001My name is Adrian tonight session of student spotlight which was to allow our talented student groups to come out from you all Um before our board meeting tonight, I have the pleasure to introduce the Riverdale High School or Quintet, the Blue Diamond Team, and Smith Elementary. So, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Hallelujah. Thank you. Happy birthday. Hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. Not sure. There's too many kids. That's my It's a little I don't know that to the right. >> Yeah. >> Like Yeah. Uh other way a little bit more. So like it. It's hard to do when you can't. Right there. Right there. Right there. Thank you. was a popular song for the Hispanic community. It's called which is very share that with you. Now everyone What's that? What's going on? >> Hi everybody.
002>> Hi Dr. Elementary, >> we hope you enjoy performance. Woo! Okay. Blue diamond. Wow. Blue diamond. Hello. Woo! Where are you? Good evening. I was sitting in my seat looking at this, could you imagine what those HBU >> This is fantastic. Thank you so much. Um before before we step into our our meeting and we got couple of minutes, so if any of the um um acts want to do something extra, we still got time. Um and we will have time also when we go into executive session. So you know I'll I'll the um but before we go in um I I have to give extreme thanks to our board leaison Kimberly Kimberly Blackwood and and now we need to stand up stand up. The reason I say that is because this was a concept
003and Dr. Hendrickx, thank you for the support. This was a concept that was a couple of months ago. We felt as though we wanted to make sure that we as a board showcase our talent in all of our schools, not just one school, but in all of our schools. And these people have coordinated some great stuff. I had no idea what to expect today. And I want to thank you so much for making this a success. All right. So, you guys don't What school is this? Come on. Heat. Blue. Show those hands. How many graduating from an HBC? >> You think they're ready? >> All right, we're going to start our meeting at 5. Thank you. Thank you for everybody for coming. How many parents in the room here? Finish up there. Thank you. Good
004evening everyone and welcome to Clayton County Public Schools board work session. Today is January 12th, 2025 and the time is 5:02 p.m. >> 2026. >> I'm sorry. Right. 2026. I apologize. Um, we have a need for we're calling this meeting to order and we have a need for an executive session where we will discuss personnel, land matters, and legal matters. Can I get a motion for executive session? unanimous. We will see you guys as soon as we can wrap up the executive session. >> Change the mics to the >> Well, Yeah, it's too wide. >> Okay, we have some recommendations um in executive people heads. >> The back of people. >> Even the back of people. >> Okay. Okay. >> I apologize. If everybody will rise for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag
005of the standice. All right. District one, Miss >> Present. >> District two, Mr. Mark Christmas. >> Present. >> District three, Dr. Jesse Gory. >> Present. >> District four, Miss Victoria Williams. She is here. >> Right. District five, Dr. D. Haney. She's here also. District six, Miss Mary Baker, >> present. >> District seven, Miss Bina Hill, >> present. >> District eight, Miss Joy Telis Cooper, >> present. >> And I'm District 9, Benjamin Straker. >> Superintendent Dr. Anthony Smith, >> present. >> Deputy Superintendent Dr. Douglas Hrix, >> Board Attorney, Mr. Clim Doyle, >> present. Assistant to the superintendent, Miss Alicia Battle. >> Assistant to the deputy superintendent, Miss Dorne Biles. >> And lastly, board liaison, Miss Kimberly Blackwood. >> Thank you for that. >> All right. that I'm reading the ethics statement. In accordance to board policy
006BH, it is the duty of every board member to avoid both conflicts of interest and the appearance of such conflicts. Does any board member have any known conflict of interest or appearance of such conflict with respect to any matter scheduled to come before the board at this meeting or appearing on our proposed agenda? If so, please identify the conflict or the appearance of conflict and refrain from participation in the matter involved at this point. Yeah. Gotcha. Um at this point, um at this point, board members, we need to adopt the agenda. Could I get a motion for the adoption of the agenda as it's as it's planned out this evening? >> So move. I got Miss Hill, Miss Gore, a second. >> I second the motion. >> All right. Can I get a vote? It's
007unanimous. recognition. >> We have somebody for board recognition. >> We do. Okay. All right. >> All right. At this time, we have public participation and I'm going to read the policy on public participation. The Clayton County Board of Education welcomes public participation and will hear any interested individual pursuant to the guidelines outlined policy BCBI. Members of the public will not be allowed to discuss individual personnel issues or confidential student matters. We're good. >> All right. The Clayton County Board of Education welcomes public participation and will hear any interested individual pursuant to the guidelines outlined in policy BCBI. Members of the public will not be allowed to discuss individual personnel issues or confidential student matters. Speakers must identify themselves and topics before speaking. Speakers will be given three minutes to speak and time may not be
008yielded from one speaker to another. Board members will not respond to comments from speakers. The chairman may respond as appropriate. Issues requiring possible action by the board may be added to future agendas. Issues that may need to be addressed by the administration will be duly noted. Abuse of language and/or personal attacks will not be permitted. First person that we have for this evening is Mr. Terrell Mitchell, who I believe is the band um director for Mount Zion High School. Just going to hold it. Good evening, board chair, vice chair, members of the Clayton County Public Schools Board of Education, Dr. Dr. Anthony Smith and distinguished guest. My name is Terrell Mitchell and I stand before you today as a product of Clayton County Public Schools and as the proud director of bands at Mount Zion
009High School. On behalf of Principal Grant, Mr. John Wmeck, the Mount High School marching bulldog band and MCHS chorus would like to sincerely thank you all for your support and making our recent trip to Hawaii last month possible. This this experience was truly transformative for our students and provided them with an unforgettable opportunity to represent Clayton County Public Schools on a national stage. I would also like to add that I I want to appreciate the officers that attended with us uh specifically Sergeant Henry and her professionalism and leadership. Uh I also want to thank uh Miss Ramona Bibons for making it happen. We were the only band in the parade with officers on the parade route with us. So I felt very safe. Um and it looked great and it was a good representation for
010Clayton County Public Schools. Uh we are especially grateful to the board chair, I'm sorry, to the board member, uh Dr. Jesse Gori for personally joining us on the trip. Her presence demonstrated a genuine commitment to our students and to the arts in Clayton County Public Schools. We also extend our appreciation to community stakeholder Pastor Mel Smith for his continued encouragement and support of our program. I stood before you a little over a year ago announcing this trip to the public and I was met with immediate support and encouragement. I just wanted to stand before you once again to say thank you for your time. Thank you for your support and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to impact our students in such a major way. >> Thank you. >> Next, Miss Brenda Harris. Harrison,
011>> how do I come behind that? That That was amazing. I'm here to say thank you to this board, this body chair Ben Straker for creating a committee to study one of my biggest problems with homeless education department. I hated that name from the day they put it up. So, I've been advocating to get it changed. So, thank you, Mr. Straker. Members of the board of education, thank you for voting to approve the initiative. Dr. Anthony Smith, thank you for getting the ball rolling. And Mr. Ronic Joseph for throwing the ball into play. So, we wanted to get all of this in play because the stigma of being homeless, which can happen to any of us at any time, uh we we wanted to get rid of that stigma. So, what we did, well, we
012put the ball in play. Unfortunately, it didn't happen during November when it was re we were recognizing the homeless uh situations, but we got it done. Fortunately, in December at an event, I saw Dr. U Crawford and I asked her about the sign because I'd be going around there checking, it's a sign up, it's sign up and it wasn't up. So she did check, called me the next day, told me where it was. Few days later, it still wasn't up. So I called my board chair, my board member, and she made some calls. And let me tell you who picked up the fumbled ball. This was uh I want to thank the team who did pick up the ball and run for the touchdown. They are Dr. April Crawford, my board member Telis Cooper, and
013taking the ball in for the touchdown was Mr. Sam Koger. So, I just want to thank you guys. The sign is up. It looks absolutely amazing. And Dr. Wayne, Anthony Wayne Smith. Gotcha. Thank you, man. Let me let me um let me add to that please that um I want to um thank board member um Sabrina Hill for even making me look that good. I mean because she took the ball running when it came to that committee and um I can take absolutely none of the accolades for the hard work that she did with her and her team. So let's give her a hand. Is Bridget Ward here? Bridget Ward. Bridget Ward. Okay. She must have signed the wrong sheet. All right. That that concludes public participation. Thank you. Now we have the uh recommendations
014from the executive session. I am going to hand the platform over to the superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Miss Vice Chairwoman, members of the board, staff and community members, I would like for the board tonight to consider for the position of principal at River's Edge Elementary School, Dr. Jacqueline Hunter. >> Um, I would like us to I would like to make the motion that we approve the superintendent's recommendation for Dr. Jaclyn Hunter as the principal at River's Edge Elementary School. >> I need a second. Miss Hill, >> second. >> The motion has been made improperly second. Could I get a vote? All right. Is Miss Hunter. Dr. Hunter, are you in the building? You can stand up. >> Congratulations, Dr. Hunter. >> Dr. Hunter, please don't go anywhere until we're finished. We need to
015take a photo with you after the executive session. >> Congratulations, Dr. Hunter, and thank you board members for that support. I would also like for the board to consider for the position of assistant principal at the early learning center, Miss Sharon McIntyre. Chiron McIntyre. >> Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. All right, Miss Miss Gori, >> I'm going to move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation of my sister, Chiron McIntyre. And and I don't want you all to say, "Oh, she didn't say anything about ethics, but she is my sister by a certain way as the assistant principal at the early learning center." >> Mr. Christmas. >> Second. The motion has been made and properly second. Can I get a vote? Congratulations, Miss McIntyre. Thank you. Uh, thank you, board members, and congratulations, Mrs. McIntyre.
