001good evening and welcome to the March 4th meeting of the Barry County Board of Education um we're glad to see such a big crowd tonight got a lot of celebrations tonight a lot of teachers and students and staff to recognize so it's it's great to see you all here this has been a fun week with our board this week we've had an opportunity to be in a lot of our schools this week we've been reading in classrooms to students participating in Reading Across America we've been involved with our yes I can Award nominations SP uh presenting at career days and um mentoring to our some of our students so it's been a good week for us here on the board of education at this time um the meeting is called to order and we will
002move on with the invocation by Dr Carrie okay let us pray dear heavenly father thank you so much for all the families that are represented tonight and Lord i' come before you tonight and asking for a special blessing for each one of those families that are here for the families that are represented that may not be able to be here God I ask that you give them a special joy and blessing in their heart Lord as we move forward with this evening and tonight's board meeting Lord I just ask that we all have ears to hear Hearts to feel and also the brain to have the wisdom to do what needs to be done we ask this in your name amen am Amen Let Us stand [Music] arms to the flag of the United States
003of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all [Music] pleas forward I'm CET Sergeant First Class wood I'm captain W I'm CET second lieen I'm second thank you Cadet may be seated at this time may I get a motion to approve the minutes from the January 30 for 31st public hearing the February 4th regular board meeting the February 6th public hearing the February 6 February 6 the second public hearing and the minutes from the February 25th work session and call board meeting as presented so move second motion by Mr Callaway and seconded by Miss Kelly thank you all in favor thank you could I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda so moved second motion by Miss Kelly second by Miss Hendricks all in
004favor thank you could I get a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda so moved second Miss Hendricks yes motion by Miss Hendrick Dr K second by Dr kry all in favor thank you at this time we'll move on to our superintendent recognitions Dr I think first up we have Miss Hendrick with clean and safe schools yes so Mr ethd Mrs Lord and I had an opportunity to visit last month three schools and just want to take a moment to just really appreciate the custodial staff um the actual faculty and staff and the students who take such pride and care of the buildings and campus um they were all spotless um during clean and safe schools any concerns that are um noted during visits would be turned over to Dr Lov and staff to handle or
005address as far as moving forward with that and resolve uh we ask that any of our campus visitors staff students who anything say something and follow the same procedure for this visit we would like to commend The Innovation campus schools uh that we reviewed um encourage them to keep up the great work thank you thank all right the next item on the agenda is our custodial recognition I'm going to invite Mr perno to come and do that presentation all right thank you Dr Leu good evening uh tonight we are pleased to recognize Mr Brian Ross he's a cast at appalache High School uh Brian if you would please come forward and uh I'm going to read I'm going to read something that the school shared with us about Mr Ross Brian consistently goes above and
006beyond and maintaining the busiest location in any High School the gymnasium his attention to detail reliability and dedication ensures that the space is always clean and welcoming he takes pride in his work quickly responding to any needs while maintaining a positive attitude Brian's efforts make a not noticeable difference creating a welcoming environment for everyone who visits the appalache gymnasiums Brian is a jack of all trades he has the ability to fix broken parts without placing these responsibilities on others his hard work and commitment to Excellence are truly appreciated as he is an invaluable part of our team thank you Brian it's now time to recognize our Helen Ruffin reading Bowl I believe uh Miss Wright has lost her voice so Dr moton's going to help us do that good evening and Mrs Wright if you'll
007help me with the certificates this is Amy Wright our director of federal programs and I Angela Moen assistant superintendent for teaching and learning I believe she's tricking me I think she can speak I think she's playing games on me so we were pleased to have our 2025 Helen Ruffin reading Bowl on January 24th at Bassa Helen Ruffin opened this competition to K3 students for the first time this year students read and studied 20 Georgia Peach award picture books to prepare for competition bramlet and Winder Elementary jumped in and tried something new their hard work paid off bramlet plays first and Winder plays second for the district competition they both went on to represent barl County schools at the east region competition please join me and congratulating our teams the bramlet team is coached by Julie
008Wagner Tiffany PR Prestige and Madison stum the students at bramlet are Patrick Allen Patrick if you're here come on Patrick come on so we can celebrate you come on all the way over here come on come on come on come on got to take that walk of frame buddy right here Lewis bunker come on Lou Finley Garner Candice John [Applause] son Amani melicon kenned Smith Carson Stewart Joseph bck Avery Wade Maggie Wagner this is your bramlet team moving on to Winder the winder team is coached by coaches Amanda camp and Jessica Smith the students are Eleanor Morrison Jason Patterson Luciana arri vquez Jorge Garcia Rees congratulations to our bramin and our Winder team bramlet also placed first in the east region with Winder in third place bramlet went on to compete at the state level
009congratulations bramlet and there's more about bramlet bramlet elementary did a fantastic job and plays fourth in state on their first reading Bowl competition we cannot wait to see them take state next year congratulations we also had four elementary schools participate in the elementary ele Elementary division this year but Austin Road and Yargo Elementary Rose to the top taking first and second place these students read and studied 10 Georgia Peach Award books to prepare for the competition please join me as we celebrate Austin Road who is coached by Crystal Thornton and Kimberly casama the students are Lane Henderson Sarah Bing Sydney Gordon lean Rucker elani Moreno Alice [Applause] Thornton looking good Austin Road moving on the Yargo yes Applause please absolutely congratulations the yo team is coached by Hannah Schuler Dedra Kesler and Carrie Elliott the
010students are and they'll come forward Kenny newerk Mary ages pmo Kellen Hardy Riley Powers Josiah sanano Migel Isidor Liz mallum Kai Johnson Davon [Applause] Williams we have one more always room for one more moving on to our fourth and fifth grade elementary division both teams represented barl County well at East regions and took second and fourth place uh we cannot wait to see them go farther this year we're also excited to have all five middle schools participate in the competition this year middle school students read 10 Georgia Peach Award books to prepare for the competition Russell Middle School placed first and aim took second place please join me in congratulating our teams the Russell team is coached by April Williams the students are my friend will mayor [Music] MJ Vargas Mary Steele Evan Dunning Eleanor
011van Vander net Isla moven Holly Picassa Emily Brooks MN Smith [Applause] congratulations moving on to the A Team coached by Jenny starwell and Jonathan Barry the students are Lily Wagner Olivia Goodwin Amber Nelson Grace Hernandez Juan buos Nathan Bloomfield Reagan junan Lily Omen Allison deya congratulations my both middle schools represented barl County at east region competition and place second and third moving on to high school the high school division has 20 books to read and study in preparation for the competition Bassa and Winder Barrow High School place first and second for the district so both teams represented barl County at the East regions please join me in congratulating our teams the bass team is coached by Amber Chandler students please come forward to be recognized Abigail wellborne Danny Decker Ariel Brooks Camden agular Lizzie Buckingham
