001Yes, ma'am. Yeah. And we'll begin with our invocation from Daily Blanton. I call on Daily Blanton to lead us in prayer. Our dear Lord, thank you for bringing us together today. As we begin this meeting, we ask for wisdom, clarity, and understanding in all that is discussed. Help us to listen with open minds, speak with respect, and make decisions that are thoughtful and fair. Guide us to work together with patience and integrity, always keeping the greater good in mind. Amen. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, Daily, for the invocation. And now we'll all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated.
002And if you would let the roll uh the minutes reflect that all board members are present. Okay. And at this time we need a motion for the adoption of our agenda. Madam Chair, I move that the agenda be adopted as presented. Okay. We need a second. I second. It's been moved and seconded. There's no discussion. We'll vote by show of hands. Okay. We have it. Next we have the approval of minutes. We need a motion to accept the minutes. I make a motion to approve the minutes from the March 17th board meeting as well as the March 17th work session. Thank you so much. And now we need a second. I second that motion. For both? Okay. Work session and the regular meeting. I have an issue with those minutes. Um to be reflective, Tony
003did not vote to approve last time. Tony did not approve in the minutes last time, but I think it got overlooked. Okay. Which which one? For the board meeting. 317 board meeting. The previous minutes. Not the work session either, cuz Uh on the work session it's fine. Okay. I'm sorry. On the civil board meeting? The regular meeting The agenda The um minutes. The minutes from the 317 Okay. Now can we do it again with the necessary correction? I make a motion to approve the March 17th board meeting with the one correction of Tony's approval of the previous minutes. >> Okay. As well as the March 17th board session. Okay. Do I have a second? I do. We have a second. >> [laughter] >> Is there any other discussion? Thank you for the correction. Let's vote
004by show of hands. Okay. We have it this time. Thank you very much. And now we are ready to move with our financial report from Mrs. Martin. Where are you? I am not in my usual spot tonight. I know. Well, good evening. Good evening. Tonight I have the financial report for March 2026. And if you will please turn with me to the first page. Revenues as of March 31st, 2026 were $16,159,391. This represents 13.49% of your general fund budget. And as you probably can tell, we are 75% complete with the fiscal year through the end of March. So if you're comparing completion of the fiscal year to the budget, you can see that we have quite a bit of revenues to catch up with. I do want to report to you that as of the
00517th of April, we did receive a check from the tax commissioner in upwards of $51 million. So you will see that reflected on next month's report, and that is just over half of the 96% budget amount that you're going to see in your upcoming budget. Okay. Thanks. Are there any questions about that? Okay. Next page represents the expenditures as of March 31st, 2026, total expenditures were $58,279,436. That is 70.79% of your general fund budget. And again, you're at 75% completion, you can see that we are spending under that. The next page shows the general fund balance sheet. As of March 31st, 2026, total assets were $253,665,057 with total liabil- Excuse me, total liabilities and fund equity equaling the same amount. The next page represents changes in general fund equity as of March 31st, 2026, ended
006period general fund equity is $252,384,912. The next page represents investments in all funds as of March 31st, 2026, total investments were $234,292,387. The next 15 or so pages represent your purchase ordering encumbrance report. These are open encumbrances through the end of March. I know that this report has a lot of pages to it, and that is due to the purchasing cutoffs that we did ask the school system to adhere to. Everyone did an amazing job, but those orders did come in in great volume, and you will see these paid out as we approach the end of the fiscal year. So this report will reduce and should reduce significantly. And the last pages represent your vendor activity report. These are cumulative $5,000 by vendor for the month of March. Are there any questions about the financial
007report? I don't have any at this time. We need a motion to accept the to approve the financial report for the month at this time. I make a motion to approve the March 2026 financial report. We need a second. I second. Okay. Then there's no discussion, so let's vote by show of hands. Thank you very much. Thank you all for your agreement. Thank you. >> Okay. Madam Chair, may I just say one thing? Yes. >> We have an opportunity a week before the board meeting to study everything. Because it was brought to my attention, how do you all so readily can approve on all those expenditures in the budgets? But we do get a chance to study and ask questions one week after. And thank you for sharing that information at the moment. All right.
008Let's continue. At this time we have some visitors from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. Good evening. Good evening. Thank y'all for giving us some of your time [clears throat] to to provide this training for y'all. Um So uh I'm guessing All right. So um Uh a few years ago the legislature started Senate Bill 68, which allows us to go through and we had their seven criteria to, um, designate a school district high risk or low risk, um, based on, basically, for the most part, based on findings that are issued and if they're repeated year after year. Um, so, uh, tonight we're going to talk about, um, about the Senate Bill 68 as it relates to y'all. Um, the agenda is the Senate Bill 68 details. Um, we'll go over the background of what
009a deficiency is, the school district's risk level and the designation, um, the school district's findings that, um, were included in this, and the next steps. So, um, like I said, a few years ago, July 2021, is when Senate Bill 68 was started. And, um, it's it's intention is to, um, to allow for a greater fiscal management of the school districts and for us to be able to work together, with, um, with school districts to make sure that, um, that the boards are getting the information that they need and the Department of Education knows where everybody stands. Um, and and truly, really, to to us, um, as our team, uh, as far as is concerned, it's it's really for us to be able to to present information to y'all and for us to be able to
010work together, um, to get y'all off of the high risk, um, designation. Um, so, um, the next slide says the Department of Audits will designate low fiscal distress systems that have reported irregularities and budget deficits. Um, really, for 3 years or more is for the higher risk and then for one or two years is for moderate risk. Um, so, um, as far as, um, the next slide kind of says the same thing, uh, but as far as irregularities go, that is really, um, an internal control finding, um, whether it would be a significant deficiency or a material weakness, um, that is not related to financial statement audit. So, a lot of times just, journal entries, expenditures, that those kinds of things, um, that we have that we've noted. And then also budget deficits, um, that
011are a result of, you know, not following your budget process, but, um, I would venture to say that we all of us in this room were going to make it all the way through our lives without seeing a budget deficit at Burke County Board of Education. >> [laughter] >> Um, so, basically, the way it works is, um, is the State Board of Education will let will let we usually we let Alice know, um, and Board Chair know at that exit conference, you know, what your risk what your notice is, what your level is, and then, um, and then during the closure process, then the department will let the will let the whole board know that, um, education will get informed and and it just kind of goes goes that way. Um, that's basically what the
012next slide says. I was ahead of myself. Um, so, uh, part of the law also was that the, um, the members of the Board of of Education will have to complete a training. So, that's why, um, this meeting actually is best for y'all, because, um, this does constitute as your training so you don't have to go to Atlanta and have four of you go down there. Everything this constitutes is just us informing you of, you know, what was what was noted and what we expect for, especially for this audit, because we're already doing the 2025 audit. Um, so, uh, basically, with the findings, um, those that we'll be concerned with with the Senate Bill 68 are those in internal control, um, designs of controls, you know, really, basically, just anything that's out there and that's
013what will help you to prevent, detect or correct misstatements in a timely basis. Um, so, a material weakness finding would be one that would lean towards a material misstatement of financial statements and a significant deficiency would be less than material weakness, but we still feel like it's, you know, something that would cause a misstatement. Um, so, based on, um, the findings that y'all had from last year, then, um, financial audit 2024-001, 003, and 004 are the ones that were included in this designation. >> [clears throat] >> Um, so, for, uh, 2024-001, um, that was basically related to the comprehensive literacy development program where there were expenditures that we sampled that we had we couldn't see an an a um, uh, approval or review of, you know, one or the other on several of the expenditures
014that we looked at. Um, some of them were we couldn't see, um, their receipt. Now, that doesn't say that they're that they weren't looked at, they weren't approved, it's just we didn't we couldn't see a a physical review of those. Um, so, and then and also with, uh, journal entries that we looked at and then, um, some of the procurement transactions where um, so, I really do feel like that those things were done, it's just that you would no physical approval, then that's just, you know, we are are required to report those. Um, a lot of these, too, were, you know, because we did the '23 and '24 audit back-to-back and everything, then by the time '23 was done, '24 was over. So, you slide you know, wasn't reported, couldn't be corrected, um, that kind
015of thing. So, we really, um, I'm really looking forward to this year, because I think with '25 and what was discovered in '23 and kind of followed through, then I think that, um, the opportunity to have it corrected, um, has been has been well enough to where it all will kind of get corrected. Um, so, then the next one was 2024-003, and that was about the, um, ESSER equipment. Um, that was really just a breakdown in controls there. What was there, um, I think everybody thought that the equipment was getting um, inventory, but then, um, I know transportation did some and, um, other programs do some of their own. And so, I think it just slipped through the cracks. So, that's one of the things that we had recommended for Alice was, um, you know,
016for them to to come up with a a good formal policy for, you know, just letting everybody know what everybody's responsible for so it doesn't fall through the cracks anymore. Uh, the next one was just over, um, journal entries, um, uh, the ones that we looked at for special ed, uh, the special education cluster. Uh, we didn't see the approval for those, also, physical approval for those. And I know, um, it's am I right, those were like the payroll journal entries, those kinds of things that aren't necessarily they're done through the finance office, but so that they're not really they're not really instigated by the director, but, um, but we just wanted to point out that really anything anything that happens in these federal programs needs to be looked at by the director. Um, so,