016Let's let's take that photo right quick and then get back to executive session. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Come on. Come on. We got something. >> We got Come on. Where you at? Come on. Let's do it. Throw it up. Throw it up. Doing the celebration early. Thank you board members for that support. >> Okay, we have some land. >> We also have a employee uh tribunal hearing. >> Okay, >> I thought we were going to go in the way we discussed it. Go with the easements. >> All right, let's discuss the easements. Um, superintendent, you want to take that or >> uh, Mr. Joseph, uh, as we discussed in, uh, executive session, um, I would like for this the board to u approve the recommendations that were made and and discussed
017in executive session. >> Good deal. The first one we have is an easement for um, garden walk, Miss ScorI. >> All right. I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for the easement for the Clayton County Transportation and Development Rightway. >> Second. >> Okay, the motion has been made and properly second. Board members, can I get a vote? It's unanimous. Next, we have the Georgia Power. I'm sorry. We have the um Clayton County Transportation and Development. >> No, that's what I just did. Georgia. >> All right. >> Georgia Power. Let me Can I have a motion for the Georgia Power Eman? >> Yes. I move that we accept the recommendation from the superintendent in the executive session for the Georgia Power Easement. >> Good deal, Mr. Christmas. >> Second. >> The motion has been made
018and properly second. Can I get a vote? >> It's um 8 one abstension. You got that, Miss M? >> Okay. We have a residential property on Mcdana Road. Can I get your um I move that we accept the recommendation for a purchase agreement for the property at 1601 Mcdana Road for the amount of $285,000. >> Right. Can I get a second? Yes, she is. >> Second it, >> Miss The motion has been made and properly second. It's been made by Mary Baker and seconded by Miss Williams. Can I get a vote? >> Yeah, he's >> all right. It's unanimous. >> Now we have the um the employee tribunal. >> Yes. Uh Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I would like the board to uh support the recommendations as discussed in the executive session for employee
019tribunal hearing 2025-2026-06. >> Miss Glory, >> I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for employee tribunal hearing 2025-2026-06. Miss B. Miss Ves >> second. >> Good deal. Um the motion has been made and properly seconded. Can I get a vote? >> It's unanimous. Thank you board members. I have no further recommendations at this time. >> Good deal. We have two more items from executive session. One being the uh separation agreement with the superintendence contract. Can I get someone to make a motion for accepting? >> Yes, please. says, "I move that we accept the retirement and separation agreement for Dr. Anthony Smith." >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> The motion has been made, Miss Bose, and the motion has been seconded by Miss Telis Cooper. Can I get a vote? >> One,
020two, three. >> We're We're voting on the separation agreement. One, two, three. Right. I got five four. >> No, you don't. >> You haven't asked for other votes. >> You have five four. Perhaps you have um four who voted. You want to poll their votes? >> Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> I am abstaining from the vote and I want to state my reason. >> Go for it. because I I don't accept his don't accept I don't accept his retirement and I'm and I'm and I'm very I'm unaccepting it and I'm hoping that he'll just come back tomorrow and say he made a mistake and he stay Dr. Smith you're not allowed to go >> huh do you guys have any comments >> uh just like uh Dr. Gory. Uh I would wish stay on just
021a little while longer. Uh so we can finish the work that was done that he was doing. I thought he was doing an excellent job. But you know if you got to go, you got to go. >> Thank you. >> We do wish you the best, but I'm just not accepting it. >> Thank you board members. >> It was Talis Cooper. Yes. >> It was Cooper. Yes. Hill. Yes. Baker. Yes. Myself. Yes. And Miss BS. Yes. >> Go ahead, Victoria. >> She's talking. >> I think Miss uh we're extensions, I think. >> All right. We're good. >> You got it, Miss B. >> Right. You You want to speak? Okay. All right. Good. Separate separation agreement passes. You can uh you can leave right now. No, I'm just joking. All right, last last order of
022business is the um the appointment of the interim um superintendent. Um let me get a let me get a motion and a vote and if anybody want to have a discussion at that point, let's do it. Who has the motion for the um recommendation for the interim superintendent? >> Yes, >> Miss Bones, go for it. Um, I also want to echo my sincere appreciation and gratitude for Dr. Smith and I know all nine of us begrudgingly uh send you on on your way, but thank you for all you've done. >> And I would like to make a motion that we approve a contract for the position of interim superintendent and that we offer that opportunity to Dr. Douglas Hendris. >> Great. Can I get a second? Second, >> Miss Hill, the motion has been made
023and properly seconded. Can I get a vote? >> Looks like it's unanimous to me, buddy. Dr. Hendris, welcome to the interim senior. Before Before Yeah. Let's Before we move on, before we move on, I have a couple of statements I want to make before we move on. And I appreciate the board's um um patience with this. First and foremost, um I couldn't think of another person that could could can lead the charge directly after Dr. Smith. Um, you you two know that I have all the faith in the world with you two and I think you guys are a strong Batman and Robin and Batman is now getting ready to retire. So, Robin got to step up his game. Um, I um Dr. Hendris has had 26 years in Clayton County. Um, he's been at
024every level of of leadership at Clayton County. start started as a teacher um all the way up to administration to second in charge. So I I just can't see anybody else that's that can lead that charge that Dr. um Smith has built. So um doc Dr. Hendricks, you got a job ahead of you. You got some big shoes to fill and I'm sure you will do that and we all on this board look forward as you can see with the vote to working with you. Thank you. Um Dr. Smith, you have something? >> Uh, yes. Uh, first I want to thank the board for the support given to me during the past three years and throughout my nearly four decades of professional service and leadership in Clayton County Public Schools. This support has created what
025I firmly believe is a solid foundation for continued growth. And I know that I leave this district in the hands of a consmate professional whose laser focus will be on providing the children of Clayton County with the best educational experiences possible. No one no one is better equipped than my longtime good friend and colleague Dr. Douglas C. Hendrickx to guide our district to the next level. When the superintendent gave me the great opportunity to serve as superintendent, I knew my most important decision was going to be my number two person. And the two things that I wanted in that person is to be smarter than me and better looking than me. You accomplished your goal. And I looked long and hard all over the country. And when I couldn't find anybody fit that description, I
026settled with Dr. Hendricks. Congratulations my dear friend. >> Dr. Hendrick, would you bless us with a comment? I'm not going to swing back. First and foremost, let me say thank you um to the board of education for your support. I know that transition is difficult. And this is difficult for me because at every turn in my career, I've looked to my right and I've always seen Dr. Anthony Smith. You will always be my friend. You will always be my brother. I will always come when you call board. Again, this is a very, very monumentous occasion for me. And I represent not just myself, but I represent my family. I represent the community that I lived in for 20 years. I represent all of these wonderful people who have been educators for so long. And my
027commitment and my promise to you is to do everything in my power to change this community for the better so that we can be a light for communities that look like and feel like this one across the nation. Some people see me um differently than I would want them to because this has always been an endeavor in ethics for me and being honest and doing things the right way. I don't intend to change that. This is more than just, you know, the work. I'm trying to set the pathway for my children to get grace and mercy when they don't deserve it. And so doing the right thing means a lot to me. And I promise that that will always happen. In times like this, transition and leadership is more about progress than it is noise.
028It's about doing the best and not looking good, but doing good. And so that will be our challenge as we move forward. Anthony W. Smith, you do not look better than me. Not even a close second. But your shoes are big and your steps are large and the progress you made is enormous. All eyes are on Clayton County to be special and I promise to the best of my ability while I hold this transition spot. I will do everything everything to honor the work that you've done. And I'm so thankful to the board of education again. And I'm so proud of the people that I have the privilege not just to call my colleagues but my friends. We will be great together or we'll die trying. Right. I appreciate you. I love you all too.