012Daniela mandragon Hernandez Courtney K kimlan Kaden padmore Pina cavan so Knight Miranda cardo FAS congratulations to our bass team and their representative moving on to werber high school the team is coached by Megan Holt the students please come forward Molly hu Harper Allen Finley K Celeste steel Shelby Elwood we have one long walk by yourself in there [Music] basa place first at the district level G this gives them an opportunity to compete at east region Bassel went on to earn first place at East regionals and will now represent the east region at the Helen Ruff and reading Bowl state competition on March 22nd we know that they will represent barl County School System extremely well the these are your 2025 Helen ruffing reading Bowl Awards congratulations to all of these students and their teachers and
013their parents so glad you all could be here to to celebrate with them tonight thank you board members I'm now going to welcome Miss spow to present our spelling be recognition good evening it's my honor and pleasure to recognize two Stellar spellers who were awarded first and second place in our 2025 Barrow County School District spelling be these two dedicated students showed remarkable effort impressive spelling skills those of you that were there remember um and also have showed us the value of perseverance and determination please join me in first recognizing our second place winner Jude bes who is currently a seventh grade student at the Arts and Innovation magnet program come on up [Applause] Jud and without further Ado I would like to recognize Asar zamon our first place winner at the Barrow County District
014spelling be come on up AAR went on to compete at our regional b a couple weeks ago and he represented be County so well we could not be prouder of these gentleman's achievements let's give them one more round of app Applause thank you and now miss Ellen Petri is going to come and present our uh Jackson EMC bright ideas Grant good evening it's my pleasure to introduce team Johnson with Jackson EMC they are a district partner in education with us and we love working with Jackson EMC and Mr Johnson is here to celebrate our teachers well thank you Ellen um chairwoman Maloof uh you started by saying it's been a really fun week for um the board and what an amazing night to be here in Barrow County to celebrate these students and it's also
015exciting because I get to celebrate some teachers tonight as well so uh Dr Leu thank you so much for having me thank you again to the board of education for this opportunity to be here tonight to honor these outstanding teachers who continue to make a difference in the lives of the students of Barrow County they truly embody the Barrow bold standard um as Ellen said my name is Tino Johnson and I'm one of the business development managers at Jackson EMC and tonight I'm honored to recognize the recipients of the 2024 Jackson EMC Bright Idea Grant this program funds Innovative classroom projects designed by State Certified Public Educators at the middle school level supporting initiatives that are not covered by general education funding since 2016 Jackson EMC has awarded 93,9 125 in Bright Idea grants to
016the Barrow County Middle School System I think that deserves the round of applause in 2024 Jackson EMC awarded 71,9 se6 in dollar in Bright Idea grants to 55 teachers across 29 schools in our service territory here in Barrow County alone 13 teachers from all five middle schools received a total of $3,144 to bring creative and impactful projects to their students these teachers went above and beyond to seek out these competitive grants and Implement meaningful experiences in the classroom the 2024 brigh idea Grant recipients for Barrow County are from a April Ballinger James Kelly Laura Payne and Julie Wood if I could have them if they're in the room today to join us up front and I want to share a little bit about the project that these amazing teachers are working on first of all
017April has a project called history through immersive digital experiences and she was awarded $1,462 to continue this project James has a project called cross curriculum sustainability where he was awarded $1,250 Laura received $48 for her hi M hexagonal expression not sure what that is I had to practice saying it but congratulations to LA and then Julie has a photographic engagement project where she received $1,360 let's give a big round of applause to the teach and we're going to do one big group picture so aim y'all get to stand up here a little bit longer okay from Bear Creek Middle School we had two teachers Tiffany Tyson and Rachel Wilson unfortunately Rachel could not be with us tonight but let's go ahead and give her and Tiffany a round of applause Tiffany is joining us right
018now for her project chicken Science Project based learning and you know I know eggs are pretty expensive right now um but we awarded $1,166 for this project and Rachel is doing a project called transforming physical science with augmented reality and she received $180 for her project let's give the teachers from Bear Creek Middle School a round of applause hymon Morris had five teachers to receive bride idea grants this year Abigail CBS Nancy Murray Paula TR Paula tro Sarah wagler and Kelly will height let's talk a little bit about some of their projects Rachel not Rachel Abigail is doing a visual cookbook where she received $255 Nancy is doing read naturally where she received $1,300 Paula is doing programming the future rvr plus robotics where she received $1,796 Sarah is doing found object sculptures where she
019received $300 and Kelly is doing empowering literacy through gamification where she received $500 let's give the teachers from hymon Morris now we have a bunch of Stellar teachers at both Russell and Westside M Middle School um I'm going to call both of them together each school had one teacher that received a bright idea Grant this year and you know it's appropriate that I called Christina up first for her deep dive into life on Earth where she received the maximum amount of of $2,000 for her bright ideal project and then at West Side Ramona Nicholson received we all read where she received $1,167 let's give the teachers from Russell and I'm going to step over here and take a picture with these wonderful teachers real quick and then I'll come back to the podium to share
020a little bit more with you guys okay let's give him a round of applause thank y'all so much for what you do teachers in addition to these grants Jackson EMC is also proud to be a district partner in education providing financial support to Key Programs such as the teacher of the year award and I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kelly wil Height's name one more time because she has been recognized by her peers as the teacher of the year for this year at hymon Morris middle school so let's give her a big round of applause as well you know it's one thing to be recognized by the community it's another thing to be recognized by your students but when you are recognized by your peers that means you're doing a pretty good job
021so continue the great work that you're doing Kelly Jackson EMC also partners with the barl County school system and the barl County Chamber to support the state of barl County Education and we were very pleased to have Dr lauff with us this past January to share the state of the Bay County school system and I can't be more proud to live and work near a community that is doing some really really great things and continuing to be resilient so I think you all deserve a round of applause for what you are doing not only for the school system but for these students so let's clap for each other you know as an EMC we are a not for-profit organization and what that means is any over the cost of doing business we're going to return
022that back to our members and I'm also pleased to present the bar County margin refund check for 20124 as a member owned Cooperative Jackson EMC returns funds to our members each year in the form of a margin refund check over the past 18 years we've had the pleasure of returning nearly $13,000 to the Bayer County School System including this year $1,110 12 that's right we give pennies back too you know I'm going to close by saying Jackson EMC stands with the bar County School System our organization and its members are no strangers to storms and um Dr perno I hate to report that we will be monitoring some storms tonight so um the liks may go out tonight but I assure you that we will be working to get that power back on to serve
023not only our community schools but also your homes you know when when weather strikes we respond that's what we do and in September of 2024 two storms affected this community thankfully hurricane Helen caused minimal Dam damage however another type of storm continues to challenge beer County schools and I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the be County school system and its Administration the teachers the staff but most importantly the students you know for for their resilience for their commitment and for their will to support one another um through difficult times that is amazing I mean it's one thing when adults can do it but to look out and see students do it doing it it is touching and all I can say is that the future is very bright and I'm