017uh, so then the the next thing is just the next steps. Um, you know, annually we'll go through, you know, when we do our audit this year, we'll finish we'll finish it out and then we'll let y'all know what you we it's not like we keep y'all high risk forever and ever and ever. You know, we we'll make sure, you know, we we always redo those programs and look at those items again to make sure, um, that we're following up on. So, um, like I said before, we're we're really confident that for '25 that a lot of these are going to go away. And, um, and I so, so, anyway, um, do you have any questions? Any? No. No. All right. Well, I could say that, um, if you do come up with any questions,
018then, um, they'll have my information there. Um, Sarah McPhail, she's our deputy director over the school districts. And, um, anybody would be more than happy to answer any questions, okay? We thank you. Thank you. Okay, Ms. Marchman, you're back again. Okay. Okay, so, as you know, um, as I tell you every single year, one of the biggest decisions that you make, um, that I need to begin to prepare next year's budget, is a decision, if any, regarding a COLA on your salaries. So, what you see presented to you tonight is the COLA analysis from a 3% COLA to a 7% COLA. This is pretty standard that you receive every single year. Um, there are a couple of things that I do want to point out to you all. Um, normally, you have a column that
019represents how much your step increases are going to cost you. But, I put that in a statement for you all down at the bottom, because this year that expense is going to be a little bit greater than normal, but it is going to be a one-time expense, okay? Due to the increase of the salary scale on the admin side that's moving from 16 to 22. So, please keep that in mind, those budget figures have already been accounted for elsewhere and are not included in these numbers. Okay? I do want to again remind you of how much interest Burke County currently earns. As of March 31st, 2026, the school system has made $7,882,549.99 in interest. So, you can see in interest alone, you have the opportunity to cover the cost of any of the presented COLAs
020to you. As a reminder, I will never give you an analysis that you cannot afford. Okay? Um since July 1st, 2022, that's kind of when interest rates really started taking off, Burke County has made $34,213,756.10. I don't know if you all have any thoughts or questions that you want to present to me um right now. I would like to give you a few reminders of where your budget stands because we've had a couple of conversations up to this point of what your 26-27 budget may look like. As you know, at the board retreat, I told you to expect potentially 10 million extra dollars in 26-27 expenditures, okay? That was with including a 3 to 4% COLA in your budget, okay? So, a few things have happened since then. Since then, you have set a millage
021rate, so we have a hard number now on what those revenues will look like. We have decided we think it's a good idea probably to up our interest budget a little bit, so I have that set at 4 million right now. Of course, that is open to further discussion. Um that is a hard number to estimate in today's environment, but I think we can definitely stand to increase it some. I expect your other budgeted revenues to remain approximately about the same. So, we're just swinging for the fences just to give you some perspective. Instead of just keeping that 3 to 4% COLA increase, I wanted to show you what you looked like with those items if you were to populate a 7%, okay? If you did that, you would in the next fiscal year budget
022yourself into a 2.8 million-dollar deficit. Okay? Please let me remind you, you're going to end this fiscal year with about a 300 million-dollar surplus. Okay? So, the deficit really is inconsequential, okay? At that budget deficit for one fiscal year, you could operate for the next 106 fiscal years. I have included an updated transfer amount for you for construction projects. That does include the Burke County Life Center demo and rebuild. It includes 10 million dollars for the fields, the athletic middle school, high school athletic improvements that you all want to do. It includes money for old BES demo and reno and a Burke County High School roof. Now, of course, that conversation will still also get finalized with budget discussions and it may be adjusted, but right now that is where we land. So, your budget
023looks very strong. Um again, it is just up to you all in which direction you would like for me to proceed. And so, you want to have an answer for me. I It would be nice if we could Yes, ma'am, because we do need to proceed with budget preparation and salaries and benefits are the largest part of your budget. discussion Which is this one? seven one Yes. thoughts for members That's a question. You want me or all right? I did check with um Dr. Williams Okay. because we keep up with all this new legislation coming down and I know that you're familiar with it as well. Absolutely. And um she reminded me that most of our money comes in from utilities anyway. Right. So, we are not going to be affected a whole lot by
024this new legislation that if the governor signs it. I'm always thinking and have suggested a number of years uh out there ahead of us that we can operate. But I'm always thinking about things that could happen that we don't know about and we need to be uh prepared for that. Um because to build a new school now, are we still being funded totally or we having to supplement if we build a new school? So, Georgia State Finance Commission always requires a 20% local match. Okay. That's what I was thinking. And if we renovate, that's on us totally. It depends. There are circumstances that that could also qualify, but again, the 20% match would still apply. Okay. And the board has to work with the superintendent and whomever else she chooses on our new five-year plan.
025And that five-year plan may have some things included that we are going to have to look at this um not change the budget, but we'll have greater expenditures. I don't know what the other board members are thinking, but the state did give our employees 2,000. That was a one-time supplement. one-time supplement and did they get it all this month or they got half of it? Ma'am, it was made in one payment. one payment Yes. Yes. Do you expect to get the step the step. Yes, you always give longevity and those are your step increases that you hear me reference. You you always You have to consider your teachers though who have Or that's why we have these discussions at the least so that you consider your teachers who are at the top of the scale,
026for example, that they have maxed out and maybe they haven't gotten a step in four or five years. A COLA is still a way that you see their salary We can supplement. I have one more question for you. There is a ruling that says that they moved it now from 25 years that you could retire and come back for uh 49.5% of whatever. They moved it to 30 years now. Does that mean that a person can come back with 30 years and I guess this is a human resources question, too. With 30 years and still get a full salary, is it calculated that way? I'm going to say Yeah, it it Right. Now, it all depends and then the state only allows certain positions. It is determined by CSR. Certain Okay, certain positions, okay, because
027I thought that the new legislation coming out. The new legislation is moving it to leaving it up to the locals to decide whether they need them or not. It's not based on the previous legislation. That's correct. They changed it. Okay. Now, we'd like to ask you what are you recommending? So, I never give you a proposal that you cannot afford. I know. I never give you an analysis that will not easily fit into the budget and that cannot be sustained. And I know human resources has presented to us some new ideas in maintaining Sure. our people. And I truly believe that we need we can continue to do a better job. Uh last year we did a 7%. I do think we can continue to help our people so that they can see a great
028future in their retirement. Um I don't know what the other board members are thinking and I'd like to know their recommendation as well. You set us up, didn't you? You really did. My My recommendation would be 4%. That's my recommendation, the highest allowable. My recommendation was five. I did not hear you. I'm sorry. My recommendation was five. five My recommendation was four. Um I could be talked into five, but my first thought was four only because last year we had a good year. We did a 7% and we just implemented a lot of new incentives this year. So, And we made sure to cover that they all got the 2,000 versus our number of them that were not going to get. Correct? That is true, but now I do want to just remind you that
029the 2,000 was just a one-time in period of hours. Yeah. It did not did not include any amendments to the upcoming 26-27 teacher salary scale, which normally if the governor does that, we do like to try to follow suit and do the same to our pay scale in some manner. Um but he did not do that in the upcoming fiscal year. So, yes, the incentives did take place, but you have to remember there is still that large teacher population. A lot of the incentives were specifically for the admin and the support staff scale. So, you you have a big population of of your teachers who once they get their step increase without a cola, they're not getting anything else. Beyond the 22 years. >> Correct. Right. Mr. Lane. Doing math in my head as we
030speak. I can align with the 5%. And um Madam Chair, I can go with the five. Now, personally having been in the system I'd like to see people while we can and I think that we can maintain it. >> Oh, yes, ma'am. I mean you know, if you can give me just a little bit of liberty, these are the years that you can certainly afford your cola. You know, I'm not coming to you in a budget deficit year suggesting that scales are shifted to provide longevity increases, but no colas. You know, these are very um fortunate years. Okay. Okay, you talked me into the five percent. Okay, I can go between a five and a six, but I don't You said five. Okay, I'm going to support that because Mr. Lane came with me last
031year when I asked for a seven. So, I'm going to give it to you this time. >> [laughter] >> But next year I um go ahead. A motion to approve a 5% cola for the 2026-2027 school year. I second. I second. It's been seconded. I don't think any more discussion. >> [laughter] >> So, let's vote by show of hands. 5% [clears throat] Are you all in agreement? Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. All right. At this time, we are down to public participation. Dr. Thaddeus Shubert and the Burke County Retired Educator with social issues. Good evening, everyone. On Tuesday, August the 31st, 2021, when I made the transition from a school counselor at Burke County High School and became a retired educator, I said I would never come back into this room again. Never
032say never. >> [laughter] >> At this time, I would like the members of the Burke County Retired Educators Association to please stand with us. Please stand where you are so that we can recognize who they are. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, we may be old, but we're young. And we have served the children of Burke County and today we're here to encourage those who are still in the process. Our president, Ms. Rose Clinton, along with our membership chair, Loretta Brinson, will both come and to assist me. Um we're here to celebrate Future Educators Day 2026 and it's an initiative uh part of the Georgia Retired Educators Association and I'd like to thank Dr. Collins for assisting me with this project and of course, Ms. Kelly Quick as well. Um I'm passionate about this project because in
0331992 I was a paraprofessional at uh Greenbrier Elementary School in City Schools of Decatur and there were many people, many who are in this room today who encouraged me to reach my full potential and make the transition from paraprofessional to a school counselor. So, there are eight paraprofessionals that are in the process of making the transition into their own classrooms. Eventually, they will be future teachers, administrators, central office staff, and even possibly professional school counselors. We always need a good counselor. So, um at this time, I'm going to recognize them. I ask that they will come up. We have a presentation for them and we just want to acknowledge them uh because the job of a paraprofessional is not an easy one, but is one that's very essential to the lives of our schools. Ms.