029Thank you so much. Thank you for that. We now have board announcements. Are you guys ready? Which way do you want me to start? Over by should we do Cooper? Which one? You ready? >> Let's rock. >> Okay. So, first of all, um I want to start off by saying Dr. Smith, you will be missed. Um I know that we have had this time together. We've gotten a chance to know each other. I'm not going to get too, but we've gotten a chance to know each other and kind of um go to lunch and talk and talk things through, agree and disagree, but that's all a part of it. And at the end of the day, I know there's a Dr. Smith and I know there's an Anthony. And the Anthony always outweighs the Dr.
030Smith. So, I am truly going to miss just seeing you and hugging on you when I see you, but I absolutely wish you the absolute best in your retirement because we have talked and I know there's things that you want to do and things that you have to take care of. So, um, congratulations on retirement. We'll miss seeing your face, but I'm sure you will not be a stranger to Clay County. >> Thank you, Miss L. So, with that being said, I have what you say. >> Go. No, go ahead. Go ahead. >> With that being said, I have two announcements. So, I have an event um the gift of heart and health, the third annual actually that will be coming up on February the 28th. Um the date and time is there. So, I
031am asking for everyone's support. If anyone has heard me or knows my story, I actually dedicate this to my brother who uh passed away from heart health issues. So, this is very near and dear to my heart. So, uh please come out and support me on the 28th, February the 28th, if you can at the uh Marorrow, I think it's the Marorrow community room. It's a new room that they have that's right behind the Walmart. So, please come out. Secondly, Miss uh Brenda Harrison and Miss Sabrina Hill, which was very instrumental in this. I know she got up earlier and she spoke about the sign. Uh we were looking for how the old sign looked, but we wanted everyone to see how beautifully placed it was. And thank you for everyone that jumped on it
032to get the sign up there because when I get that call, I know something is wrong. She was like, "The sign still isn't up." I said, "Wait one minute. and I'll make sure it's up. And when I say our staff, they went and they worked and got it up that day. They got it up that day. So, thank you so much to our staff. Look at our beautiful sign that's up there. And like Miss Harrison said, when you pass by now, the community is not hit with that stigma. What they see is this beautiful sign. >> Good deal. Thank you, Miss Cooper, Miss Hill. >> Good evening. I um just want to say thank you, Dr. Smith. um for your leadership um for the opportunity to work with you and alongside of you and thank
033you for your support, your tremendous support and my endeavors. I ask you all said yes. What I've learned about Dr. Smith is your heart is big and that is beautiful. Um and it's a great way to lead. I wish you well on your endeavors. um I know it's welld deserved and much ear earned and it's a beautiful thing to see someone to live their dreams as a superintendent and now can go live the life that you will have with your family and your grandchildren. So I want to say thank you. I greatly appreciate you and your legacy lives on because the work will still be going on after. >> Thank you ma'am. >> Thank you Dr. Haney. Anyway, Dr. Smith, thank you so much for what you have done um throughout the years I've been
034knowing you as well as the support you've been giving District 5 um especially with the boys conference. Thank you um for being that role model to my boys out here in the district. Um and also you have to fulfill the promise you and I have spoken over and over and over and over again. I will hold you to that. >> But um just congratulations. because I won't belabor the time. Um I do just have some updates. Um Jonesboro High School as you know just returned back from London and I want to thank the booster parents. Um the district and itself our safety and security um for making sure that our children returned back safely. As you all know they had delays with flights and you know they were safe. I knew they were safe. I
035was checking in on them texting and they were um informing other board members and I knew they were okay when I saw Tik Toks. So I knew they were doing fine and so I just want to thank that leadership over at Jones High School, Mr. Goodwin, Miss Bailey and all others and again our safety and security for ensuring their safety there and to make sure that they had a great experience as well as with Mount Zion as you heard u Mr. Terrell and their return trip. And also I just want to give a um a recognition to my colleagues district um George Ellis Cooper just listening as y'all know I'm all into the hiphop. So, as I was listening to um the radio, I heard that Greg Street is donating his Cash App birthday money
036over to Marorrow as they travel to Carnegie Hall. So, we are on the map. And so, um I just want to just thank those who are over at Marorrow to ensure that our students are experiencing that great experience as well. So, those are just the minor um updates that I have, but you all know that we're going to continue to support our children. And I want to thank the team as well for supporting me when I have all my questions um that I have to get answered. And thank you for being so quick to answer that and resolving a lot of the challenges that I had heard over the last year with some of the staff um not not staff, but just new hires coming in. And thank you to Miss Alicia for ensuring that
037we did um get individuals into our district the right way. and now we just got to make sure they stay. So again, thank you Dr. Smith for your leadership. Dr. Hendricks, you're up. I will be watching and we've already had our chat. So I look forward to working with you, >> Miss Baker. >> Okay. So I had I I I will admit I had a hard time calling him Dr. Smith because I've known him for an as Anthony for 20ome years. Um and I'm only 29. So you will be missed. We appreciate you. um you cannot change your phone number because I intend to continue to irritate you um the way I have for 20ome years. So um but please enjoy. Don't don't be shy to send us a postcard of all those wonderful places
038you go. Um Caitlyn can tell you all the places in London you need to leave. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Um so with that being said, thank you and thank you again. Um to give a shout out. I was at um the McKenni Mento um Christmas and um where the department gave out let each family check take gift cards. They got to pick the gift cards that they wanted and I want to thank all the people who donated them um to make their Christmas a little more special. There was food, there was little gifts. Um every child I saw was very very happy there. So, um, just a shout out to that department for all they do. Um, I appreciate each and every one of you. I hope you got a good break. I did tell
039you all to turn off your phones. I'm not sure all of you did, but I hope you got at least a good break and time with your family that you um deserve. And as for Dr. Hendris, I tell you to strap on your tennis shoes. There will be some running going on. So, um, I appreciate you, um, being being willing to keep us going forward because I know that's exactly what we're going to do. So, thank you, >> Dr. Smith. I've been a chair for one year now, and it has been the roughest job that I've ever had in my life due to my friend over here. Um, you know, I let it out. I can let that out the bag now. is one of the best friends I got on this earth. On this
040earth. Um Dr. Smith, I'm glad we could go back to friendship now. >> I'm glad I'm glad that this is not going to stand in the middle of us anymore. Um um Dr. Smith has been very instrumental in who I am as a person today. Even at this old age, Dr. Smith introduced me to the education world. He he educated me to the to the education world. I met him 10 years ago and the first time that I met him, he took me under his wing and explained every aspect of me. So 90% of the things that I know are between him and Dr. Carter. Um Dr. Smith has been to every every um special event that I've had in the state of Georgia. He's been to my graduation when I graduated with my NBA.