024happy to be able to stand here tonight and to not only share these funds and give back to this community but to once again give a big round of applause to everyone in this community especially the students who get up every day and do something wonderful let's give them a round of applause again I close by saying that as always Jackson EMC stands ready to restore the power to this community both literally and figuratively Jackson EMC does not just want to provide electricity to our schools we want to be a true partner in the classroom and in the community growing alongside the school system on behalf of Jackson EMC and our entire membership thank you to be County for allowing us to contribute to this community and its bright future y'all have a wonderful evening
025guys thank you thank you congratulations to all of our teachers who received the bright ideas Grant Awards and thank you to Jackson for all you do for us supporting us being a great partner we appreciate you so very much thank you board members that concludes the superintendent's recognitions thank you Dr Leu at this time we'll have our bold Spotlight County laon Elementary School Miss Grace Stone thank you to [Laughter] the good evening um I'm Grace Stone I'm the proud principal of County Line Elementary and I'm joined today tonight by uh Miss Ashley Ry our instructional coach Miss Casey Bray our assistant principal and Miss um Brittney cash our teacher of the year this year um we are Critters y'all and we don't really know what that means exactly but we do know that we get
026it done and we get it done quickly so we are not going to take up too materi your time tonight but we wanted to just highlight some of the wonderful things that make County Line special I see should be a video oh boy this is what we deal with every day but you know what we can so if you click log in with SSO it should automatically like I yeah there maybe not it's okay we can just find it later we'll send you the video it's really cute you'll love it um so now here is where I invite Britney cash to come up after the very cute video do her part so miss Britney cash our teacher of the year so I Am Britney cash I'm a first grade teacher this year at County Lon
027Elementary School and like they said that I was just recently selected as the next year's um teacher of the year which I'm very proud of and thank my peers of course for nominating me and selected me for that um I'm a lifelong resident of bar County I love this community and um really truly enjoy teaching here and giving back to the community that grew me as the person that I am today County Line allows me that freedom sorry I do love this this is my home and I am very proud of this home um kindy allows me the freedom to give back to our community through my children that come into um my come into my classroom every day um you didn't get to see they're they're they're precious like any any student um any
028child but they are truly a blessing to each one of us um I'm encouraged by administrators at County Line to um pursue the greatness of my students whether it's through their our fun experience our fun experiments um engaging lessons are simply just asking higher order thinking questions um while I read to them students are always encouraged to explore and inquire and develop a lifelong learn um Lifelong Love of learning um like their teachers learning doesn't just stop with the students we are constantly given support by Administration to grow ourselves professionally um whether it's through professional learning opportunities um peer observations are even recently we were able to go to visit Ron Clark and um if you don't know Ron Clark please look him up um we were all inspired by him so um they just
029pour back into us what we give and it's just amazing um to be a part of the Creator family um and like I said the um county line is like a family to me it's like my second home my second family I truly feel loved and adored and appreciated every step of the way of every decision make um every little thing I do in my classroom I truly feel that way by my administrators and my peers um so it is great to be a c crator and it's great be great to be part of the bearable system so thank you thank you Miss cash sound is also cute but we it's okay um uh so what you'll see is a um bunch of our staff and our students talking about why they love County Line
030and um it's really cute especially toward the end when some of our um prek students they like the school because it's very large and um and that's a good reason to like County Line um but what makes County Line special is the community um teachers take the time to build relationships with their teachers uh with their colleagues with their students and with their families anybody who has been a a member of okay for e [Laughter] so as you can hear um County Line builds a community they have a sense of culture through our house system through PBIS through our wraparound services that we provide um we all pull together for all of our kids um County Line has always been that way it's always been so special and we're going to continue to uphold those
031Traditions now and in the future thank you so much thank you thank you so uh Mrs Stone if I could I just want to commend you and your staff over here um so last at our last work session Dr Moten presented some data and so that was at the beginning of the year in the middle of the year of your dibles um information and so you did a tremendous increase or actually decrease which was better for those scores and I do want to bring out one that I thought was incredibly tremendous and that was the kindergarten so at risk percentage was 44.5 down to 21.3 so kudos to your team and thank you [Applause] all right we'll move on into presentations and discussions and start with Dr Bowen Support Services good evening for our safety
032report tonight I want to ask my colleague Dr Adam CTS to come forward and share some Personnel information with you about our Support Services being offered at appalache High School all right I always say we are our people and uh we've had to grow in stretch this year as we look to support each other in a different way the board has uh authorized some new positions and some new contracts to make sure we are supporting our students and staff and I want to just give a little update as to where we stand um this morning I had the pleasure of meeting with our new recovery coordinator at appalache High School Miss Kelsey Zimmer uh she is in week two and hitting the ground running uh moving things forward there and getting connected so that we
033can support both staff and students in a number of ways um including through our contracted clinicians um so I want to give an update on those contracts the we've extended a or entered into a contract with Advantage behavioral uh for two student clinicians we have hired one of those clinicians and we are currently screening applications for the second clinician the first one is expected to start next week the other were expected to have interviews in the next week or two um but pretty happy with the application we're seeing come in the advantage behavioral although it's a contracted service is included district and uh School staff to make sure that we're getting uh what we need for you know for our students and staff uh we're excited about both of those positions starting soon uh we
034also have the employee assistance program contract with the Northeast Georgia Medical Center uh that contract is fully executed and that job is posted we're currently in the process of screening applications um and I think our recovery coordinator is likely to be in involved in in that hiring process but so far preliminarily sat pretty happy with some of the applications we're seeing coming coming in um all of these positions uh are are funded with support from the anti-terrorism emergency assistance program or aeap Grant or anticipated funds from that that's being applied for currently uh it'll be a flowthrough grant where we will be a subgrant from the state so that's a little update on our staff and student supports in terms of clinical uh behavioral and mental health any questions from the board I think just