034Sarah Ansley, uh she's currently seeking her Master of Arts from Grand Canyon Grand Canyon University Master's in Elementary Education. She's a paraprofessional at Blakeney Elementary School. Next, Mr. Shelton Parmer, Master's of of Arts and uh and he's studying at Georgia Southern University and he's a paraprofessional at Waynesboro Primary School. Dorothy Landers, Bachelor's degree from Grand Canyon University, Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and she's a paraprofessional at Blakeney Elementary School. Kathy Henderson, Bachelor's degree from American Public University. Uh she's a paraprofessional at uh Burke County High School. Jennifer Mosley, Master's of Art, Grand Canyon University of um Elementary Education. She's a paraprofessional at Blakeney Elementary School. Leah Leah Perry uh seeking her Bachelor's degree for uh in Elementary Education, University of Phoenix. She's a paraprofessional at S G S G A. And he's Casey Reeves,
035uh seeking Bachelor's degree uh from Virginia Parker uh College and she's a paraprofessional at uh Blakeney, I'm sorry, at Burke County Middle School and finally, Ms. Aretha Sherrod, Bachelor's degree, Canyon uh Grand Canyon University, Elementary Ed. She's a paraprofessional at Waynesboro Primary School. We're presenting them We're presenting each one of them with a certificate that simply says Burke County Retired Educators Association Future Educators Day 2026 in recognition of your committed service to the youth of Burke County Public Schools and it's presented by President Ms. Rose Clinton, Scholarship Chair, Dr. Thaddeus L. Shubert, and Secretary Ms. Regina Jordan. Please give them all a round of a Our um social chair, Ms. Andy Frazier, will be taking a picture for our records. So, y'all [laughter] just going to take a picture for a second and we'll move
036on. Thank you so much, Dr. Thank you, Dr. Quick. And then on the board, I just wanted to also mention all of them are in the Teach for Burke program. So, just so that you all know, you all have invested in that program. So, thank you for that. Yes, we are growing our own. And thank you for choosing education. These are our future leaders. Thank you all. Thank you. Okay, at this time, we are ready for our next Savannah Kennedy 4-H updates. Good evening. Good evening. All right, so I have a lot of 4-H to bring you tonight. I'm super excited. Um but before I hand it over to them I just want to say a few things. It's been about three years since I've stood in front of the podium. Um life has been
037a little busy here in 4-H, but we're going to make it a a goal to be here um a little bit more often. Um but for those who do not know me, my name is Savannah Kennedy. I'm a native of Glennville, Georgia, about an hour and a half from Waynesboro, but I've called Waynesboro home for about three and a half years now. Um I have personally grown in this program and the program has grown itself, but that I do not um run this empire by myself. With the leadership and guidance of the wonderful Mary Bethune, the 4-H agent and the awesome support staff and extension staff that we have in this program. And the awesome volunteers behind me. The Burke County teachers and most importantly the kids. So, I do have a little highlight board.
038Um I have put together a little highlights of my years here in the program. As you can see on the front page, I was recognized last year or this past summer at our statewide meeting. I got the district extent or young professional extension achievement award. That goes to somebody who is in the first three years of their profession and I got to represent the Southeast district. And then also on a national level, I was recognized as or given the educational promotion media award for our open house video and a lot of my lovely 4-H behind me were also part of that. So, that was really cool opportunity. Also, this past few years, we've had um the honor of Burke County 4-H be a part of what's called senior board senior or Southeast district board. Macy
039Dowling is one of our high our home school high school students and she served on the 2025-2026 senior board and then this past February, our first brother and sister duo, Betsy and Asa Murray were elected as the to be a part of the senior board as well. We also attended what's called district project achievement for the um back in February for our middle school through high school students. We sent I think it was 19. 19 kids and out of those 19 four are seniors, six of those will be going on to state conference here in July and that is the most we've ever had in quite some time. So, had the privilege of helping those kids achieve that goal. On the next page on the back um back in March, we had the honor and
040privilege to stand beside Miss Marie Murray and Miss Katherine Story and presented at the gifted children conference. Like I said in March in Columbus. We presented on how we partnered up with their teaching and they go into their classrooms and partnering up with them to have more participation in district project achievement. Here a little bit, Mary will talk a little bit more about the impact of project achievement and the huge success we had this year since we got to host it here. So, I'll say that part for her. Also on this page, you can see I also presented at our district update update back in December and I got to share my knowledge in the Campbell world and presented on how to create 4-H promotional videos alongside of Miss Becky um Oh my goodness, Miss
041Becky Griffin who is the agent in Bacon County. On the next couple of pages, you can just see some of the highlights that have either led or helped be a part of. This summer, we had our summer program and I got to lead line dancing class which is one of my favorite things to do and to help them along and teach them some of the really fun 4-H dances. Back in February, we took a good group of 4-H our junior and senior board members traveled up to Atlanta to spend the day at what's called 4-H day at the capital. So, we got to tour the capital meet some of our representatives and senators our senators and we also got to join in and listen for the assembly that was being held. I also have kept
042up this is the third annual STEM day program that I have done. I think I originally called it gross science. So, we did a lot of kinds of messy fun experiments and lots of these 4-H behind me were team leaders in that and helped with that. Here a few minutes, you'll also get to hear from our co-directors Betsy and Isabella, but I was the 4-H staff who kind of helped along with the drama club. That was a huge success in our county and I'll let them speak on that here a little bit. And then last on the back page, I am the co-coach along with Mary, Mary Bethune, Jenny Dowling and Terry Black to coach our cotton bowl consumer judging team. We had a great turnout this year. Our senior team actually placed first at
043their district contest and they traveled to the state contest and we have not sent um kids to the state contest in quite some time. So, they did an excellent job and I hope they will go back this year. And then our 4-H banquet is quickly approaching and I always like to put a fun spin on our 4-H banquet and I think the kids also enjoy helping with that. We choose a theme, we decorate, they put in awesome hard work and dedication in preparing for this banquet and they also lead the banquet and I believe Miss Tatum is out there somewhere and that's it. So, we appreciate you coming. That meant a lot to us. So, that's all my little highlights that I have here. But tonight, I just like to here in a few moments,
044I'd like to highlight the impactful moments and that I've had the honor and privilege to be a part of, but none of this would be possible without the vision and the support of this board and in creating and sustaining my position. Because of your that investment, we are able to expand opportunities and make a greater impact on the youth of Burke County or in 4-H terms to grow the empire. So, I'm going to hand it back over to Emery. She is one of our board members, but before I hand it over to Emery, I do want to recognize our board. So, as your name is called, if you do not mind standing. So, we have two members of our junior board. So, Sarah Beth Coble, she is an eighth grader and then Miss Maggie Lane
045who is also an eighth grader and they make up our junior board. And then our senior board, we have Miss Daily Blanchard who is a tenth grader at Burke County High School. Macy Dowling cannot be with us tonight, but she is an eleventh grader. We have Isabella Jenkins who is a ninth grader at Faith Christian. We have Miss Audrey Kaiser who is not here with us, but she is a ninth grader at Burke County. We have Miss Lacy Lane who is a ninth grade. And then Asa Murray who is an eleventh grader at Burke County. And then Betsy Murray is a ninth grader at Faith Christian. And Emery Williams who is a tenth grader at Burke County. Mallory Wirick who is an eleventh grader at GSIC. Yes. And then we have Madeline Zittrouer who is
046not here with us tonight, but she is also a tenth grader at Burke County High School. So, I'm going to hand it back over to Emery and they're just going to kind of hit some highlights of how some of our highlights in our program. So, Emery, the floor is yours. Tonight, we're excited to share just a glimpse into the many buckets of 4-H being filled right here in Burke County. From leadership and public speaking to agriculture to the arts and hands-on skill development. Our are gaining experiences that prepare them for life beyond the classroom. Each 4-H you'll hear from tonight represents a different bucket showcasing the wide range of opportunities Burke County 4-H has to offer and the impact it's making in their lives and community. Good evening board members. I'm Emery Williams, a tenth
047grader at Burke County High School and thank you all once again for allowing us this opportunity to share our love of the organization that is Burke County 4-H. This organization is not only a fundamental part of our lives as students, but as future leaders as well. I'm here to share a glimpse into the organization that is shaping futures across our district. My most impactful 4-H experience is DPA or district project achievement. It's a public speaking competition that starts in the fourth grade where we research topics and present to a panel of judges. Students compete across three state levels. Cloverleaf, fourth through sixth graders, they give a three to five minute speech. Juniors, seventh through eighth graders, give a six to nine minute speech. And finally, senior 4-H in the ninth through the twelfth grade, give
048a ten to twelve minute speech and maintain a year long portfolio project work. Last year, my project on crossbreeding dairy cows took first place at the state level earning me master 4-H status. Success in DPA does not happen overnight. It requires a year of hard work and preparation from the research to the final portfolio entry. Master status isn't just given, it's earned through hours of community service, leadership roles and constant revision. We learned that our voices have power and if we are passionate about something, we have the platform to advocate for it effectively. DPA is a valuable learning tool. It builds academic resilience, critical thinking and professional maturity. Like learning to take constructive criticism and shake hands confidently. It develops professional character and also these skills are directly related to leadership and confident public speaking
049are what I'll use for the rest of my life. The impact of this program goes far beyond trophies and ribbons. DPA has introduced me to a massive network of professionals including judges who can offer internships and peers who we can connect with for years to come. I'm standing before you today as a product of this program and a confident public speaker. Whether I'm discussing the genetics of livestock or photography or advocating for my community, the skills I have learned through DPA and 4-H are ones I will use for the rest of my life. Thank you for supporting a program that helps us achieve this success. Turning it over to Maggie. Good evening. My name is Maggie Lane and I'm a junior board member for Burke County 4-H. I'm a member of many judging teams including