041He's been to my recent engagement and he sat right there and he he doesn't want me to tell you that he cried. He cried when that engagement went down. Um >> he felt sorry for the person. >> And lastly, um he he he um comes to quite a few of my my Thanksgivings. We we always try to spend those special moments together. So, um Dr. Smith, I applaud you for what you have done for this county, for this school district, the you know, anywhere I go in the metro Atlanta area, they're talking positive about Clayton County right now. And um I know that the person that's next up in in the transition phase, Dr. Hendris, he feels exactly the same way that I do. and he's definitely gonna represent you to the highest level as
042we go forward. So, thank you. Thanks, sir. Um, the quick announcements that I have. >> What's that? >> Okay. The quick announcements that I would have is that first and foremost, I want to thank my board interns for that lovely video. Did Did everybody see that video that they put together? That was state-of-the-art. They definitely have surpassed Mike Lee now. So, we thank them very much. Me and me and um Chela. Secondly, I want to give a shout out if she's listening to the um the county commissioner um Dr. Alica um Henry. Um that um um her welcoming in the monks to Clayton County was something that I've never seen. I mean, there were thousands and thousands of people at the South Lake Mall um um welcoming the monks to Clayton County and they represented
043peace and happiness and and forgiveness. And I walked away from their understanding even on this board, we have to take those those concepts into mind, peace, happiness, and forgiveness. Um, lastly, I'm pretty sure she's watching, but as I stated earlier, I did recently get engaged. I don't think we had a meeting when I did that. So, I want to shout out my new fiance, Dr. Shinta Rum Carter. I'm 100% sure that she's watching us live right now. Thank you. >> Next, Miss Williams. >> Good evening, everyone. I hope everybody had a a good new year and hope this year is better for everyone. You know, we have to do a lot of praying with all the stuff going on in the world. And I just want to mention that um I have a girls conference
044coming up. This is our third one we've done together. It'll be January 31st from 9:00 to 5:00 at Forest Park Middle School. If you know any girls that might want to come out, it's free for them. And also I did the drawing for Youth Been Noticed and it goes out to Miss Shantara Russell at West Clayton Elementary School. >> Thank you. And I want to wish Clam a happy birthday. >> Oh yes, that's right. Our board attorney is um um 21 years old today. >> Miss Gory, Dr. Gory. >> Good evening everyone. Uh yes, I had that on my list to do is to uh wish uh Clim a happy birthday today. But I also want to recognize some other people who had a birthday. Uh Miss Mary Baker's birthday was January the 3rd and
045Douglas do our uh interim elect is his birthday was on January the 3rd as well. I just uh kind of texted him and asked him was he really sure that he wanted this job because everybody knows that our fuss and so he knows that he'll be getting a good fussing. Now Dr. Smith thinks that just because he's leaving that I I still won't be calling him bright and early on on his telephone and he knows that if he doesn't answer I will drive to his house and ring his doorbell. So, I'm definitely going to miss him. You know, he's my guy. And as I said, I really that's why I couldn't couldn't vote to for separation. He's going he's my guy. He's my friend. Uh I'm about to get a little emotional right now, but
046um thank you for everything that you've done for us. Thank you for everything you've done for me, how you supported me. Uh, I can't think of any time that I've ever asked him to do something. And while people are thinking, I generally ask him to do stuff for other people, for kids, for teachers, whatever, and he listens. Now, of course, most of the time he he always thinks that uh he's right, but he does have to call back later and say, "Miss Cory, you were right." I hate to admit it, but I'm going to miss him. But, uh, Miss, uh, Harrison mentioned some people on the team that helped her get that sign, McKinley of Vento. But I also I'm going to have to give myself a pat on the back because I also made
047phone calls. As a matter of fact, that sign went up after I went over there with my sorority sisters and presented the homeless, I'm sorry, excuse me, the McKinley Vento uh, center. I my uh the Delta Deers, of which I'm a member, presented um Miss Davis a $1,000 check for the uh I always mispronounce her name, uh Chelsea Affairs scholarship. So I So I also wanted to let you know that I was blocking for Sam Koger to take you into the end zone. And I want to actually even though we're saying uh that I I appreciate that our board member did chaired that that committee, but you're really the person that had advocated for that. And if it had not been for you, it would have never happened. And I I I applaud you for
048continuing to not give up. Uh I also um want to let everyone know that I did attend the first a foundation athletic event at Jonesboro High School that we had um on um it was the week right before we came back. And I want to thank uh Dr. D for uh standing in supporting and also Miss Williams because Miss Williams started us out and then then I came and then Dr. Haney had to take up for us. Now, I wish that I had brought my little um little video to put up here because um some of the board members uh supported I want to thank um Miss Blackwood for having an activity for our interns. Uh we we went to the bowling alley on uh Friday >> and now she's going to brag about how
049her school was. I'm gonna uh we went to the bowling alley and we we had our current >> interns and I passed and I want everyone to know that my motto is to put children first. But when I get them on the bowling alley, my motto is to take care of business and whip them on the bowling lanes. So, I want everybody to know, I'm gonna stand up and let you all know that I am still the champion, that I am I am undefeated because when I get out there and do something, I do not let children defeat me. That's the one time I can beat them. So, I am still the reigning champion. And when I sat down, Miss Williams went and took care of them again as well. So, we don't play. >>
050And I I I hate to do this, but I do have to confirm. our uh our chair person was too scared to get out there and try to >> That wasn't necessary, Miss G. >> But anyway, I one other thing since we talked about Jonesboro's band and we talked about Mount Zions. I want to put out an appeal to you all. There are other bands in Clayton County and Drew High School is trying to go to New Orleans and I need some support for them because we got a a over there and I got a a over here. So, I need you all to uh to to help us make it possible that they can attend. Now, the last thing I want to do before I finish, of course, I want to salute Dr. Hendris,
051and I you know, he he he can think about this tonight. Does he want to hear uh Miss Gory's mouth, but you know, I love you uh Dr. Hendricks, but I also want us to keep in prayer one of our students who uh was involved in the shooting. and let's let's please keep him and his family in prayer and if we can take a moment of silence for him. He's a student at Mororrow High School. >> Mr. Christmas. >> Thank you. >> Uh Dr. Smith, I don't really have nothing. Dr. Smith, miss you. See you later. Bye. Miss Bose, before you start your announcement, I do want you to add just one more thing that you shared with me and Miss Hill at the um retreat. If you could talk a little bit about the
052um the TRS and the priorities and how they flow through the the the um the the House of of Representatives. >> Oh, >> if you can do that at the end of your announcements. >> Oh, wait. Before she starts, I just got a text from someone as well uh to for us also to offer a moment of silence for Brian Moore who is a pair professional uh from South Metro. Uh GET uh he passed away. So can we also >> moment of silence have a moment of silence for him and his family please? >> Thank you. >> Thanks Miss Bose. All right. Um, good evening everyone. I want to start by saying happy new year to our scholars, our educators, our staff and community. Um, I wasn't planning on doing this, but I have to
053to round us out, but Dr. Smith, um, I have known you since I was 11 years old. I don't think it's anybody's business how old I am now, but it's been a while and I have per personally witnessed your impact on the lives of students over several decades. So on behalf of every student that you've ever sewed seeds of belief into, I want to say thank you. There will never be enough words but we offer you infinite gratitude. Thank you. >> As we start this new year, um many of you may be thinking about new intentions for your life or for the lives of your loved ones and I am doing the same. So, I just want to take a moment to publicly condemn the senseless murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis and all
054forms of state sanctioned violence. It is my sincere hope that the peace we all desire starts right here at home. I look forward to a year full of progress and purpose as we all continue to create the educational environment that our students so rightfully deserve. Our scholars are always watching. Beyond that, I want to remind you all that today is the first day of the 2026 legislative session. And by request of our chair, I will acknowledge that every year our board submits legislative priorities. We don't win them all, but it's important to at least fight for what our scholars and staff deserve. One of which is expansions to TRS that will benefit some of our hardest workers, our maintenance team, and so many other staff who are excluded currently in the ways that they should
055be. So the TRS work will be one of our legislative priorities and as I do each year, I will keep you a breast of the happenings at the capital. I would like to also invite you all if you need some wellness, some peace in your life, we have some grounding practices once a month and we offer yoga and sound therapy on the fourth Wednesday of each month and you can look forward to that on Wednesday, January 28th. Almost done. Two more. Um, due to all of the shout outs to all of the sisterhoods, I would like to celebrate the 118th birthday happening this week of my organization, Alphacap Alpha Sorority Incorporated. And finally, I want to close with a shout out to the center of our world here at the district, which is our students.