035one comment Dr chis I think I'd asked you before about the certification and training of these individuals and I believe you did confirm that they do have training and certification in trauma mental health counseling so thank you for that correct they do yeah thank you for asking that we confirm that thank you so much thank you Dr and now miss Houston with business services all right good evening uh we're going to go over our sales taxes I love looking at our sales taxes every month because it kind of gives us a pulse of how Barrow County um if they're spending money or not but this month um we had our highest month last month and this this month was our lowest month since March of 20122 so kind of on a a roller coaster uh
036just to see what happens next but it's just something to watch and um to look forward to to kind of give us a pulse of where our spending is so um this month we we received 1,528 77.99 and you can see in the graph where we are compared to the Past uh five years all right for our um board summary for our general fund our total fund balance as of February 28th is 9 million our total revenues year-to date uh for the month of for up to February 28th is 160 million our total expenditures year-to date is 135.5 million our total revenues for the month of February 12.3 million and our total expenditures for the month of February 17.1 million the next report is just more detail of the general fund [Applause] and then we'll
037move on to our special Revenue fund and this is for uh the year to date January 31st 2025 and so our special Revenue fund year-to-date revenue is 15.3 million our year-to-date expenditure 17.1 million for our capital projects fund our year-to-date Revenue was 12.2 million our year-to dat expenditures 21.2 million for our service our year-to-date Revenue 7.2 million and our year-to-date expenditures 2.6 million then the next report the last report is our invoices paid between 10,000 and $74,999 for the month of February do you have any questions no questions I just one comment thank you Miss Houston I know you've made some notations on there um so thank you for that I appreciate those absolutely all right so now um yall have already voted on the bond uh resolution however Mr Owens is going to come
038up and tell us how the bond market did today uh for the sale all right good evening it's good to see everyone again thank you for for having me um we went over a lot of this back at our uh budget session but this is the result of that Bond sale that we a process we started before that but I would say maybe we formally started started on that particular day so some of this you have seen before and I'm going to I know you've got a long meeting so I'm happy to talk about it as much as you want but I'll do my best just to move on through it um I I always like to give you a little summary of the bond sale these are bonds that were approved with a 82%
039approval rate back in March of 2023 you may remember we sold the first part of these bonds two years ago we've spent through those proceeds and now we're selling the second not quite half but with approximately half of the bonds um the bonds were in the market this morning we did very well they will close on March the 19th and then we are going to pay principal on this Bond uh from February 1st 2028 once a year all the way out to February 1st uh 2042 which lines up with the Cadence of bonds we already have outstanding uh we did get the bonds rated which really the school district rated by both Moody and standard and pors uh we get what we call an enhanced rating by participation in something called the state intercept program
040which is a program where the state co-signing the bonds probably isn't correct but they sort of lend us their credit support if we ever either failed to make a payment or willfully didn't make a payment the state would step in on our behalf then settle up with us after the fact but uh we get to use we get to sort of piggyback off the state's AAA Bond rating when we participate in that it doesn't cost us anything at all to do it and by virtue of that we get a double one AA plus Bond rating just one notch away from the states uh but on your own Moody's investor Service rates the school district a A1 which is outstanding U we have a doua minus rating with standard and fours which we're uh we're working
041on they upgraded us two years ago into the ablea category so that's a that's a slow process but uh you were doing very very well there uh I'm going to skip over the bottom there's something called a bond yield which is a calculation we have to do for the IRS but if we'll go one more page or am I okay good didn't know if I was driving or not there um this is a chart we looked at this is just general interest rates that red line is where we are now and I've put a box around rates from three out to 17 years which is where our Bonds mature you can see we are a little below the historical average at the moment and then I guess the next page is probably really our headline
042um we put these bonds out for something called a competitive sale where we we make the bonds available and we get offers from various under writers to purchase those we had a tremendous response to that offering with 16 offers to purchase the issue that came in this morning and we organized those by something called true interest cost which we could we could be here all night discussing the Nuance of what goes in and out of those rates but it's similar to an APR that you might you know it's it's calculated a very particular way but it's our way of standardizing the offers from various Underwriters and you can see the lowest tiic was 3.1 3416 and our cover offer was two 1,000 of 1% uh higher so a very very tight bid you can see
043all of the the offers were within about five basis points of one another um we are selling the same cash flows regardless so what the lowest rate really reflects the buyer who's willing to pay us the most for our bonds if that makes sense if we'll look at one more page this shows you the yield by maturity and the dollar prices so on average the underwriter is paying us about 114 cents on the dollar which results in a premium above the face value of our bonds of $ 6,270 th000 so if we'll go one more page um after we make a little provision for capitalized interest that's just a an interest payment on this Bond before our new sales tax goes into effect in July we get the first collection in July and a payment
044due August 1st so we we want to be sure we've got funds already on hand so we set that aside out of the proceeds we also pay cost of issuance but that's going to allow us to deposit $ 48,8 154,000 into our construction fund from this Bond sale that is about a million4 higher than what we were looking at uh just a month ago and I I will admit to you I had a little cushion in that number I didn't have this much cushion in the number this is a really really good result um the market has cooperated since we were doing that planning about a month ago U but we also frankly got got better offers today than than even I was expecting or hoping for so I was very pleased with that if
045we look just one more page this is the The Debt Service on those Bonds on an annualized basis and then maybe go one more page as well this is a table we looked at back at the work session this is Absolut this is exactly what you looked at then we didn't change these cash flows at all what changed is how much we were getting for the bonds um for selling those bonds and so if we'll go let's see Jennifer just talked to you about on the next page this is just the sales tax we always want to compare what are we getting in a year from sales tax versus what's our annual payment on the bond and so if you go one more page you can see that most recent 12 months has produced 21,1
04634,000 versus our highest Bond payment which is a little under $15 million so um as we talked about while that seems like a lot of coverage we intentionally leave that there because we have items that we don't want to finance each year right we pay for buses we pay for technology things out of just sposed cash flow so we don't ever we don't you know we purposefully don't just max out that payment against the uh what the sales tax is producing and because the sales tax has a little volatility to it and that's also our capacity to do other projects in the future you know should we need other borrowing you know we we kind of manage what we have there and that may be funds that we need as we go forward and then
047and lastly uh one thing I talked about with you at the work session was that our bonds have call features embedded in them meaning that if we ever slow down in our construction we feel like hey we need to retire some of these bonds before their maturity there are calls what I would call laded throughout your your debt profile so right now we could pay off some of your 2012 bonds early if we wanted to we wouldn't because their their cost goes 2.12% right we're earning more on our cash than the debts costing us so we don't even if we had the money we wouldn't run and pay those off um but it also presents us periodic opportunities to refinance debt and that's one thing that I watch on your behalf just keep an eye