050cotton bowl and consumer judging. The contest includes creating a commercial advertising anything cotton related and ranking products that you think would be best for a consumer within a given scenario. For the past 2 years, I've been on the winning junior team for the Southeast District. I will now turn it over to junior board member Sarah Beth to talk about more judging teams Burke County 4-H offers. Good evening. Hi, my name is Sarah Beth Cole, a junior board member. I'd like to talk about two activities I'm involved in 4-H. First is dairy judging. Dairy judging is a fun educational activity where we get to learn and evaluate cows based on their structure and productivity. We study things like utter quality, body strength, and overall balance to decide which cows are best. After placing them, we have
051oral reasons which help which helps with confidence and public speaking skills. Dairy judging teaches responsibility, critical thinking, and teamwork making it a a valuable experience for anyone interested in agriculture. Next is dairy quiz bowl. Dairy quiz bowl is a contest allowing youth to showcase their knowledge and dairy and knowledge in dairy industry, calf health, and food safety, crops, and other relevant fields in a Jeopardy-style competition. This past November, Burke County 4-H represented 4-H at the National Dairy Quiz Bowl competition in Louisville, Kentucky and were eighth overall. The senior team placed second overall in the state contest this past January. I'd like to hand it over to Betsy Murray. Good afternoon. I'm Betsy Murray. I'm a ninth grade senior 4-H board member. Let's start this off fun with a finish the lyrics, okay? So, I'm going
052to sing a line from a song and if you think you know it, raise your hand. This goes for anybody that I don't see signing. I'm starting with the All right, one more. And let's raise our hands. This is not a competition. And this time, the first hand gets a prize, okay? This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Yes, ma'am. >> [laughter] >> You get a free ticket to the 2026-2027 Burke County Clovers and Company show. NOW, Y'ALL MIGHT BE WONDERING, what is Clovers and Company? Every year, Georgia 4-H holds auditions for a statewide show called Clovers and Company. There's a cast of about 40 members including singers, dancers, instrumentalists, and stage crew. We get together and learn about 20 songs from our for our show that we perform all around
053the state and the nation. Those songs from the beginning? Yep, they're all in our show as well as many more. I'm currently in my second year as the pianist for Clovers and I'm looking forward to our Burke County show later this year. I love Clovers and Company because it gives me a chance to do what I love most, perform. So, I'll see you all at the show. Lights, camera, action. Now, I've already told you all how much I love to perform. Well, I also love to give others a chance to perform. So, last summer, my friend Isabella and I put together a drama club for fourth through eighth graders right here in Burke County. We had kids from ABA, Faith Christian, home school, GSAC, and Burke County. With a cast of 15, we put on
054a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving at the Office Park right here in November. The show was a hit and I know many kids are excited to put on another play soon. This has not only been a great learning experience for the kids, but also for Isabella and me. We learned many leadership and teamwork skills that are sure to help us in the future. So, look for the 4-H drama club on stage near you and that's a wrap. Hi, I'm Isabella Jenkins. I'm a senior 4-H and I would like to tell you all about one of our most popular and one of my personal favorite 4-H activities, wildlife judging. Wildlife judging is a 4-H competition where students learn about various wildlife species and how to manage their habitats. They are then given the opportunity to compete at district,
055state, and even national levels. The competition consists of many different activities where students display their knowledge of these species through knowledge tests, animal ID, and even a written wildlife management plan. Participants are also given opportunities to work as a team and develop leadership skills. This unique competition is very beneficial to students and the community as it raises awareness for wildlife and provides opportunities for youth to actually interact with their environment. Next, Mr. Asa Murray. Good evening, y'all. I'm Asa Murray and I'm in 11th grade at Burke County High School. Um, I'm not going to ask y'all to sing, but we will I do want y'all to interact a little bit. So, raise your hand if you've ever shot a shotgun. Uh, now raise your hand if you've ever shot skeet. >> [laughter] >> Um, I'm
056on the Project Safe Modified Trap team. There's 40 6th through 12th graders and we learn the basics of shooting safety and increase our target proficiency. So, each student has 25 chances to hit the skeet from a distance of 30 yards and in order to receive a qualifying score, middle schoolers must hit at least 16 and high schoolers must hit at least 20. So, uh, to me, shotgun is the most enjoyable 4-H team because you don't have to study and learn stuff. >> [laughter] >> You shoot and have fun. So, that's shotgun and um, I'm also going to tell y'all about uh, food challenge. So, I'll say uh, interact a little bit. So, imagine [laughter] you have to make a meal using three mystery ingredients. All right. >> [clears throat] >> Ground beef, cheese, and tortillas.
057So, what would y'all make? Tacos. So, um, members of the 4-H food challenge team have to have 1 hour to plan creative dishes and healthy dishes using a variety of ingredients. So, creative. So, instead of using uh, instead of making basic tacos, me and my team might make smash burgers with tortilla chips on the side. So, this past September, we won second place in the state and we were invited to compete in the National Seafood Cook-Off. So, this July, we will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana to show our culinary skills and take a taste of Burke County to the Big Easy. Food challenge team has not only given me a chance to compete on a national level, but it also given me skills I can use for the rest of my life. Good evening. Good
058evening. I'm Lucy Lane and I'm a Burke County 4-H senior board member. This past year, I was on the senior forestry team and started a garden club. In forestry, you learn how to identify different tree species and find the volume of multiple timber. And you learn how to navigate using a compass. This 4-H competition teaches patience and diligence while learning how to be proactive and understanding of our surrounding environment. Through our 4-H drama club, I was able to lead 10 Burke County youth and teach lessons about pool design, nursery landscape, and all about pollinators. We were also able to help replant the garden beds in front of the Office Park. This program allowed me to strengthen my leadership skills and help and help teach others about the connection between planting, pollinators, and the flower and
059the flowers themselves. Through 4-H through garden club and many other 4-H competitions, I have learned about possible careers in these fields of study. Through competing and leading leading activities in 4-H, I have learned many valuable life skills that have better prepared me for my future for a lot of teaching. Integrity, patience, and determination are just a few of the many qualities that 4-H can teach us. With leaders like Ms. Mary and Ms. Savannah and other extension agents, we have been taught how to be leaders in our community and throughout our state. Thank you. Good to see you guys this evening. I'm Mary Blount Sherer and as a senior board member, I've been asked to speak to you guys about what being a 4-H team leader means. Uh, the team leader program is designed to give
060students in the seventh through 12th grade an opportunity to lead within our 4-H clubs. So, after you go through your training, you become a certified team leader and you're able to mentor younger 4-H members and lead workshops and even accompany clubs to summer camps and overnight trips. Uh team leaders can be thought of as the bridge between the gaps between like Miss Savannah and our younger kids. Um so, yeah, we go and we'll lead summer workshops at our county level and then team leaders are also they're able to help at overnight conferences and activities like that. So, as a team leader, uh I've helped with DPA. Uh it helped me grow as a leader because I have I have to make sure my group's on time and everyone's accounted for and have all their things.
061Uh as a team leader, I have not only learned to be responsible for myself, but for others around me. I've also led at our communities our community summer programs that take place at the office park. These summer programs give you just a toss of what's like to be what it's like to be in 4-H. Sometimes provides them with opportunities that they cannot otherwise have. If you can't tell, it's very important for the organ for our 4-H organization to grow leaders of tomorrow. This organization gives us the tools that we need to continue for our successful futures. I hope that this little bit of information on 4-H leadership is how important it is to grow in leadership, who's leaders who can be confident and are willing to go the extra mile for kids right here in
062Burke County. Good evening. My name is Sally Waring an 11th grade student from GSIC and a proud Burke County 4-H member. 4-H gives students a lot of different opportunities to grow and get involved outside of the classroom. One of the biggest parts of 4-H is leadership. Students can join clubs where they take on roles, help run meetings, and learn how to help work together on as a team. Which is a hands-on way to build responsibility and confidence. Another opportunity comes from the different projects and activities 4-H offers. Students can explore things like agriculture, science, public speaking, and even the environment. These projects aren't just about learning about topics, they're actually doing and applying skills in real situations. 4-H also connects students to competitions and events where they can showcase what they have learned like presentations,
063livestock shows, and STEM challenges. And through the community service projects, students learn how to play how to give back and make a difference in their own community. Overall, 4-H is about learning by doing, growing as a leader, and finding opportunities that you can carry into the future. I'm saying. Good evening. I'm Meredith Meckel and I'm the 4-H agent here in Burke County and I wanted to highlight about Cloverleaf District Project Achievement that was held at Blakeney Elementary on March 31st. Um this is the first time that least in my or my past that we have held this here. So, want to thank y'all for allowing us to have that and Dr. Leak and all the Blakeney staff. Um in 2019, I believe I took 12 kids to in District Project Achievement from Burke County and
064um in 2020, I met Miss Murray, one of the Discovery teachers at Blakeney Blakeney Elementary to try to grow that program. As you can see, it's a public speaking competition that really helps even grow in that area. So, um of course, the competition was supposed to be March of 2020. So, we didn't really get to go that year. But 2021, um we came back through the virtual contest and we had 70 students from Burke County go. So, from 12 to 70. And then we went back to in-person in 2022 and that number was 50. Um 2023 went to 65. 2024, we went to 70. Um 2025, we went to 77 and then this year we had 97 at the Blakeney contest. But we had over 120 at the Blakeney contest. But we had over 120