056I have a shout out for my alma mater and a team I was once a part of. Shout out to the Lovejoy High School varsity cheerleading squad who won the 2025 GHSA 5A state championship in December. So, go Wildcats. And that concludes my announcements. >> Board members, thank you so much. Those were such pleasant announcements today. Um, moving on with the agenda, we're now at the approval of the minutes. Does anybody see any changes? >> I'm sorry. Okay. I apologize. We have session, but it was just us. >> Mr. Chairman, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, Mr. Chairman, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, and superintendent Smith. I am Shaquain Crawford, an eighth grade student at Riverdale Middle School. And I am Namario Barnes, a seventh grade student attending Riverdale Middle School. >>
057We have the pleasure of sharing this month's board announcements. The month of January is home to National Law Enforcement Day, Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Elementary School Teachers Day, Preschool Health and Fitness Day, Thank Your Mentor Day, and National School Board Appreciation Month. The district will also observe the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, January 19th. All schools and offices will be closed. The district will return to a regular schedule on Tuesday, January 20th. The annual districtwide spelling bee will be held on Thursday, January 22nd at the Performing Arts Center located in Jonesboro. Starting time will be 900 a.m. The district will conduct its winter graduation exercises on Thursday, January 29th at a site to be determined. The ceremony will begin at 6:00 p.m. The Clayton County Board of Education will conduct a
058work session on Monday, January 26th. Unless otherwise announced, the meeting will be held at the district's performing arts center and is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. The 2026 District Helen Ruffing Reading Bowl will be held on Saturday, January 31st at Mundy's Mill High School. The reading bowl will begin at 900 a.m. Students in grades 4 through 12 are expected to compete for top honors. The month of February is Black History Month, a time of recognition and reflection as we celebrate the contribution AfricanAmericans have made to the advancements of society for all people. Districtwide events and activities are being scheduled in observance of this month. >> The February board meeting will be held on Monday, February 2nd at 6 p.m. Unless otherwise announced, the meeting will be held at the district's performing arts center. >>
059Mr. Chairman, that concludes tonight's announcements. Thank you. Seeing none, we'll continue to move. Are there any changes to the minutes for the called board meeting December? And lastly, are there any changes to the minutes for the called board meeting that was held on December 17, 2025? Seeing none, we'll move to the um updates um the updates to the boards from the superintendence department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, as members of the board, staff, and community. At this time, I would like for our athletic department to provide an update to the sport and to this community led by our executive director of athletics, Mr. Gary Townson. We got a Mr. Town, you know how to handle one of those. >> What a sec. You know how to handle one of those? >> Don't work for me. >>
060Good evening, uh, board chair, Mr. Straker, Vice Chair, Miss Baker, Superintendent CEO, Dr. Anthony Smith, and all other members of the Clayton County Board of Education. I'm Gary Townsen, executive director of athletics, and it is my pleasure to present a comprehensive look at the continued growth and progress of Clayton County Public Schools athletic department over the last three years. Our mission and vision speaks to the commitment we have in providing an educationalbased athletic program for all student athletes as well as our community. In order to provide such high level service, it takes a collective effort of several individuals that I am honored to work alongside. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce them. First of all, I want to thank Dr. Anthony Smith for his vision for athletics and the importance that it
061plays in our school district. I'd like to thank Dr. Rob Simpson, who gives our department the autonomy to make the appropriate decisions that always benefit our student athletes. I'd like to introduce our coordinators, Justina Jackson Brown Lee and Philip Shifflet. Our elementary athletic sports directors, Miss Jennifer Benfield and Miss Amy Harris. Amy Harris. our awesome administrative assistant, Miss Vicky Reid, as well as several of our middle and high schoolbased ads who are up there. If you stand to be uh recognized and say hello. These are some of our high school and middle school ads. As we look to continue to offer highquality athletic opportunities to the students of Clayton County Public Schools, I want to point out that at this point we have nearly 10,000 student athletes throughout our district. Over the past three years,
062our department has added multiple sports for our elementary and middle school athletes, which have given them the opportunity to compete with our neighboring school districts, build a strong partnership and exposure for our children. We've had the battle of the metros in which many of those we have won and you would be very very proud of our students as they have been exposed and compete. Next, I'll speak briefly about the four areas of operation management, which consists of facilities and infrastructure, operational processes, commitment to recognition, and the celebration of continuous improvement in our facilities and infrastructure. I I must I must thank uh Mr. Koger and his department, Mr. Blackwell for all the assistance that they give in uh assisting us in making sure we maintain fabulous uh facilities. I'm not sure if you uh drive
063around have seen so many changes that have happened throughout our stadiums, throughout our high school fields. We have have put in a lot of uh uh attention to making sure our children have high quality facilities to participate in. And we have done all of our tracks and and and a lot of these things bring uh attention to us and a lot of our outside community members and and and uh individuals want to come and utilize our facilities. We have uh United States Track and Field Junior Olympics at our at our at our our facilities. We have so many uh uh movies uh companies that want to come and shoot movies at our our our um our stadium. So uh our infrastructure is great. We have put in um internet at all of our stadiums. We
064have put in huddle cameras at our stadiums in which our colleges utilize that film to recruit our our student athletes. The the Wi-Fi is there, our digital ticketing. All of those things are are great upgrades upgrades that have happened within the last three years in our operational process. I got to thank uh Mr. Kim Thompson and and and uh Chief Walker for for working with us in in creating our standard operating procedures and our emergency plans. Um with some of the work that we have done, our negative behaviors at our stadiums have decreased tremendously at our stadiums and at at our gymnasium. Uh making changes in which uh students must show their IDs to to uh enter a game and and uh our younger kids must come with a parent in order to stay. A
065lot of those things that we looked at have really changed the behavior of our students. commitment to recognition and celebration. Um, a digital enhancement. I I I try to make sure we tell our story. If we don't tell our story, our story be told by someone else. I I pride myself in making sure that you all are informed of what's going on every week uh in our newsletter. Uh, I guess nobody read the little snippet I put in there about the Bears this morning cuz uh no one uh no one commented, but um our digital enhancement there and celebrating the excellence uh uh our our athletes of the month. We um we go out and make sure that we celebrate these kids who do such a good job and dedicate all of their time and
066it's athlet athletes of the month from the elementary schools all the way through the high schools. We know how important it is to celebrate our coaches and um with Dr. Hendris and Dr. Smith three years ago we talked about incentivizing our coaches for make it into the state playoffs and we've done quite a great job and some of our coaches have received a uh a very nice amount for for making it to the state playoffs or for winning state championships. It's been a uh a great reward to them and they are very very appreciative of what you all have done for them. Continuous improvement investing in our ads. Professional development is so important. Um be it math, science, English and social studies. I feel in the realm of athletics our ads should be masters of
067their craft. Also uh with that all of our high school ads and many of our middle school ads are members of both our local and national organizations they attend professional development either in Georgia or uh with our national uh with our national organization which uh we were in Tampa this year and I like to say that uh 85% of our ads the other ones were uh basketball coaches who had games and weren't able to make it but if they didn't have games uh it would have happened uh With investing in our coaches, we were able to receive a grant, a $250,000 grant from the Arthur Blank Foundation, which provides professional development for coaches and students uh through a company called The Better Way. Thank you. Um X's and O's as a head coach really are
068the least of your worries. It's the organizational parts and the the meetings and the conflict that you conflict resolution. uh uh opportunity that you have that you must that you must master. I mean the game is going to take care of itself but what is about that communication I have to have with this parent or this child you know we we we think that is so so important and through uh a better way found a better way the corporation that we're utilizing they receive professional development for the entire year digital modules that they must take must take the classes it's a it's a very good opportunity for them to learn things that uh will enhance what they have going on uh in their coaching lives and it also has mod for our students. Our student
069athletes uh have to take take certain classes within that platform which has shown to prove many dividends. Oh, leading the way. These are some uh cutting cutting edges cutting edge things that we have done uh through the help of Paul Scott um and and the physical ed education department. We have uh a class called referees >> which our students are learning to become referees. Uh referees refereeing um is a tough job now and we're losing quite a few. But right now, we are training high school kids to be officials. And with at the end of this year, there'll be certified officials that can go out and and and and officiate games. Uh right now, those group of of of students who are at Mount Zion and Monday's Mill, they uh they officiate all of our
070elementary school athletics along with a a certified referee. And that's how they get their practice and that's how they understand the game. and and it is going going completely awesome. adaptive uh athletics as you know they have uh they have their own taj Taj Mahal down beautiful gymnasing over there wait room and all of that but also those kids are competing at the highest level have competed for several state championships and I'm very very proud of what they have done uh over there at the Eagles Nest uh elementary athletics uh unbelievable opportunity for our students if you uh if you watched any of the state football championships you would see a child from Clayton County that's not playing for Clayton County. Uh when you looked at all the big schools, it's one or two Clayton
071County kids on every school playing at almost every game. I think if we focus on developing that sportsmanship relationship and empathy with our elementary school kids, hopefully they will learn the commitment they have to each other and take that to middle school, then take that high school and then we will soar throughout this state in athletics. But if we if if if those students learn how to lose with pride, how to win with pride and respect at a young age, we won't have some of the issues we see uh that we see on a professional and college level. Now, I think if we continue to invest in our young children that they will uh they would turn out to be great young young individuals as well as student athletes. So here we have four quick
072videos of what is being said about Clayton County Public Schools athletics. And it comes from four different perspective. It comes from a child. It comes from a teacher. It comes from a parent. It comes from an administrator. Elementary school athletics has helped me because it helped me learn leadership and it has helped me bond with many different that I >> Okay, great question. So, what I love about my kids participating in elementary athletics is that they get to learn teamwork. They get to learn camaraderie. They get to learn hard work and a struggle early. So as they metriculate through our CCPS system, they will learn so much so many like social skills, critical thinking skills. So this at elementary phase, I love you CCPS. Thank you. >> Hey, when it comes to athletics, the impact
073here at the mill, I'll tell you this much. teamwork, discipline. It's a positive impact on our culture as we really have embraced the mantra of one rex. And that one rex starts with our uh athletic leaders of our building. >> My name is Miss Jada Harrove. I am a AP environmental science biology teacher here at Drew and also an alumni. Um the question that I was asked is how do I think sports impact schools? I think it boosts the camaraderie. I think it gives students um a creative way to display themselves which also if playing a sport also inspires them to achieve and obtain different goals um academically and I I think it just instills a lot of confidence in athletes giving them a sense of identity um giving them a role in the society
074that they play in the school and makes ensures that a lot of the kids that are really good at sports are also really good at branding for you know um the school and making sure that they set a good example. Next, we have uh some notable achievements over the past three years. Over the past three years, we have six team state championships, four state runner-ups, eight divid eight individual state championships. Uh some other important things I want to uh say that we uh have five athletic directors every year. We have 42 NCAA signes. We have had 12 Clayton County Public School athletes drafted. Um, Miss Tiffany Pippens from uh from Elite Scholars went through what we call the QAP program. And if any of you all uh remember the Sachs uh review in which you
075had all those crates and had to show years of evidence of what you do to prove that you are moving in the right direction. herself and her team took that on and uh now has received the award and recognition as being a QAP school. Very very proud of that. And and most of all um we got $36.5 million in scholarships over the past three years. And uh a couple of things that that that came in prior to us making that Dwayne Davis and uh Megan Washington. Dwayne Davis, the athletic director at uh Monday's Mill, um was named Aea uh coach of the year. Coach Davis, you're here. And also Megan Washington, the head uh cheerleading coach at Lovejoy High School, uh who just won the state championship, was was also named one of uh Aea's
076coaches of the year. as Miss Gori brought up about our first annual uh foundation uh basketball uh showcase in which um all of our schools participated. It was a great day, a great two days um which uh our foundation members uh Coach Patrick Smith who's there was one of the leaders and uh Dr. Aaron Jeter uh put this showcase on and we're really looking forward to uh improving it next year, making it bigger and better. But I want to thank uh Coach Smith and um uh Dr. Jeter for their for their hard work for this. And and finally, we uh we have seen significant advancement within our athletic programs. We realize that athletics is more than just a sport or an activity. It is a vessel that can bridge between cultures, communities, and economic conditions.