048on it and so the next probably best opportunity for that is bonds that are callable next February the 26 and I've put a box around sort of the the highest coupon bonds which may be our most likely uh for a refinance we aren't eligible to do that until we get closer to February I applied the rates we got on this Bond today to a refinance and it would have saved you about $70,000 we probably would not trade away that prepayment right for $70,000 so you know that that's sort of the art of what we look at but I do want you to know and have some sense of where those calls occur and just know that we look at those one for the flexibility of being able to pay them off but also for the
049potential you know can we refinance that at some point in the future and lower our interest cost on our bonds so uh lastly um is our financing timetable which is exactly as we saw it before we've just worked our way through this a little more uh the last action item beyond your approving the bond sale tonight is that a tax levy resolution will go before the Commissioners it has your name on it but it's something that Commissioners have to adopt that I always like to explain that that is in the same way that they are the tax collecting for your M Levy each year a requirement to issue a general obligation Bond says before that Bond can be issued this is a state law there has to be a provision that if you needed property
050tax to pay it we've made provision for that Levy and so that's all we're asking the Commissioners to do to if at any point between now and 2042 our sales tax wasn't renewed or we had some other catastrophe and we're unable to pay the bonds they would Levy that tax if you asked them to but I always point out is not the Board of Commissioners I'm going to look this way when I say this the Board of Commissioners aren't levying attack and this board doesn't intend to Levy attacks but it is a document we have to have adopted in order to to follow the law of how you issue a general obligation Bond it has been adopted every time we have ever issued a general obligation Bond so every one of those we just looked
051at they've done the exact same thing and we have never asked them to actually Levy that tax but if you get a call from a commissioner and I know your staffs have talked to one another already about it and I know uh Ben price who's your he's with John Jim Woodward with great pel and Woodward your bond attorney I know they've reached out to the county attorney already as well just to to inform them what it is and what we're asking them to do but again it has tax on it and you're not you know in your name and they're taking action so I just like you to know what that document is in case you you're asked about it um are there any questions at all about any of this okay well well I've
052told you before thank you very much for having me this I think my I was looking back I think my first bond issue here was 2006 so this is officially 20 years worth of working for the school district for me so uh I really appreciate you keeping me around and uh thank you very much thank you Mr a at this time we'll move on to um our request to appear and now we've got some folks who would like to speak with us tonight just as a reminder those comments are limited to three minutes good evening um tonight we have several requests to speak um before the Board of Education before we welcome them to the podium please keep in mind board policies which summarize State the Barrow County Board of Education values public input about
053topics concerning our schools only residents of our district representatives of organizations in our district or our student families or school system employees May address the board each speaker is given 3 minutes and is asked to be civil and refrain from from disparaging remarks concerning bcss staff or that violate privacy laws the board may stop a speaker if guidelines are not followed the board will take each speaker's comments and questions into consideration however no action will be taken at the meeting generally board members will not respond to questions or comments but may if they choose to do so um for our first Speaker Miss Ro good evening uh Bard to each of you and to each of you that are sitting in this room I want to just uh first start by saying thank you for
054allowing this opportunity uh I am representing my daughter and of course the entire Community as a result of September and I initially came in with this thought to almost like do it in a story Nar narrative so that we can actually feel what the parents and those that were taken from us felt because I think storytelling sometimes gives you the exact emotion of what may have felt in that moment my daughter is a 10th grade I have four the older three have graduated from appalache so this evening I wanted to come collectively asking what can we do as an entire community no more blaming no more pointing fingers what can we do collectively and what I wrote down this evening was the core value of leadership is heart and so tonight I came in with
055a heart of compassion asking that everyone comes in with a heart of understanding that the situation occurred we cannot turn back the hands of time but we can do some things differently and that's what I'm asking not only from leadership that's where it starts correct but also from parents from staff from the community that's how we make Barrow great that's how we uh the signs that are around uh I think it's uh Barrow strong and Barrow will prevail or love will prevail how do we do that collectively how do we bring back love how do we remove the anger and the frustration and the reason why I did not do that story telling because I time and time again placed my daughter in that hallway and I could not could not fathom what that actually
056felt like for those who it happened to so tonight I'm asking the staff the board the teachers everyone how do we collectively just over come this hurdle and let's do it with love okay and I know my time is up I just wanted to say this I'm advocating for everybody the students the leadership the teachers who are still trying to find their way the students who are still struggling coming into that building I'm asking that we all unite and put this behind us so that Barrow can be strong again thank you [Applause] thank you Miss Leila Renee contras okay good evening oh I just started okay all right okay good evening my name is Lea Renee contaras and I'm lead organizer of change for Chi today marks 6 months since the tragedy at appalache high
057school a moment that forever changed our community first I want to acknowledge the Board of Education and Dr Dallas uff for implementing student ID requirements and taking steps towards safety uh improving our school safety your quick response proves that when action is prioritized change is possible possible I hope we can continue working together to ensure our schools are not just safer but truly prepared to prevent future tragedies that being said safety isn't just about reacting it's about having the courage to lead right now Barrow County has an opportunity to not only protect our students and Educators but to set an example for the entire State people are looking to this District to you for guidance on how to handle School tragedies what you do here doesn't just impact our schools it can influence policies across
058Gea that kind of leadership requires bold action one area where action is needed most is our teacher support we cannot ignore the Mental Health crisis facing our Educators our former head coach had to set down after using their own sick time to cope with PTSD other teachers face the same impossible Choice forced to use personal leave just to manage the trauma of that day if teachers need more time off to recover they should have it without penalty they should not have to choose between their well-being and their careers this week teachers must decide whether to renew their contracts while still navigating trauma with minimal support we have to ask ourselves are we doing enough to make them feel heard 90 minutes a week for counseling is not enough our teachers deserve better on this 6mon
059anniversary we honor Mason Christian Christina and Richard we honor the four lives lost we stand with the survivors and we support the Educators who have dedicated themselves to our students even while carrying their own trauma our teachers stayed for us now it's the time to show them that they are not alone Barrow County has the chance to lead not just in response to tragedy but in shaping a proactive Statewide approach to school safety and mental health that kind of leadership will take courage and I urge you to be the leaders who Step Up who set the precedent and who put real action behind your words let's work together to ensure our teachers receive the respect and care they deserve thank [Applause] you thank you um Miss Isabelle tro good evening my name is isbel tjo
