrote them on your weekly update okay and so I apologize for not having memorized them yet uh and then the last thing is just the recognition of our faculty and staff again every month we just show how much we appreciate who they are and we know that you do that and so thank you uh after uh this place that will be the end of the superintendent's update thank you our teacher is none other than doctor make always supportive and just waiting and willing to do whatever you can for our students and our teachers our stupidest set is going to be in Asia super excited to be more proud when she gets to her program and Tom a full-fledged certified engineer congratulations to both of you and truly deserve it we how you doing I'm Jerry wall services for desperate County um and this month's stupendous staff is braved out in from our regular campus where is the county for 7 years and um she's our client server on the elementary and she's been doing that for over 7 years um 1 Thing great about Korea is that she's 1 of a few Spanish speaking teachers so she does a great job teaching children that come to the line and help them navigate and pick what they want so we're very much for now for the moment thank you for staying the high school and for the month of May would like to shout out exactly a month we might have that this line we would like to share our issue Woods Security office for officers from Ally and take care of our front office and all together the same security every day for our staff students and our group members thank you for your support our tremendous teacher for this month is Miss Nika Evans Miss Evans is stepping up and talk about or honors class and our 8th grade students and the absence of the teacher would like to thank her for her dedication to our students and our school hi my name is Adrian and I'm the person today I want understand back in time to that number I would also like to introduce you to our community right there all please congratulate our tremendous teacher for the month of May and that's the biggest Gap number Mr original Elementary right now coordinates our donations for our new drug also light our career name clearly activities phenomenal and you must the computer and I was in the staff hello everybody this is my general management um project or in my general management pathway teacher she has done an outstanding job she's paid in our schools on several fields definitely meaningful they the courthouse and we just easily can assign and she said she is amazing at what she does and I'm ready to have her as a part of please let me know let's celebrate out there all righty so board member monthly attendance is for our information only and then we have um the next meeting on there is the wrong date it's the for the next budget workshop and the Heart of a media center that should say May 15th not 13 that's what I was thinking uh huh yes we stuff happens all right and then the next call board meeting will be 22 all right so we've gone through all of this good stuff we did such a good job working on our agenda meeting is about to be adjourned and it says something else that we need to close that 1 all right thanks everyone for coming public and support appreciate you coming have a good night please don't forget your salads in the back oh no we won't

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