077It has a universal language that is spoken all over the world. It could be the sole reason or purpose why some of our children want more for themselves and their families. It builds friendships, teaches teamwork, success, failure, and the ability to adjust to adverse situations and make adjustments when needed. Athletics teaches us life. I want to thank you all for this opportunity. Uh I thank you for supporting our young student athletes. I look forward to seeing you out and about. Our spring season is here and it's in full effect. And at this time board, if you have any questions, I'm here to answer. >> Doc Mr. Townson, that was an excellent presentation. Um much needed. a question that I have and and you and I have spoke about this millions of times um and you
078just stated it in the in the um presentation how you know sports um um um enhances a child's life. Currently we have 20% two two things currently we have 20% of our population that's that's involved in sports. Can we make can we give ourselves a goal or or or increase that mission to increase that percentage, you know, 5%? >> I'm a firm I'm a firm believer that if you have a great athletic program, not a a great team, a program that you enhance the overall climate and culture of your building. The more kids that are involved, the more positive or your culture may be. So, uh, myself and our team consistently look to add, which we will, uh, right now we have five sports in elementary, but we want to move, uh, we want to
079move to to to a couple of more. We we made additions in our middle school, especially for our girls sports. Um we have a a a organization that is interested in piloting us for elementary school baseball in which uh it would first start out sort of a after school program >> to see how it goes and it's going to be completely free to the uh to the to the kids of uh Clayton County Public School. But yes, we uh >> we want to move uh we want to move forward. We want to make additions where possible um for for all of our student athletes, for all of our kids, and all of our schools. And lastly, I'll I'll address this to Dr. Hendrickx. I would love to see the stats on the the um academic
080achievement of those 10,000 students. It it would be great to see a correlation of of how the students are doing academically that are involved in sports. That would be a great report if if if possible. Next. Anybody else have questions? >> I do. Okay. >> We talking about Oh, this is his presentation. Are we talking about microphone? >> Go ahead. >> Hold up. Mr. Townson. Um, my bad. Um, >> yeah, that's No, I had a question for him regarding his report, but I I'll wait. Go ahead. >> We have something. I just want to say wonderful presentation. I love how you um tied it into our academics and how it would approve. I just wanted to know from a financial aspect, does it generate revenue and if it does, how do we utilize that? Is
081that part of how we gave our incentive? Could you >> Yes. Yes. Um >> Yes. >> All of all of our activities generate some form of revenue. Does it cover everything? No. There are still things that come out of our junior general budget, but not nearly as much at it as as as before. Um, our athletic, our elementary athletic is almost self-sufficient in itself in which it pays for for for almost everything. Um, and I'm hoping that that carries on into some of our our our larger sports. Uh, we have we have great weekends. that some weekends are, you know, better than others, but we are and that's one of our goals to try to increase our overall production in a monetary sense by 10%. >> So, does that go back to the school? Like,
082will >> it goes to the general fund? All the the funds that I collected goes to the general funds. >> Thank you. >> Good deal. Anybody else? One. >> Okay. Yeah. Um, I was talking um with Miss Hall earlier about transportation and her getting a break and she really surprised me with the amount of field trips that were during the break. And I said, "What do you mean field trips during the break?" And she said they have athletic competition during the break, which I think is crazy, but that's a whole another subject. So, I just want to give a shout out to all those people who maybe they're not the coach, but they're supporting the teams every day. >> Yes. >> Our coaches um the entire operations department uh especially Miss Hall. Miss Hall uh
083services our children with a smile no matter what all the time. uh even when we are late uh putting in a field field trip across at the last minute, she her and her team always uh takes care of us and I really really thank her for that. Uh Audrey Hamilton for for providing pregame meals at time. The entire department uh takes uh very very good care and I promise we our athletic department would not be s successful without those individuals. I want to thank the grandparents who support their star basketball player at Marorrow High School who had to travel all the way up to uh South Carolina for a game where we were we actually lost but I got to start granddaughter that plays for Marvel High School number four Mason Pursuit. Thank you. >>
084Okay board members we are moving into the consent agenda. Remember this is a board and a work session combined. >> Thanks Miss Tals. >> So therefore we will um we will um um hear the presentations from the consent agenda and then we will be voting on those on those on the consent agenda. Those are supporters of our two appointees, y'all. They're going out to celebrate. Good evening, Mr. Chair, Madame Vice Chair, board members, Superintendent Dr. Smith colleagues and community this evening we have our monthly financial report for the as the month of November 20 November 30th 2025 um for the month of November through the end of November for the fiscal year we we have collected 20% of our budgeted revenue that's 148 million of that 8.2% 2% or $21 million of that was in
085local taxes. Um 29% of that was our state revenue, 123.7 million. On the expenditure side, we have expended $226,368,734, which is 31.1% of our budget. Any questions on the financial report? >> Any questions? Seeing none, move on. Um on the agenda it has a corrective action plan left but can I do the um >> that's correct. >> You want to do that and then go back to the splash report. >> Um what what would be your preference? >> Let me do the spouse report and the end that >> report first and then we'll go back to that. >> All right. Go for it. >> So on the spouse report as of um November 30th um what we received this is for collections actually that were collected in October but we received it in November. um
086we collected um $6.1 million which is um higher than what it was in the prior year in that time. It was 5.8 or 5.9 million and it's also higher than the previous month um what we received in October. Any questions on the spots report? >> Any questions on the spots? >> Hearing none. >> Okay. And then the um purchasing report you have three different um items on report. A is your consumable purchases made with a value of $10,000 or more. Report B are non-consumable purchase made with a value of $10,000 or more but less than $100,000. And then report C are your non-consumable items with a value of $100,000 or more that require board approval as detailed in the executive summary that you received last week. I'll be happy to answer any questions or have
087staff answer any questions you may have. >> Any questions on the purchasing report, Miss Dr. Haney? >> Okay, I'm back. Doc, Mr. Townson, this is for him. Um, you are paying a request on behalf of athletics. Um, is he still here? Oh, okay. How often are the floors refurbished or redone? And how often um Yeah. How often is that done? Because I'm looking at the cost. How do you assess all that? >> Every year the floors are resurfaced. They're They're just It should be stripped, sanded, and and rewaxed. That's every year. Every floor. >> Okay. Every year. Okay. That's the only question I had. Thank you. >> Well, don't go anywhere. Since you're answering that question, are those high school floors you're talking about? >> High school and middle. >> High. >> High school and
088middle schools. >> Okay. What? Well, what we need to do is get a little work on those elementary schools cuz at least >> they're working on those also. and um >> Lake Ridge Point South and um probably still Kings floor. >> Yes, >> needs to be repaired. >> Uh Mr. Co had given us a list of those elementary schools. Right now, Dr. Simpson has operation team doing walkthroughs of all of our buildings to assess their needs. Uh and I have gone to a few elementary schools right now. I saw one uh whose floor is bubbling and it's on the list to be repaired. But we will uh keep you a breast on what elementary schools and what other schools done. But every year the Millan high schools are resurfing. >> And one other thing I'd
089like to add as well. So I know because we want to see the athletic event that's on TV tonight, Monday Night Football, but uh I want to address our parking lots with the aesthetics. We've done all of this nice work at our schools and our fields, but our parking lot, although that's probably not you, but it's a lot of travel to our stadiums like Love Joy, like Southern Crescent, and even over at Marorrow Stadium is looking all of that needs we need to look at those things and get those corrected. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. But and Tara, thank you. >> Okay, Miss B. because they gonna be >> okay. And then um my last thing I'll go back to the um corrective action plan that we had to submit to the state for our