065at the Blakeney contest. But we had over 120 at the Blakeney contest. Um but we also have over 120 students um at the district competition. So, 97 were from Burke County and then the rest were from Johnson and Jefferson County who traveled here to be a part of that. Um so, I just wanted to kind of comment on that and how we were so grateful to host that here and that just the opportunity for us to host that here speaks to the growth in our program with uh Cloverleaf Project Achievement. So, that's fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. And I'm going to let Shelai Williams um your parents just know that. Okay, everybody. Um good evening. My name is Shelai Williams. I'll probably cry. Um but I'll I'll just say I'm here as a parent of
066two very active Burke County 4-H members. Wren is a fifth grader at Blakeney Elementary School and Emery is a 10th grader at Burke County High School. When Paul and I think about what 4-H has meant to our family, we see a lot more than projects, ribbons, accolades, and awards. We see growth, confidence, and community involvement. As parents, we have the privilege of a front row seat watching that transformation unfold from very nervous first speeches to confident public speakers. Through 4-H, our daughters have learned to defend and support their reasons and stance on topics in front of industry professionals. They know how to express their ideas with professionalism and courtesy. And they really understand what true leadership is rooted in respect and collaboration. 4-H is not just an extracurricular club for us. It is a program
067that cultivates character and leadership development. And the results are measurable. This year's District Project Achievement, which you've heard about, was hosted at Blakeney Elementary School on March 31st. Burke County hosted over 90 local student participants with over 100 in the entire contest. That's over 90 public, private, and home school students actively building on research, public speaking, and presentation skills. One student said immediately afterwards, "Woo, well that put me out of my comfort zone." And ladies and gentlemen, that's growth and confidence building in real time. But beyond confidence, 4-H builds character and professionalism. After presenting, another student walked up and shook the judge's hand. I questioned and said, "How'd you learn to do that?" He said, "It's just the right thing to do." That is the kind of student that our local 4-H program is helping
068to develop. The direct partnership of Burke County 4-H and Blakeney Elementary School, most notably under the direction of Katherine Story and Mary Murray, is unmatched. Students are allowed the space to create their DP DPA projects or District Project Achievement projects at school as a type of inquiry-based learning. Miss Murray and Miss Story, along with our 4-H Extension staff, recently shared this partnership in a presentation at the state level. The presentation was titled Gifted Voices, Powerful Choices, Partnering with 4-H to Grow Student Speakers at the Georgia Association for Gifted Children carrying out the 4-H motto that even the adults model, making the best better. What makes 4-H especially impactful is that it's student-led and the data from our junior and senior boards reflect that. 100% of your junior and senior board members participate at District Project
069Achievement. 100% hold leadership roles as team members, club leaders, directors, or coaches. 100% of our senior board members are certified 4-H team leaders, which means they get to mentor younger students. Students are involved across multiple competitive teams and service areas, not each one activity. And the level of achievement is even further. Students from this program have been named finalists in the Georgia Governor's Honors Program, a highly selective, state-recognized academic distinction. Students on your board have been selected as as I'm sorry, for the UGA LEAD program, a competitive leadership experience that develops Georgia's future leaders. Students are serving in district level leadership positions including Southeast District 4-H Board. Students are representing Burke County at the state and national level. Students are balancing all of this while accomplishing dual enrollment credits, varsity sports, honor roll status, and
070other top academic awards. In addition, students are leading student-run clubs like Garden Club and Drama Club. They're organizing community service projects like creating birthday boxes for local Ronald McDonald House and other outreach events. And they are speaking publicly in our community in settings and representing Burke County with professionalism and integrity. This is not one small group doing one activity. This is a group of students who are excelling academically, leading confidently, and serving intentionally. And we are so grateful for our girls being able to be a small part of this group. This is a return on your investment. The growth is possible because the investment Burke County Public Schools has made in hiring a full-time 4-H educator in Savannah Kennedy. Her energy, creativity, and commitment have exceeded opportunities for our youth and strengthened the connection between
0714-H and our local schools. The return on that investment is visible every day in the number of students participating, as you heard, and the quality of their projects, and the pride they take in representing Burke County. And none of this would be possible without the leadership of our Extension agents Payton Sapp, Meredith Meckel, Terry Black, and Collins. Their guidance ensures that Burke County continues to thrive balancing tradition and innovation and empowering both educators and students to make the best better. Burke County schools are supporting a program that consistently develops students who are recognized at the state level, selected for elite leadership opportunities, and prepared to lead in their schools and communities. As parents, we see 4-H living out its motto every day to make the best better. And in doing so, it's making Burke County
072schools in this community better. Because of 4-H, our daughters believe they can achieve anything they set their minds to. And as a parent, that is the greatest reward. The benefits of 4-H extend far beyond awards and recognition. They are reflected in the way our children carry themselves, the kindness they show to others, and the courage they demonstrate in leading others well. Burke County 4-H is not only cultivating future leaders, it is nurturing really good people. And for that, Paul and I are deeply grateful. Thank you all very much for your presentations. I was at the banquet. I was impressed that night, but even more impressed today to see all of this come into fruition. So, thanks to the parents and to uh our 4-H leaders and parents that are involved with the kids, it's just
073beautiful. What I've seen here tonight is just just a little bit I know of what you will be doing in the future. So, thanks to all of you. I can't. I'm with Chalet. Thank you. I just want to say that I appreciate how you guys got up here, no nervousness, and you spoke with such confidence. You told us about the things that you were doing, what you have achieved, how you are being leaders as young people. And of course, you got my heart cuz I play piano, too. So, I'm I'm all for your flute drama club thing. I absolutely love it. Think outside the classroom and continue to be in your community just growing and developing. And young man, I don't like tacos, so keep thinking outside the classroom. I love them. I just Once
074again, we just thank you. Thank you very much. Burke County Recreation Department, Stephen Stephen Boston. Schwaller. Didn't want to mess up your last name. Hey, before you leave, I just want to let you know that 4-H 7th and 8th in Health and Recreation let us know and that shotgun is a sanctioned GHSA sport. Oh. So, if they want to get involved with that. >> [laughter] >> Both my parents were school teachers. So, uh they're retired teachers. Well, my mom's still alive. But, uh education is very dear and near to me. My sister's a teacher. And I grew up in 4-H, so I know all about it. So, >> Yes. recreation department. Um I'm here for I'm not sure when you have that on the agenda. Yeah, I think it's on right now. The contract? And
075I've got a hard copy of it. I've got another copy, too. But, um I'm here for a couple of reasons. One is uh sent an email to Dr. Williams requesting use for the gym, the high school gym, our volleyball program. Well, let me just backtrack. We have 715 kids involved in the spring sports. That's 80 more than we've ever had. I got We started spring volleyball last year, and we had 39 young ladies sign up for them. This year, we're at 65. And this is with the help with the school system helping us cuz the coaches are over there working with our coaches. Uh Coach Ryan left, she's one of our coaches. Um but, uh we're out of space at our gym. So, um we're asking permission to use three Wednesdays for the teams to
076come over and practice. The high school coaches will be with them practicing. It's uh the 22nd, 29th, and May 6th from 6:00 to 7:00 to allow our teams to get a little more practice time cuz we're using it every day for games and and everything. So, I'm I'm coming and asking for permission to use the gym on all those days. >> [laughter] >> High school coaches will be present any of that time. I have no objection. I make a motion to approve the use of the high school gym with uh high school coaches present on Wednesday, April 22nd, April 29th, May 6th from 6:00 to 7:00 at the Burke County High School. I've had a motion and I've had a second. I didn't even have to ask for it. Is there any any discussion? There's
077no discussion. Now, we need to vote. And then, the [clears throat] other item Mr. Harden and I've been working together on a user agreement. Uh Board of Commissioners approved our part of it on their meeting last Tuesday. And now, I'm just needing y'all to ratify it. And this is a agreement to allow us to use each other's facilities. And basically, instead of me having to bother Dr. Williams all the time or bother y'all as board, it falls to uh Mr. Marchman and I to communicate and work together and still respect everybody's use of the facilities and everything of those. And y'all will will recall we discussed this, I think, at the last meeting. And I think you Timbers would be approved pending approval of the document. And we Make the correction. We passed this around
078amongst the board members. There was some comments, and you made those corrections. >> Okay. So, what you have before you tonight is that corrected uh document. So, you pass that around. Like I said, I think you approved it pending the correction. So, it really just needed to be signed. So, we need a motion now? That'd be fine. Do I motion to approve the Yes. edited agreement. I make a motion to approve the agreement between Burke County Public Schools and Burke County Recreation Department uh as presented on the agenda. I need a second. I second that motion. Okay, motion second. Is there any other discussion? There's no discussion. Let's vote by show of hands. Yeah, I do want to just mention one more quick thing. We partnership with the school system, uh we're putting on an
079extra special athletes uh baseball game on April 30th at 9:30 a.m. I do encourage you to come out. This is our special kids here in the school system and in the community coming and getting the chance to play a game. Um it's a wonderful experience to see their faces light up and smile. So, if you can, just please come out and attend and and cheer the kids on and basically cheer them on cuz that's what we need. We got plenty of volunteers thanks to the baseball team here and the EBA's baseball team uh coming out and being buddies. But, it's it's a great wonderful experience. This our third year doing it, and it's near and dear to my heart since I have a special needs son um and and everything. So, it's something I encourage