060and I'm a senior at appalachi today marks 6 months since September 4th a day that still haunts our students staff and Families First I want to thank the board for your efforts in improving school safety over the past 6 months youve approved hiring additional SRO implemented weapons detection systems and introduced identification decals for students these are important steps and I appreciate them however serious concerns remain how however or sorry appalache students and staff have continued to experience security failures in January a student brought gun onto campus more recently an unknown high schooler entered our school and went unnoticed for months we've asked for proactive not reactive policies yet action only comes after another dangerous incident on September 4th the school received a phone call asking them to find the shooter before anything occurred no lockdown
061was issued until minutes later after the shooting began in January despite a reported gun on campus students continued to transition between classes we've spent years practicing lockdown drills yet when real danger arises the procedures are ignored one teacher asked how can we improve our lockdown policies if they're never utilized in real world situations Beyond safety another major issue is the lack of communication between school leadership and students and staff for months we've been left in the dark where rarely informed of policy changes safety measures and even incidents that directly affect us our teachers are expected to lead classrooms without clear guidance while students are expected to trust a system that refuses to communicate with them when we ask questions we're met with silence this creates disconnect frustration uncertainty and fear this lack of communication extends
062Beyond policy it affects the very people who keep our schools running on September 4th our teachers lost two co-workers but more importantly they lost their friends yet they are expected to return to school the following Monday with no time to grieve they're forced to use their sick days for mental health breaks when they run out of six sick days what then many faculty members are struggling with anxiety PTSD and Trauma yet they feel ignored or even discouraged from speaking up many teachers have expressed concerns to our Administration yet they're ignored I've spoken to several teachers the past few days and their message is clear they feel abandoned they're expecting to support students while receiving little support their themselves one teacher told me we're expected to be counselors yet we have no one to counsel us
063this is unacceptable our teachers need mental health days trauma resources and most importantly they need to be heard they should not be afraid to speak up they should not have to choose between their well-being and their jobs we need change we need clear policies and above all we need to support the people people who dedicate their lives to us thank you thank you Miss Sasha contas good evening my name is Sasha Contreras and I'm a junior at appalachi high school I want to start by thanking the board of education for implementing student ID requirements and taking steps to improve school safety I'm relieved that the board acted after the last incident on February 12th where a student that that doesn't attend appalachi was found on school premises these actions show that when we work together
064progress is possible however now that we have proactive safety measures in place it is time to make sure we enforce school policies and give our teachers and staff are full attention policies are only effective if they are enforced and safety measures mean little if the people implementing them our teachers and staff don't feel supported our teachers shouldn't have to wonder if they're being kept informed or if their concerns are being heard right now many Educators feel left in the dark struggling to navigate trauma without clear guidance or support that needs to change communication between leadership and staff should be direct transparent and proactive Ive not something teachers have to fight for we've made progress but there's more to do let's not lose momentum in this journey of healing and safety I would also like to
065ask those in the community and those of the board unfortunately once again to have empathy I've been to quite a couple of these board meetings now to which I have heard the constant theme of being an active member of society and to wake up to do extraordinary things their history in school we Tau to say something if we see something and to be the change we want to see I am doing that in stepping up to advocate for my peers and teachers and have been doing so since September I wish I could still just be a kid but that was no longer possible the day I was at the day I feared for my life at school the day we lost four souls at the place I should be a kid so again I asked
066the board our community and anyone else watching to have empathy and be kind to those who have the courage to speak up and advocate for change thank [Applause] you thank you um I'll call this was a um a couple on this one line so I'm going to call one up at a time for three minutes um each so Mr Jacob Shipman okay M ter Miss Tera Shipman hello um good evening everyone my name is Tara Shipman um first I want to start by saying thank you um to the bar County Board of Education um its members the teachers the staff the students um everyone who's taken time to volunteer to help build back our schools and our community following the tragedy that unfolded on September 4th um appalache High School is currently implementing um safety
067measures uh to ensure the well-being of our students and our staff and its visitors um these measures are a step in the right direction but it's crucial to understand that safety is an ongoing process and these changes cannot be the end of our journey we must continue to adapt stay vigilant and work together to create an environment where everyone feels secure and supported every day I'm here to discuss real Everlasting change um we're currently working on building a stronger more connected community Through engagement and Recovery our goal is to create create real opportunities for support growth and teamwork within appachi high school and all of our Barrow County Schools um right now we're working on uh getting some events planned specifically for appalachi high school it's teachers and students um something that will bring the
068teachers staff and students together in a meaningful way we we want to create spaces where both groups can connect support one another and build a stronger School environment um one of our biggest upcoming projects that we're trying to organize is a Car and Bike Show um something that'll be fun that'll bring the people together while we're supporting our mission um we're looking for volunteers and local businesses to help make this event a success and this is a great way to give back to be part of something positive for our community um we would like to propose a lend and ear project um something that we can um provide for our teachers and staff a meeting maybe once a month um this would provide a space for open conversations support and solutions um because when we
069take care of each other we all do better um this is all about working together to make a real impact when we support each other we all grow to truly make a change we all need to come together volunteer our time be present in our children's lives and show up for them by doing so we not only impact their lives but we also leave an everlasting impression on the community and the and future Generations so let's take action today for a brighter tomorrow thank [Applause] you thank you and now Mr Jacob Chipman good evening board Community my name is Jacob Shipman and I'm a proud lifelong member of the bar County Community I grew up here I went there the original cine Elementary School the original Russell Middle School okay this is my land this
070is all of our land I have two daughters that are in appalache right now I have one that is graduated and I have a 8-year-old who will soon be going to high school in like 20 years now we all know that our teachers and staff students are still healing along with the rest of us the community in general we're all still healing we all still have some flashback on phone calls something on TV or just a wild thought in a random silence um so for me this is part of what I want to propose for the board for the community and all of us together um I'm asking that the parents and the community get involved because getting involved can mean a lot of different things um I would like to ask for people to