090FY24 audit um back in I think it was October when we updated the board with our annual audit report and I think at that time I told you we had four findings and they were repeat findings from the previous year. We had eight the previous year for 2023. So, we did reduce those um to four, but four of those were repeat findings. So, because of that, we do have to submit a corrective action plan. I submitted that to you all last week. It was included in your packet. So, I'll be happy to answer any questions on that, but the board does need to approve that because it's due the end of this month. And this is the same thing we've done in the past. >> Go ahead, Miss Williams. >> Does the repeat findings mean
091we've never corrected it or just something that cannot be? >> No. No. we had to do a corrective action plan because those are things that need to be corrected. Um when I first came we had just finished I think FY21 um audit and I think we had 11 findings at that time. Um I think in 20 I don't remember how many we had in 22 did I? No, I'm sorry. 22 was the one and we had 10 findings there. Eight of those were repeat findings from 2021. In 23, we had eight findings. At the end of fiscal year 2023, and seven of those will repeat from the prior year. And then in 2024, we had four findings and four of those will repeat. So, we've gotten the findings there coming off. Um when I came
092in March of 2023, after we got the 2022 audit, I implemented some things to clear up some of these um deficiencies that we have. And so they're they're starting to come off in the the last four we've um implemented put in um processes that should eliminate those for the FY25 audit that we're working on right now. >> Okay, great. Um we have some ROC children that are in the building right now. Am I correct? if they could come to the to the front for me real quick. >> Yes. >> Okay. They they told us that you're here. Could you tell us the reason you're here? >> Recognize us? >> There goes my people. All right. >> Okay. So So it's the lights. the lights were in my face. If you're looking at if you're looking
093at these students here, um, and and thank you for taking a moment to watch them. Those were the children that were in the video that Joy and I did. So, if you guys could give them a hand up here. And what the reason why I had to stop and let them come up and I apologize during the meeting is because when Joy and I had our conversations with them, we encourage them to come to the board to see how a board operates and they're taking out their time to actually come and and observe a um a board meeting. So, we have we we we have to recognize them. Thank you. It's every one of them. So, they've taken out their time to actually come and and see us. Can we take a photo of them,
094please? Can you take a photo of them, please? If we could just stand up if the board members could just stand up. >> I don't think they can see us. >> You could Can you see us? >> I'm gonna get over here by my friend. I got a special friend up here. I'm going just come and get right by him. This my friend. >> And all of them showed up, too. That's impressive. >> We'll come up. Come on. >> My future place. >> That thing's going to be flying us. has. >> All right. Thank you guys. >> Uh Officer Slade, um, I want you to take this down because that's going to be your future president of the United States right there. >> Hey guys, I I truly appreciate your patience on that. There was
095no way in the world that I was going to let them show up to this meeting and not recognize them because um um Joy and I actually made a request for them to do that and encourage them to do that. And we're going to be encouraging a lot of children to actually come to our board meetings and see what their future is. So, thank you guys for doing that. >> All right. Now, we have the Splash Construction Report. You The platform is yours, Mr. um Joseph. Good evening again uh members of the board. Uh you have three uh summaries for your consideration. The first is the SPS construction update. Uh for the month of December, there was 28 million uh of dollars of work put in. There were no change orders for that period. Additionally,
096you received the capital purch for items below $250,000. And the last item for your consideration is the um agreement for audio enhancement to install uh their equipment at 10 elementary schools. and it's re recommendation from the superintendent that we proceed with the purchase. Are there any questions about ongoing projects? >> Yes, I have one. >> I actually sent I think Dr. Smith said he was sending it to you today. So, you know, my question is mainly about those um playgrounds and you know, you all told me, "Yeah, we can do it." So, where are we standing at with those? >> Uh yes, ma'am. Uh originally this this was a summer 26 uh project when we last met you asked that we accelerate the project and so I've instructed the team to go to said schools.
097We are working the vendors to get uh price them and we are looking to get that to you at the uh late January work session. >> Okay. Now this is my other question. Dr. Smith seems to think that the marquee at Church Street Elementary School is equal to the to the ones that are at all the other schools. Is it m Mr. Joseph? >> Uh, yes, ma'am. I have your u um concerns. So, we've instructed >> No, that's that's not what I said. I'm getting to your answer, ma'am. >> I just want him to know he's wrong. Again, it is not. Now, if I got to go out there and measure it and go to another school and measure and show y'all that there's we we seem to have some discrimination at Church Street. We
098are the last school to get finally get a marquee like that. and we want the same thing that everybody else has. >> Baker, >> um I just want to take a moment um for those of you who know um my daughter is in from Wales. Um and so um I want to give a thanks out to Mr. Joseph for allowing us to come and take a peek at that building and she was completely in awe and she gave him a whole list of everything all the different venues that we need to have. So just if you need to know, he knows because she told him. But she couldn't wait to get in the door to my husband because my husband didn't go and show him the pictures of this incredible building that we're going to
099have and the benefits that's going to be. And she just kept going on and on and on of oh she wish she was here. She was she had graduated there and on and on. So thank you to Mr. Joseph for his team um for everything we're doing. Um for me it couldn't open fast enough and if you need a cleaning crew just call me. I'll help you do that. So um again thank you so very much to you and your your your team. Big >> thank you. Is there any questions for Mr. Joseph? See seeing no no more. Um, we're now at the capital purchase >> purchasing divorce report. >> I'm sorry. Right. Okay. board, Superintendent Dr. Smith, colleagues, and community members. The personnel changes report summarizes all personnel actions for the period of November
1004th through December 15th, 2025. Human resources updates were submitted to the board of education for your review. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have. >> Any questions for the personnel report? Seeing none, we're now come to the end of our consent agenda. It's now time to vote on our consent agenda. Can I get a motion to um to pass the consent agenda? >> Before you do that, we need to uh one needs to come out for us to vote on separately, please. >> The purchasing report >> because we have a conflict >> purchasing or personnel >> purchasing report. Uh there is a conflict for one of our board members. So we need to vote on it separately. >> You got it. Um okay. So can we vote on the consent agenda minus item
101D which is the purchasing report? Can I get a motion for that? Miss Telis Cooper. >> So move. >> Miss Baker. The motion for the consent agenda minus item D has been made and properly seconded. Can I get a vote? It's unan It's unanimous. Now we will vote on purchasing report um item D. Can I get a motion to vote on the purchasing port? >> So move >> and second by >> I'll second >> Miss Gore. The vote has been moved and properly seconded. Um someone has a a a conflict. >> Yes. Uh, Miss Bose. >> Miss Bose, you're gonna abstain from this vote? >> I voted >> from the purchasing report. >> Oh, yes, please. >> You obtain it. Okay. >> Yes, please. Thank you. >> You got it. All right. Can I get
102a vote? >> Okay. Passes. Um, eight eight and one abstension. Miss Bz. >> All right. That's it for the consent agenda today. >> Any special instructions? Mrs. all Brittain on the personnel report as well. >> Do we need to agree to something that she has? >> There is an immediate family member on this month's personnel changes report. Um and so for that particular report, we do need a separate vote with that board member abstaining. >> Okay, you got it. >> All right. We didn't Who's that? >> We didn't see it. >> You didn't see it? >> Okay. So, um, Mark Christmas was employed by the district during the period of time covered on this particular personal changes report. >> So, according to board policy, um, there needs to be a separate vote on that entry.
103>> All right. So, here's what we're going to do. >> We don't see it. That's why that's what we're saying. >> Okay. So, it's on the there are two documents that you get each month. It's on the rolling document that looks like a spreadsheet in the new hire section, >> right? Was it open? >> We we looked for it. >> I looked at it all day. >> Yeah, we are. Cuz we talked about that. We didn't see it. >> All right. Take your time. Let's get it right. >> Thank you for your patience, everyone. We just want to get this right. So board members, um when they find it, what we're going to do is resend that personnel v um um from the consent agenda and we're going to revote that personnel report. >> Okay?