080and and want to grow that program as well. What's the date? April 30th. Baseball fields at the Rec? Yes, it's going to be at the the main base baseball fields where the big concession stand is. Okay. Thank you very much. >> [laughter] >> Okay, next we have uh Frederick Lewis. Good evening, board members. Good evening. For the ones that don't know me, my name is Frederick Lewis Jr. I'm from Midville. I'm a 2016 graduate of the Burke County. And um I was born and raised here. I'm very well known in Burke County. Um I ran for uh county commissioner a few years back as a write-in, but I'm going to try again um when the next one next year come back up. Uh I'm speaking tonight because I am deeply concerned about uh toxic environment
081currently brewing in the Burke County Public Schools, specifically at the middle school level. Um there's quite a crisis happening. Um one that is being kept secret involving high rate teacher resignations, retaliation, and poor leadership that is driving experienced certified teachers and professionals out of our district. Um we have reached a point where leadership is prioritizing favoritism over excellence. Um several dedicated teachers have reported being targeted, discriminated against, and subject to inaccurate evaluations simply because they dared to raise concerns about the conduct of school leadership and human resources. Uh when teachers attempt to follow proper procedures to report misconduct, they are not met with investigations but retaliation. Uh multiple lawsuits are currently in progress or either in process of being filed against different school leadership or HR. Um I am personally one of the staff members
082who have faced um severe retaliation after enduring discrimination based on sex for 3 years and reported both leadership and HR ultimately had it swept up under the rug. I was placed on administrative leave with pay for the remainder of the year. My contract was not renewed and I was forced to resign under pressure from HR. Um I was subject to a punitive um humiliating process where I was treated as if I had committed a crime. Um then I accessed campus, students, colleagues despite having evidence of the targeting I faced for like 3 years. Um but this is just about isn't about my story. It's about a pattern of behavior. Um after years of evidence, documentation, and documentation of our leadership retaliates against those who report them to the board or to the state if they
083have to go to that far. Um when you lose experienced teachers to a climate of fear and retaliation, um the students suffer. They they want to suffer the most. Um the parent leadership at middle school and HR foster an environment of fear. Um I am asking that the board look into what is happening behind closed doors at middle school. I'm also asking for an independent investigation to the hiring, firing, and evaluation process at middle school and the handling of complaints by human resources. The culture of retaliation must end. Um I have tried on many times to get a lot of alumni that have graduated from Burke County to come be teachers here and give back to this school system instead of other school systems, but um they have already been hearing through the grapevine of
084how teachers are treated and how they get are done and not supported as they should. They just refuse to come teach in our district, which is should be changed, you know. But furthermore, I'm asking that the board allow me to finish out the school year in the classroom instead of at home on administrative leave with pay. I'd rather be teaching and uh interacting with the kids in the classroom and driving the bus and interacting with them than to be home, you know, still getting paid, you know, cuz you know, I look at it like um when I went to school, I wanted to always be a teacher for Burke County. And really, you know, um I like making a difference in um kids' lives. A lot of people know me around here. I have a
085lot of um parents reach out to me and students going around where I'm at, but I ain't really going to detail about anything and um let's see. And there's a lot of um a lot of different stories I've been hearing in a while I'm not at school and it's really absurd and some of the stories going around is really defaming my character. I didn't I didn't commit any crime or do anything that would hinder me from continuing my job at the school or on the bus for the remainder of the school year. So I'm asking the board to reinstate my position as society teacher at middle school and hopefully get a contract for next year. Um like I tell everyone, y'all can just accept defeat and go teach in another county, but if I don't
086stand up and um let's see. Ex- I I can accept defeat and I'll go teach in another um county, but if I do that, then a lot of the same stuff will happen to the similar teachers and stuff just like me. So um um and a lot of the same ones in higher authority will continue to get get away with doing the wrong to a lot of employees and um I really want to hope and get to a stop in a lot of this stuff that's been happening. And um a lot of There's a lot of co-workers at the middle school and there's a lot of co-workers in the in the district that are really scared, you know, to speak up against different things because they are scared to get retaliated against. Um so I
087just want to try to be the voice for a lot of people that's scared to, you know, come forward. [clears throat] And um when I talked to HR about teacher retention and how can you retain teachers if the current ones aren't getting treated right, and the response I got was, "I don't need to retain teachers. I have plenty of teachers." Hearing this was concerning. Especially coming from someone that's over the hiring and firing. Let that sink in. And um it's another thing um I Again, I am This is what a lot of teachers are facing um with HR behind closed doors that the board don't know about. We get We get forced to and then resign. Thank you. I know it does. I we we as a district, you know, we listen and we probably
088talked about this later. But I could not hear the tape very well, so I don't know what it was saying. So maybe if we could hear the tape again just for information. I think we owe that to ourselves to get a better understanding of what the tape was saying in closed session because personnel is really a very private issue and um maybe um later in closed session. Okay, they do a subject He can send it to me via email. Okay. You have my email. Okay, thank you. Um Dr. Williams is on mute now. And I have the information regarding this situation. We'll talk about it in closed session. >> Okay. Okay, thank you. So we'll move on to um vacation policy GARK and I believe that's Mr. Haire. You all actually um last one. Right.
089This is a follow-up of last month. We We had the You had asked if you would treat the way to discuss that with the treat about adding additional vacation days based on longevity. And you had a proposed policy last month and then you asked Dr. Collins to take a look at it and she has done so and so I'm going to turn it over to her. Um this the new proposed policy has been on assembly for a while, I think and probably the same. Yes. Do you Sorry, I have some policy to share with you all. Thank you. Okay, so as Mr. Haire mentioned, um according to policy GARK, you all have asked for um some additional recommendations. And so in your folder, I think on the right-hand side, I've provided you with a copy
090of that. Um and so the proposal is for full-time employees who they are 230, 240, and 261. And with that, I do want you to know that I think Mr. Land had also asked me to provide a copy of what those positions are and so I have done that as well. Um which positions are 230, 240, and 261, which we only have one position that's 261, the the uh custodians. Um but at any rate, the policy um that that is being recommended is the fact that individuals um uh can earn up to 10 days of vacation. However, after 5 years of they uh earning vacation, then you will add one day each year up to 15 years. So once you get up to the 15 years, it's 20 days of vacation. In addition to that,
091we are recommending that there be a vacation bank of unused days. And with that, you can bank up each year to half of whatever your amount is, but no more than that. You can use them or you can bank up to half of those. However, once your bank gets to 50, then you can either use them all or lose them. Now, the recommendation is um for the unused vacation is that individuals are paid um for those vacation days once they exit the district. Um whether that's, you know, leaving or retiring. Um they are paid their daily rate. There's a chart here um that kind of explains it, so I don't know if you need a moment or so to look through, but I of course will answer any questions um that you you may have.
092Okay, so if I can bank up to 50 days, Yes, ma'am. and I decide to retire, and I have those days banked, I can get paid. Yes, ma'am. You will get your daily rate for each day. That is the recommendation. >> At the time of your retirement. >> [laughter] >> So daily rate at the time of your retirement. At the daily rate at the time at the time that I retire. >> Yes, ma'am. Not as it when I began. No, no, no, that's correct. It's whatever your rate is. It's Your last rate. That's correct. And I'm not saying board No, no, no, absolutely. Yeah, cuz I know that we don't qualify. I'm just asking. That's um This is all in Tyson. And I like to have discussion. Um I like to see people earn things.
093I do. But I just like to have discussion. Maybe we could talk about it later or or something. I'm just asking. You can Sounds good to me, but uh I don't know what the other board members are thinking, see? It's just I was just This is already on the website. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah, 30 days. Okay. All right, so we we'll discuss this later. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I do you have one question? So, the column allowable days to be deposited, that's each year's and they just roll over until they reach out That's right. Okay. Okay. And of course, I also want to make sure I highlight once you reach that 50, of course, you can't add no more. So, if let's say you still accumulate 20 days, right? At that point, you got
094to use them or you will lose them. Okay. Right. You can't give them to somebody else? Um [clears throat] not based on state Okay. Quickly. Okay. Okay. Now Um just one other point to Um the state doesn't honor that any longer. I know it used to. I know I was privy to that when I retired. On our vacation day? Yeah, they No, no, no, it's It was sick leave. I'm wrong. It's sick leave. I know that they did honor those, but they don't do that anymore. >> Not vacation No, they do. They will still Okay, yeah, great. They did mine. And that's a great check if you have that. >> Yeah. Just so I'm aware, it's the bottom right-hand corner. Um So, unpaid holidays. Um Okay, so I just want to clarify because I want
095to make sure that um you all are aware when I say unpaid, nobody really get paid for holiday except for custodians. Um [clears throat] so, I just kind of wanted to clarify that. Right. So, when I say unpaid, yes, sir, these are just holidays that nobody get paid for, even custodians. Like any employ- employees don't get paid for their holiday. Labor Day's a day, Columbus Day's a day, Christmas Day's a day, Thanksgiving holiday is how many days? Um about Thanksgiving Yes. They get five. That's right. The 230 and 240. And then Usually Christmas break? About 2 weeks, I think. Yeah. Sometimes the whole 2 weeks, sometimes 10 10 days. Depends on the calendar. New Year's is probably rolled into that. Martin Luther King holiday, spring break five Yes, sir. Except for of course again those