071volunteer sign up for some mentorship programs um and even substitute teaching you know because teachers got one of the hardest jobs on Earth outside of law enforcement and I know quite a few of both trust me um let's see and and a whole lot of stuff and this is how we can really truly start to create a real change within our school systems not just appalache all of barl County with hopes that it goes beyond bar County it can hit wnet it can hit Walton it can hit you know okone counties everywhere else but we got to start somewhere you know um this will also allow parents to be directly involved and be committed to the safety and well-being of our students teachers and staff volunteering helps you get into the school for the parents
072that are concerned there's open doors you know um we're only going to see change and be successful if we can all commit to working together as one not going back and forth not doing nothing I don't care um if you need anybody needs any information on how to sign up you can contact me you can contact the board board members you can contact school for that matters it's right there online um thank you but Mr sh oh I was just let me finish up real quick um with that you know everybody is happy to work with us as parents first and foremost that's where the real change starts and the only thing left I got to say is if we ain't part of this real solution then we are the problem you can take that
073with a grain of salt how you want it and all I'm going to say is you can step up or step off thank you thank you and our last speaker is Mr Dion mro good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight um before I begin I must acknowledge the fact that what has happened at appalache high school is tragic it's difficult it's made for a very difficult year and we are all in different places emotionally as we continue to heal from this tragedy but I want to speak about appalache high school it's a great school the kids that walked through those Halls every morning did nothing wrong the teachers that are in that building right now work really hard to create environments where kids can be loved they can be nurtured so
074they can learn and become successful adults the support staff in that building does everything they can to make sure our life is easy and our Administration is doing our best me as a community member and a parent I see that the school board and the executive cabinet you're doing your best to provide a safe place for us it's hard and we understand that my heart hurts when people say bad things about the people in that building those almost 2,000 students are wonderful people they're teenagers they're going to do silly stuff that's our job as adults to help them get better at that it hurts when the narrative is negative from people who are in our community people who are affiliated with that school are saying bad thing about kids that did nothing wrong that bothers
075me and it should bother all of us the problem is we're using we're letting social media and everybody's little groups and news media dictate how people think about appalachi high school and we have to change that we have to be strong enough to say hey it's unfortunate nobody wants to be in a place where we're dealing with this but we have to say it's enough is enough those kids are great every one of them even the one that gets in trouble every day the one that plays on their cell phone all the time they're great students that building didn't do anything wrong it's a beautiful structure the teachers are doing their best the administration is doing their best we know times are tough but until we decide to stand up and get in those conversations
076and say hey you don't have to say anything about bad about that school we know it was hard but you know what you need to know is that these kids are trying their best they keep coming back they keep coming back the ones that didn't want to come back didn't but at the end of the day the only way we're going to changed the narrative the Dark Cloud around appalache high school is for those of us in this space and anybody else affiliated with the school to stand up and say enough's enough every time something happens I get a negative text and I say you know what that's wrong those kids are great these teachers are great but I need us as a community to be not be afraid to say that that's a great
077school once we do it our children can be proud of where they go to school but until we do that that can't happen so I'm asking you as you have your conversations with your friends please let them know that appalache is a great place teachers are trying their best the kids are trying their best um I came here n years ago only to teach at that school I was at a great school my wife came here made sure she found a job so we could stay here our kids started kindergarten Here my youngest started prek they will graduate from appalache high school because that's where they want to go they're proud to be in that in Chi Nation we all should be proud it's tough we're all at different spaces but until we the adults
078in the community decide to say it's a great place nobody's going to think that thank you so much for your time thank you [Applause] I think we're all very proud of appalache our students and our staff and our Administration there so thank you thank you all for sharing tonight and we are going to get through this together it's the only way all right at this time could I have a motion um for the authorization for our committees to meet second Miss Hendrick and Mr Callaway second all in favor at this time we need to go into executive session to discuss or deliberate upon the appointment employment compensation hiring disciplinary action or dismissal or periodic evaluation or rating of a public officer or employee or to interview applicants for the position of superintendent could I have
079a motion for executive session second Miss HRI second by Miss Kelly all in favor thank you we will be back here in the county I thought that's perfect um I don't know if I'm a typical Mentor I love children I think that's the basic requirement is that you care about them and you're sincere in caring about them and if you do that that's really all they need they will be like little flowers to the Sun I um take a little craft of some kind not expensive and we start with that and then that just gives us a chance to just kind of talk while we're busy with our fingers doing things um I'll also take a little snack I hope that's okay um you know a little pack of crackers or cookies and um he's
080always happy about that if you're thinking about mentoring the best thing I can tell you is you get back so much more than you ever ever give it's just heartwarming and I walk out of the school every week with a big smile on my face because to be with such a sweet young man I think mentoring is a lot simpler than what people think it is I think um it sounds scary it sounds overwhelming it sounds like a huge commitment and while it is a commitment it is not um it's simple it's a simple process of just caring for someone and um listening really um you know U so um again we're always looking for mentors um in Barrow County if you work from home and have 30 minutes a week to spare um if
081you are retired um if you're a parent and you have 30 minutes to spare we'd love to have you join our mentoring program and spend time with the student I think that there are a lot of children of all ages who would benefit from knowing that someone cares enough to be with them yeah on a regular basis yes hi I am Lyn Tilman you can refer to me as the Terminator that's what I've been being called since 1989 when the Terminator movies were popular and I teach music at County Line Elementary School and this is my room I have all kinds of things that I have acquired through the um fundraising website called donor shoes got some conas and Bongos and I have this sweet totally sweet 1970s vintage set of wood blocks love those
082I have some African jambes I got some bases we got oh we got a got a big dog house base that's awesome too we have um I really don't know what they're called but I call them flap phones we got Bells we got Tuono drums I got a xylophone these These Are Mine personally nobody gets to touch those except me and I got a drum set which we are rocking on all the time I first realized that I could potentially be good as a teacher back when I was in Middle School and I played the flute in gwet County Sweet Water middle school and my band director realized that I had already known my parts and he asked me to help some of the people not only in my section but in other sections to