104>> And that that'll be noted in the minutes. If you want, Mr. Chair, you can proceed to the other items and come back to this if you want. >> Okay. All right. So, we'll we'll we'll come back to this personnel report. Um the next items on on the um agenda on the board matters on the board matters is policy series F the first read. Is there any discussion on that that um that item? Okay, that's the first read. We still have two more reads before we actually have to vote on that. The next one is the policy series K first read. Is there any discussion on that policy? Okay. Once again, we have two more two more reads on that before we have to vote. And lastly, policy series L. Is there any discussion on
105the first read of policy series L? Seeing none, once again we will be um reading twice two two times more and then we will vote on that. The next item on our agenda is action that we have to do for tonight. Now I want to make a comment about this and clim carefully. Um, I think we need to pull the foundation lease from this agenda. And I want to talk a little bit about the convocation centers operators agreement. I sent out an email this morning that I'm pretty sure most of you have seen where it was proposed that we manage the convocation center ourselves as a district and as a board. Um, I'm going to poll the entire board now to see where you stand with I'm going to poll the entire board now to
106see where you stand with that idea of us directly managing the um convocation center. After the poll, if we have a majority of us that feel like it's a a good idea, we then will employ our attorney to um to work out the logistics and then get back to us and then we will have a special called meeting to go over those logistics and figure out what how we move forward. That called meeting at this point right now, I'm estimating will be the next Tuesday, not next Monday. Monday's Martin Luther King's Day. I'm hoping that my board members will be able to do that special called board meeting on Tuesday. And this is pending. The attorneys can work out an agreement which would be directly for the board of education in the district and the
107operators of the convocation center. So, I'll start with Miss Bose. Miss Bose, did you see the email? Okay. Can you give me a little I >> Go ahead. It's not clear. >> I um want to be brief. It's I think long been common sense to move in this direction, especially since the operator has the thing we needed and couldn't handle ourselves. um is too many chefs in the kitchen anyway. And so to the extent that we can um simplify things for the betterment of our scholars and all associated outcomes, that's what I support. >> Good deal. Mr. Christensen, >> I support it. Miss Gore, >> let me be clear of what you just said. Uh because I think you said one thing the first time, but just to be clear, you're saying that >> clear
108it up >> that we are going to we would the contract would be between the district and the operator. Correct. >> It I think it first sounded like you said we would operate it. I'm I'm for that contract. >> Good deal, Miss Williams. >> Okay, >> Miss Baker. Um, I I'd like to take this moment and um let our our legal uh advisor advise us on this and then come back um next week if possible. >> Good deal, Miss Dr. Haney. >> Yes, Sel. And then of course with our legal advisor as well, >> Miss Hill, >> um I would like to have um our legal advisor just uh give me some clarification. Um, one thing that, um, I'm asking and and is that with this decision, um, who would front the $5 million that
109was mentioned in the projection on Saturday, right? >> Um, if in fact the operator was to do that, then they would want more of the money. Um, so I'm really concerned about us saying, I can't say yes. My answer is no based on what I know today and how would we have the capital to help the operator and if the operator was the one to put up the capital how would the revenue split happen. So just to ensure that whatever decision we make we are doing it in the best interest of our district right and how we move forward right so for today it would be enough >> gotcha miss Cooper >> okay you said the operator is putting up >> I said if with the $5 million that would be required for us to
110open up the complication center the projection showing that we would be in a deficit of 1.5 million dollars in the first year. Who's going to pay that money? And >> I'm gonna let you close out. Just give me one second because I want to make a statement before you actually take the mic. Go ahead, Miss Cooper. >> So, yes, I'm okay with it um pending legal. >> Okay, good deal. Before we go there, Miss Hill, you're bringing up an excellent point and um I got to be honest, I would like to throw this in the lap of the um interim interim superintendent and the current superintendent to actually see which way they would want to go. They may come back to us and say, "No, we want more of the the the revenue share. So,
111we are we will invest in the operating startup cost for the operators." or they may come back to us and they may say no that's not what we want to do. We do want the operators to front that that that money. I don't know which direction they will come back to us and let us know. But the way in which this is going to work is that they're going to do that simultaneously as the attorney is working with their attorney to come up with an agreement. And at the end of all of that, the interim s superintendent and the superintendent will have a discussion with us to what their recommendation is in the way that we should go. And at the same time, um, our attorney will be working out the details for either one
112of those options. But the bottom line is the vote this I mean the poll this night was to just get us all on board with saying we're going to we're going to have the direct relationship with the operator and go forward with that. That was the purpose of the poll. Um Clim, if you can close that up. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you everyone. And um I know it's been a busy 48 hours from the standpoint of receiving information and learning new things and um I know that all the board members wish that this information had been coming in much sooner but we're here now and Miss Hill asks a very good question and I would say the step that is being contemplated to work directly with the operator really doesn't get to that.
113There is hard work to be done about uh year one and what I call the ramp up period. And you can expect that year one would not look as good as year two and year three as um we get used to and I say we the whole team gets used to marketing the facility, booking events. It it always will be slower that that first year or at least I believe it it'll often be slower. Um, and so there's just going to have to be more work done. We've gotten one set of pro projections from the operator's accountant. There uh will hopefully be back and forth with the district to challenge assumptions and come up with more than one scenarios so that you're prepared for all that. In the end, the foundation was asking the school
114district to back um back this and and suffer any losses anyway. So, this really doesn't change that issue. It really is just the best first step is is I think what everyone is trying to get to. I'm not going to be able to recommend that that uh a vendor be able to front money or anything like that. That's just not even something I would come close to recommending to you. Um I I think there's there's more discussions that need to take place between the attorneys. uh we need to make sure the term is only one year as so it aligns with Georgia law and aligns with the RFP which uh which uh TRP1 so we have a basis to proceed directly with them and the attorney has talked to me about um the potential of
115modifying the percentage uh share and and so there's more information to come on that as as Mr. Straker said um but um I do feel and as I outlined in the memo to you all today in brief that um although there's there's uh complicated work to be done you just have to break it into smaller pieces is how I'm tackling it and it does feel like this is the best first step based on everything that we've learned and I hope that covers your your question. >> Thank you very much. All right. So, the the polling of everybody um indicates that we do want the direct relationship with the operator. So, um our attorney can move forward with that in mind. And I uh employ the interim superintendent and Dr. Smith to um get together and
116figure out exactly how this can be, you know, how it should be done and what your recommendation will be to us in regards to um just simply the pay. Are they going to pay or are we going to pay and you're going to let us know um um exactly which way to go? >> Yes. Yes, >> Mor. Yes. Before we even say that it's not their responsibility to pay anyway, the we are uh you know I I understand Miss Hills uh she said she wants that's what that's why we're saying we're going to uh get advice from um Mr. Doyle, but there are there are some of us who we're ready to move on and we we whoever it is, even if we we stay with the original format of what needed to be done,
117we are going to have to spend some money to move forward. Whether it's them or whether it's the foundation, they gave an amount and we we're willing to move forward with an amount. It may not be that much, but we need to start with an amount because you can't build a building and expect it to operate and not spend money to start it. It's not when you hire somebody to run the building, you're not telling them we going we want you to run the building, but we also want you to pay for everything. So, we it's an expense that we must incur. Just like when we teach children, we have to pay teachers to teach the children. So, we got to pay somebody to run the building and uh and and we're ready to to
118to make that to support that. So, if uh if if if your test uh Mr. Chairman is that uh you're giving it to Dr. Smith and uh Dr. Hendricks, then we need to come up with a solution expeditiously. We have uh events that are happening and if we don't uh hurry up and move forward with this, we we are going to be uh the laughing stock because uh we have uh contracts that are that are sitting out there. I'm just going to say this now. Y'all might not have a problem, but on Saturday when we were discussing all of this, some of you all know that um New Edition, uh Tony Braxton and um Boyce the Men are on tour. They have two uh concerts at State Farm Arena. Those people were over there in
119that building while we were in our retreat. They were ready to have another date, ready to commit, but they couldn't commit because we are stuck. >> I I hope our operators um um don't mess up their negotiation based off >> Yeah. I just know I want to be looking at Bobby Brown. >> Board members, as we close up, um the only thing that I want to emphasize um as we're closing is that first of all, there's nobody that knows the urgency more than Dr. Smith. There's no question about that. this guy knows how fast we need to get this done. Secondly, please put it on your calendars today that next Tuesday will be that special court meeting and and prayfully um Mr. Doyle and their attorney can can work things out. This is urgent. I
120think I think Dr. um Hrix and Dr. are are way ahead of us in understanding the urgency of this and they are going to communicate with us immediately when they come together and figure out the best route for us to to to do this with a recommendation people that has that is >> I'm sorry oh you got it okay >> yes there was an administrative misstep and last month's um personnel changes report was uploaded on eboard that's been amended so if you'd refresh refresh your entry. Um, it appears the entry is under new the new hire section. >> It's on there now. >> Correct. >> It wasn't the the wrong report was uploaded for HR. >> So, we just need >> Okay. So, we just need to revote that. Right. So, what we're doing is
121um and you know, let the minutes reflect that we're pulling the personnel um the personnel report and we're now going to vote specifically on that with Mr. Mark Christmas abstaining from that vote. >> All right. So, um, if I could get a motion for the personnel report, Miss Baker. >> Miss Miss Gorica. >> Okay. >> I make the motion that we approve the uh report as now uploaded. >> I second the motion. >> Okay. The motion has been made by Miss Baker and seconded by Miss Gore. And I need a vote from everybody except for Mr. Christmas. It's unanimous minus Mr. Christmas. Folks, thank you so much for your patience this evening. Dr. Hendris, congratulations. Dr.