096No, we're talking about custodians. I'm talking about these folks. Spring break Memorial Day's a day, Juneteenth and July 4th a day. Yes, sir. All right, yeah, 30 days to let them to think about this another day. Or you can approve it tonight if you want to. Or I'll take it to vacation. And then I also provided you all with a copy of the report dates that's given, like the start date, the number of work days, etc. Uh this is actually the positions for the entire district. So, I just added that. This is also in the it's on our website as well. But um I wanted the breakdown because these were the individuals that um earn vacation days. Um at your request, Mr. Lane. And any more questions? I'm prepared to discuss this further tonight or
097some more discussion. I think we I love the idea. And I'm certainly not going to knock it. But I just think that this is our first time looking at this. I didn't get it. I don't I don't know, maybe others did. I didn't. But uh Kelly used to do me a packet and I told her I was experienced enough to get my own then. >> [laughter] >> And didn't get it. So, I just have not seen it. And I want us to really think and do a great job, otherwise we'll be using up all that little escrow money that uh that Alex talked about. I know we won't use it all, but uh we're going to be using it. And I want us to really think. I'd like y'all to make a motion that we
098take this into consideration and give it some healthy thoughts. Okay. I had a motion and I need a second. I second. Okay, motion second. No more discussion. Let's vote. Thank you. Thank you. >> What's your deadline? Um well, we said May, but you can vote on it tonight if you want to. Oh, I think out there. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Am I correctly saying that you sign Okay. Okay. Yes, thank you. You all thank you. The next item is um generator installation and I'm presenting this on behalf of transportation. I don't know if you all are aware, Reverend Dishman is um in the hospital. I talked with him on Friday, but um they brought he and AJ brought this to you in February about the generator and the installation. You all approved the purchase of
099the generator, but you wanted a second quote Right. on the installation. So, um those quotes are there for you and the recommendation is um the low bid. So, we need board's approval um for that installation. Okay. I recommend that we go with the lowest bid. I gave it some more thought because they have to have a special type of installation for those um type of generators. That's just not the type of generator that they put in our homes. So, we're talking about a different type of generator. So, I approve the recommendation that we go with the lowest bid. That is my motion. Motion is that mine? Which one is it? Brown's Brown's Brown's $40,200 So, we have a mo- we need a motion. That was a recommendation. >> I'm I make a motion to approve
100Brown's Electric for $40,200 for the installation of the transportation generator. Second. >> [laughter] >> Motion second. No more discussion. Let's vote by show of hands. And I said no more discussion cuz I know we've already discussed it. Not that I'm thinking you're right. Okay, I want to clarify that. You have to be careful what you say these days. All right. Also under um old business, and I call it old business because you all of course approved field trips and fundraisers um in August. But from time to time we'll get new ones um before us. So, here tonight we have two Burke County High School and Blakeney. Burke County High School um under the leadership of Mr. Brandon uh he's brand new to us, Joseph Braddock, uh participated and the students participated in the Georgia Council
101for Economic Education biannual stock market game and one of our students earned first place in our congressional district um securing an invitation to attend the luncheon, the GCEE Awards Luncheon in Atlanta on May 7th and the trip will actually involve three students. So, that is the request of the high school. And for Blakeney, um their third graders just finished their science unit on animal habitats and and adaptations. And so, they would like to take a field trip to Eudora Wildlife Safari. Um and that will involve their entire uh third grade groups, approximately 230 students sometime in May, not April. They get ready to test. >> [laughter] >> So, those are the two requests um on that agenda. We need a motion to approve Burke County High School Let's do these separately. Okay. Okay. Okay. I
102I have a motion for that. Burke County High School field trip I already have a motion. Motion to approve Burke County High School field trip to the GCEE Awards Luncheon. Okay. Second. I second that motion. >> Okay, motion is second. I don't think there's any discussion. Let's vote by show of hands. And now we need a motion for BES field trip to Eudora. I'll make a motion to approve BES field trip to the Eudora Wildlife Safari. Okay. I second that. Okay, motion second. Vote by show of hands. Thank you. Is that what they feed them? >> [laughter] >> Okay. Okay. This one is? >> [laughter] >> Well, thank you Miss for hearing us tonight. Going to go over our report for early Head Start. And for the month of March. So, our funded enrollment we're
103at 94 students. Actual enrollment is at 94. Our daily average attendance for the month is at 85. Number on our waiting list is 28. Number of transitions, that's our 3-year-olds that will go on to Head Start or pre-K programs is 45. Our number of pregnant women is at six. Health checks are up to date at 95%. Shots are up to date at 100%. We have no monthly reportable center health incidents. Number of children with disabilities is at 13. Our staff training activities, I think your report may say zero. It's at one. We did have an active supervision training that I kind of just tossed in there just because I noticed that we were at that one-year mark and I want them to be able to take that training annually. So, March would have been our
104cutoff. So, I did do have someone come in to do that training for the parents and staff. Parent involvement activities, we have seven. Our in-kind is at $34,243. And if you push the page next, we have our Walmart expenditures at zero. Our January through December budget for 2026 year-to-date is at $532,204.14. Our March expenditures, just for the month of March, so the 5th through the 31st, is at $182,117.17. And then again, our year-to-date expenditures for revenue and expenditures is at $532,204.14. And our encumbrances for January to December 2026 is going to be at $13,003.57. So, I always give you guys an agenda. No kidding. Um Our >> [laughter] >> Our staff received these ordering. So, we had eight staff to participate. And our time is up with the ring. So, Georgia State will be closing
105that out. But, they sent me an email this week and because our staff have done such a good job participating, they're going to extend this program to be able to allow them to participate further if they would like to with receiving a stipend continuum as well. So, we'll be able to keep those rings. And then I talked to you guys in the last board meeting about how I started a literacy program with an app called Ready Rosie. My goal is to push literacy from the womb to 3 years old. So, by the time they transition to Head Start or even when they get to preschool and get to you all, my baby should be saying words. They should have a love for books and their parents should be well involved. So, with this app, I'm
106going to give you some data. We push it for 30 days and you'll be able to see the effect that it's having. And I'll leave it at two pages of it just to kind of move you through quick quickly so you can be able to see. So, if you look at the data, you'll see that we started out really low with getting the parents kind of involved within the last 30 days. We're at like 40 parents or so. And you'll see the rise. But, all of our parents that are on site are all signed up now. So, we have a total of 62 caregivers that have or 62 parents that have signed up and all 18 of our staff are all on this app. And the parents have the option of downloading Ready Rosie to
107their phones. They can put it on their computers and they can put it on laptops. If you've seen a toddler, they can take your phone if it is not locked. They can do TikTok. They'll be on Instagram, you know, Facebook, they're on YouTube. If you come watch my kids, particularly classroom seven, there's some youngsters in there they fake like they have a phone and they're doing all these TikTok dances. So, I'm trying to combat that and turn it into something literacy. So, parents can kind of do too her. Yes, you want them to be on social media, but there's videos that they can watch that are learning enhancements. So, if you turn to the second page, you'll see what these videos encompass, you know, see what they the topics are about. So, at the top
108of the page to the left, you see that videos are sent out dealing with language and literacy, math, social emotional, and health and well-being. If you look to the right, you will see how many videos have been viewed within the last 30 days. Family and well-being, over 101 videos have been viewed. Positive parent relationships, over 118. Families as lifelong educators, 118 videos viewed. Families as learners, 117. Where do we need work? Family engagement and transition. We try to get the parents to understand that that's a process when they get ready to go on to preschool and Head Start. And you got to be involved. Family connections, parents to the community, there's a disconnect there. Learning what your community can do for you for resources, so we need to got to push that more. And then
109families as advocates and leaders for their own children. You see there that there's hardly any engagement. So, within the next 30 days, those lower videos will be pushing and trying to get our parents to view those as well. But, wanted to give you some feedback there. And I also wanted to just thank Superintendent Dr. Williams and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Collins for coming over to our air cot with our babies. All of our family showed up and we had a huge family picnic and we had great fun. And thank you all for donating. Cuz all of our children were able to get eggs and families were able to eat good food for free. So, thank you all for everything that you do for our program. I'd like to say Madam Chair. Yes. >> Just just one
110minute cuz I know we push for time. But, this is literacy project is going to have a great impact as I look at uh Dr. Evans with Cognia coming in. Yes. >> They're going to make the connection. Yes. This is great. Thank you. >> We're trying to push it early age like I said. The videos, if the parents have older children in the home, say as a pregnant mom, can they get it too? The videos can be viewed by the older children in the home as well. There's videos on there that go all the way up through high school, you know, if they like. So, the parents can use it to their discretion. Okay? Thank you. >> Thank you so much. We need a motion to approve the early Head Start report. Madam Chair, I
111move that the early Head Start report be approved. Thank you. I second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. Let's raise your hands to show that you're voting in agreement. Thank you. Thank you all much. On the new business, have another transportation request. You will note there the attachment. There is um a list of surplus surplus items that they're asking to sell, of course, according to established policy and procedure. So, we need the board to take a look at that list if you have not already done so and give your approval to declare those items surplus and to be permission for them to be sold. I so move. It's been moved. Need a second. >> I second. It's Moved and seconded by Mr. Lane. >> [laughter] >> Any other discussion? No discussion.