083learn their parts better so we'd go back in the practice room I was teach them their parts and I've always had a way of being able to break it down to its absolute simplest forms that you don't even have to understand music to get what it is and to teach on a need to know basis this is all you need to know to be able to play this kind of like earlier when I was doing the bases and I said all you got to do is press the yellow dot they don't have to know that that's an e they don't have to know that it's an E chord all they have to know is right now press the yellow dot when you see my footstep on yellow you press yellow the simplest form to get
084them to have success as quickly as possible and it was back in middle school that I first realized that I had that in me and that I could get people to learn with down to the simplest thing teachers do amazing things stuff yeah funtivities I want them to know that teachers we're not perfect we can come in and we think I've got a plan I'm doing good I am going to teach and then you come in here and you totally blow it and sometimes you just blow it and the kids laugh at you and then we move on and you fix it and now I'm going to fix it yeah okay all right so I was doing the my name's Hannah Hollingsworth and I'm a senior appalache High School in my childhood I grew up
085with a single mom and an older brother so I was rough housing around you know just trying to make it day by day I was very independent as a kid which honestly led me up to me being like as strong willed and independent as I am today um I definitely want to thank my mom for teaching me all the life lessons that she taught me of being like on my own and really how to thrive in an unknown environment and I just really want to thank my mom for teaching me those lessons so softb and basketball really is just more than Sports to me like they were my whole life I've played Sports since I was six and seven um and when you face adversity in sports you're obviously in a game you can't stop
086and that led into like academics and life as well like when there's a hard time or like you're struggling on a test you can't just stop you just have to keep going and sports have really taught me that no matter what the outcome is everything's going going to be okay no matter if you win lose fail pass if something goes good or bad like it's always going to work out how it's supposed to be Mr bazat he was my freshman history teacher and my sophomore history teacher he definitely had the biggest impact on me because he cared about me on such like more than academic level he wanted me to thrive in my sports he always listened to me when I was having a rough day and he really did help me thrive in my
087academics he constantly pushed me to do my best constantly reassured me that what my grades are were good enough and he just was always an ear to listen and he was just a really good resource and a good Mentor honestly I would say right now I most proud of being top 10 in my class that was definitely something I never thought would happen I play two sports um I have two jobs I am constantly working or constantly playing sports so in trying to keep academics with all honors and AP classes is a really hard struggle but Lord willing I managed it and I'm very proud of myself for persevering and getting all those late night papers done so I'm very proud of myself for that so last semester in August I started an internship at
088the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Winder and I started off in the emergency room I took the internship because I was like I really want to expose myself to the medical field and if I didn't like it now I wouldn't have to worry about spending all that money on a degree that I didn't even want so I started in the emergency room and my first week was amazing I saw so many things I was exposed to so many different amazing people and people who really taught me and took their time to teach me about everything medical that they could in the short amount of time I was there I was basically a tech by the end of my time in the emergency room I did EKGs all by myself I helped with blood work I
089would run stuff to the lab I would clean up any messes bring patients any blankets or drinks they wanted and I was really just I was really just there to help everybody out in the best way I could but the experience in the emergency room was amazing um after 9 weeks I was then put in a different department I was put in Med surge where I would talk to patients before and after surgery I would just help them be comfortable I would help my nurses out with anything they needed anything they asked I would more than gladly get it for them and the relationships I built with all the nurses and medical staff there was amazing I learned so much and really because of them I want to become a nurse to help people and
090how they interact with people is something I aspire to do one day so after graduation I plan on going to gcsu.edu the Hagen scholarship I will hear back from that one soon but I'm just applying to really any like local and state scholarships I can get my hands on so fingers crossed I can get some extra help with college money and become a nurse because that has always been my dream I would tell freshman Hannah not to stress so much I would always freak out about my grades I would always freak out about even the smallest inconvenient inconveniences throughout the day I would just tell myself just keep going it's it's not worth it to stress over this small things because big picture you're going to end up in the same place you want to
091be so just don't stress just let it go and once I finally learn that I I'm in a much better place all around like college is definitely going to be hard but you made it through high school so just keep going and I would tell that to anybody like any person thinking about going to college it's going to be okay it's going to be hard but it's going to be worth it so project search is a very unique transition program different from anything we have in Barrow County it started at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio in the mid 1990s and now there are 610 sites in 47 States and 10 countries including right here in Barrow County to participate in Project search a student has to be a Barrow County student um between the ages
092of 18 and 22 with barriers to employment such as intellectual or de developmental disabilities they have to be finished with their High School graduation requirements and willing to defer graduation until the end of their project search year it's during that year that they come to the winder Housing Authority here at the Wimberly Center and they participate in three rotations that last anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks they have a manager and a mentor that they report to and work alongside um along with skills training with our partners and it's just a really unique uh program because the end goal is part-time or full-time employment for the interns here at the Wimberly Center the project search students are learning a variety of different uh skills they're learning data entry they're learning accounts payable payroll records retention
093they're learning how to shred Environmental Services restaurant sanitation I'm doing a lot of uh washing dishes and helping clean floors there's uh a good aspect of prep some general prep cook I do dishes I do p it teach you if you were to walk at kitchen how to do beans correctly I'm teaching them how to answer the phone how to take messages how to respond to um interact with people coming into the facility Well my first internship was in the front office like in the reception IST area and I learn how to like copy papers scan stuff into the computer answer the phone and mail out letters we're cutting grass we're harvesting crops we're doing weeding we're doing some irrigation work digging uh pretty much anything when it comes to working on the farm we
094try and tackle it well my first internship I learned how to cut grass which I never learned how to do that are the skills at dark the interns are learning through my department are their maintenance um skills um they're learning long care skills we're doing janitor skills my task is to go along beside them and make sure that they have a good understanding of what the job is that they are being asked to do and for me to make sure that they are able to do it and then I kind of back away and and let them do their thing I learned how to use a knife better in culinary and then um I learned how to use a drill like putting pressure on it is good way to use a drill like that um
095at this time um could I have a motion to to approve the Personnel report as presented for teacher contracts for next year so moved second Carrie and M Lord second all in favor all right motion approved our next meeting we will have a board retreat on March 10th and our work session and call board meeting on March 25th if no we have no other business we are adjourned