112Let's vote by show of hand. Thank you so very much. The next item there involves a new position that we currently do not have. As you may be aware, and I think I've discussed this with a couple of you just as it was going through the chambers, but the House and the Senate have approved for um literacy coaches to be placed in schools, K-3 schools, beginning next year. But, as you know, there's always a caveat. When they fund these positions, they fund these positions according to the state salary scale, not our salary scale. So, a couple things here. The we're we're looking for two, one for Blakeney, one for Waynesboro Primary. And um typically with a coach, so this is a literacy coach and they cannot do what a instructional coach does. They are to
113focus strictly on literacy. So, I want to make that that point there. And then we will also be adding one later to SGA. Typically what we do with coaches, they are on the teacher pay scale, but they typically work 10 extra days. Um, that's that's our currently what we do with instructional coaches. So, um, just want to be transparent with the board that even though the state is going to send a part of that salary, it is going to be a part of that salary. And the district would have to pick up the remainder of that salary. >> Did they discover yet what budget they're taking it from? Because that was the question. They didn't know what they're going to take it from. They talked about taking it from QBE QBE, but then there were
114some disadvantages to that. So, uh, there is a There was something else recommended that will not affect uh And you know what our QBE QBE earnings look like. >> That's correct. That's what we discussed with them. And so, uh, that we Is there a time limit that we have to submit for that? Because they tell me there are only 1,300 another 1,313 coaches. They have not sent us any information to apply or anything of that nature. So, what we want to do I'm asking the board's permission to go ahead and post these positions. Of course, these are for next year so that we can go ahead and start um looking at um candidates. Sure. Sure. And thank you, Dr. >> positions. We need three three. Mhm. Madam Chair, and Dr. Williams thank you also mentioning
115that this is a legislative issue. This is a mandate >> that has come down. Yes. This is not something that we are just doing. And a lot of times that's misunderstood. Right. Thank you. How long have you been funding it? Uh, now that I can't answer that. Usually when they fund a position, they fund the position, but um, and Dr. Luke and both Mr. Charles had requested one uh sometime back, but we asked them to hold off till we could see what the state was going to do before we um made that commitment. But we now know that that is going to Okay. While we're um, getting one for SGA. Have you looked at enrollment? So, it did to it's going to be We have someone down there that um that we're looking at. They
116They're in a different position right now, but Yes. We'll talk about that. I have some other questions that we can table. About this? Yes. Mhm. I want to know more about how their success is going to be measured and what their day-to-day look like. I know I know what it's come from state, but I want to I'm I want to know more about exactly what it is that they're going to be doing besides we're just filling a role because we were told to. I want to know what it is that they're doing, how we're measuring it, and where we're going from there. Um, can we discuss discuss this later or do we need to discuss it on that? Certainly we can, but every job we post has a job description. So, it will be very
117clear. And then it is up to the local The local must determine what that job description is. >> Yes, but they can only do literacy. >> Yeah. Only do literacy. No substitute. No nothing else. I've been in two meetings in the past couple of days hearing about this K through three literacy that the legislature has put into place. Madam Superintendent, if I may, I just kind of want to alert the board that I have already been in collaboration with both principals on the And again, not Mr. Grady because of, you know, we knew he was out of the trying to look at something else there. Um, but both principals, they both have done an outstanding job of providing um a job duty. And I've been working with Miss uh White on trying to make sure
118we take what Mr. Charles said and what Dr. Luke said. And we are building a JD as well as what the mandates are from the state. So, I just kind of want to put that disclaimer out there. Thank you. And so now we need a motion. Make a motion to approve uh two new positions for literary literacy coaches at Wine Primary and Blakeney. We need a second. >> I second that motion. Motion and second. Is there any more discussion at this time? There's no more discussion. Let's vote by show of hands. Thank you. Mr. Hyder, I think this is you again, maybe. Well, not really. I Both of these originated uh outside of my bailiwick. So, I shall turn the first one over to Mrs. Martin. Okay. So, the fixed asset policy, that is a
119policy that you all have had in place for a good number of years. It gives guidance on how we are going to capitalize assets. It provides um guidance for thresholds, definitions of what those assets will be. And again, you've had this for years, but now we have intangible assets through GASB 87 leases and GASB 96 which refers to SBITAs, which is short for subscription-based internet technology agreements. So, those are just new types of assets that have to be considered, and we needed to have it in a policy so that we could always support why we did or did not capitalize those things. So, this is just information. Well, it's a revised policy, so we need to approve the revision. Okay. We need a motion. A motion to approve board policy BIB with fixed assets with
120the noted changes. Okay. We need a second. I second. Motion and second. Is there any other discussion? There's no discussion. Let's vote by show of hands. Okay. We're in agreement. You ate our eight. Uh, likewise, this one's a proposal by Dr. Collins. Um, and what I've done is taken her proposal and put it in our existing employee leaves and absences policy. So, if you go down, they see the highlighted portion. And then you want Tell them what you got. Yes, sir. Okay. Um, of course, uh this is in reference to policy GARH um as Mr. Hyder mentioned. Um the only thing we did to this policy um was there's a recommendation that I am making um to the board for unused sick leave time for PEACERS employees. Um, as you all know, um if they
121have sick time, they lose those sick days or they can donate them. And so, my recommendation is is um those individuals are allowed to be paid $25 for every sick day, but the recommendation is that it must be at a minimum at least five days before we of course reimburse them for their unused sick time. Anything under five, they would just lose or they may donate. Um, but five or more, we are I am respectfully requesting the board to approve for our PEACERS and of course um employees to be allowed to use their sick days. Our bus drivers, those are the individuals who their retirement um you all know what I'm saying. It's It's just not like the teacher retire the teacher retirement. Um, so many of you may or may not know, um their
122retirement, they get $4 a month taken out, nine months. So, they donate $36. Um, if you worked between I mean if you were any PEACERS in 2012, um it's $10. And so, that's $90 a month. And so, with that, um again, just respectfully asking the board to consider all of those sick times. You know, you got your bus drivers, you These individuals typically have days that they just kind of give away because they don't they don't benefit when they get ready to retire. So, that's what the recommendation is. And that's what is highlighted as Mr. Hyder stated. So, that's all we did to this policy was um add that recommendation so that these individuals can be compensated upon retirement for their sick day. >> On retirement or separation. Yeah. >> Because as you said, the
123TRS folks, you get to bank your sick leave, and it helps you in retirement. But PEACERS folks, their sick leave does them no good in retirement. And so, this is just a little suggestion. It's a good one to uh you know help them out. I can also see this as an incentive to keep to keep like we like we've tried before, incentive to not abuse the sick time. Yes, that's absolutely correct. Matter of fact, Mr. Hyder and I discussed that today. So bad. Yes. That's part of it as well. Thank you for mentioning that. And so, you said they have they have to have at least five days before this could be considered. >> Yes. >> Okay. And they can go beyond five days and for each day They would get um $25. Yes, ma'am.
124>> [clears throat] >> And make sure They earn Is it 15 a year? Uh, yes. 15 days. Oh, okay. >> Yes. Depending on the position, of course. Yeah. So, we still We still need to put this for public comment for 30 days, correct? >> It's up here, though. It's been out there for I could not tell you off the top of my head how long it's been out there but it's been out there. I haven't received no comment. I rarely do to be perfectly honest. But hasn't been 30 days? I don't know if it's been 30 days or not. Are you making a recommendation or you just asking a question? Asking a question. >> [clears throat] >> Do we leave them all up for 30 days? I think that's the question. Is there do we
125have a policy that says >> I can't say that that's that's a consistent practice. There is no there's no policy but that's what we typically do to get um you know comment on the post. But we don't know how long they've been out there yet. Started a few months ago we also post home get posted on parent square so people know that look that they're there because they weren't going to so nobody would know to go to assembly so we put it on parent square that they're there as a way to advertise that. I make the motion that we table approval for this to next month. We'll note we'll know it's been out there then. And then we know we got the days in because right now no one can tell us how many. Well
126it's less than 30. Two yeah two and a half weeks. We have a motion now we need a second. I second the motion. Okay motion second any more discussion? Let's keep the debate there's no more discussion. And Dr. Miles second. And let's vote by show of hands. It's been tabled. Thank you. My report this evening will be very short. I know we had a extensive report last month so just a few items um Um one group that is of interest we received this week and this is kudos to our um Mr. Uh Tracy Wright and the state department um we got notification and this is an annual determination but notification that um our student services department have no has no significant disproportionality or disproportion representation or significant discrepancy. So that can usually happen if you
127have a over uh representation of um students in special ed by um race or what disability or if you have um too many students that have more than 10 days suspension or those kinds of things fair students. So we have that notification um this week and I also included the letter itself on the agenda for you all to see. Just a few things coming up um the Voices of Blakeney which is Ms. Sherry Perdue um she's the the uh director with this group. They have been invited to the Augusta Chorale of Georgia for May 3rd 2026 at 4:00. Um I've uh witnessed them perform several times and they do a great job so just wanted to >> Paine College isn't it? Paine College I believe yes ma'am. Um they'll have fun they do a good
128job. Um just thankful for the Family Y course um through them through their safety around water uh program we were able we were able to get all of our second graders um with those um the the swimming curriculum uh teaching them about the the dangers of um the water and that kind of thing but also how to be safe around water and so they are having a pool party for um our students um Mr. Charles is here so he he have questions he can expand on that but that is May 7th. Um and then they have different groups going at different times so it's not the whole second grade running over over there at one time. Um there's a group like from 9:00 to 10:00 and then another 10:00 to 11:00 and etc. And then
129the senior walk has been scheduled uh for May 15th. Um Pre-K um that registration is currently going on. Um also Waynesboro Primary want to give them kudos they're actually doing a um pre-K parent tour where they're allowing parents to come in for an hour to go on the pre-K hall to learn about pre-K and that kind of thing and they're doing that on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Um started that April 20th and going through May 1st um for an hour or so kudos to Waynesboro Primary for doing that. I was wondering about that real quick cuz I know it came through parent square. Are we sharing that anywhere outside of school resource or Facebook or anything? I'm thinking about parents who don't have a child in the school at all so they're not connected to parent
130square therefore they wouldn't know and they've got a brand new child coming. So is it being advertised anywhere outside of parent square? Um yeah we'll put it on Facebook too but I may try to uh go to the daycares. Well yeah cuz if a if I didn't have a child that was already at the primary school I may not follow the primary school's page. Okay we'll put it on the district page too though I think yeah. Yeah. They used to send them out so flyers to city halls cuz I can remember seeing them in Midville and city hall Keysville city hall. So for parents that don't get on cuz it is there and I passed it out last night in the meeting in Keysville. So maybe flyers would also be helpful. Um and I went
131through this last month with all the assessments that we have um in the middle of and or coming up so I won't reiterate that but that's just to give you those dates um that started back in March and we'll be testing and testing and more testing uh through the end of the year. And then just a reminder no traditional summer school all the schools have been running an after school program for several months now. Um summer school had gotten down to about 15 to 16 days for part of a day and it just was not really doing anything for the kids so all principals were asked to institute a after school program at their schools and they've been doing a fabulous job with that so. Um and then just to let you all know we've
132done this for several summers now but um we are doing the compressed work week for staff um during the summer again uh June 8th through July 17th and that is where um we are working 10-hour days four days a week on Fridays and there was an exception Mr. Williams had asked that his uh his maintenance staff wanted to work um regular schedule so they will be doing that at at request. But the rest of us will be on 4/10s. And then I'll round out with I don't know if you all have received your um volume 26 issue two of the legislative and policy updates but I received mine on Friday so that usually comes uh via email so just look out for that. Has some pertinent information in it. And that is all I have
133this evening. There is nothing else. We are now ready to go into our executive session. I make that motion. Okay it's been so moved. I second the move. It has been second so second. >> [laughter] >> Thank you all for coming have a great rest of your evening. Bye-bye.