Board Meeting

001[Music] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our our board meeting. I was looking at something and it said March, I thought, but welcome to our our May board meeting. Uh we know you all have been busy and uh we just thank you and want you to know how much we appreciate you coming out. Uh we have a lot of entertainment tonight. So I'm so excited about it. Uh so without any further ado, we will begin. Our invocation this evening will be brought to us by Burke County High School principal Dr. Sebrook. Dr. Sebrook, let us stand right here. Father, before we ask anything, Lord, we ask you to search our hearts and minds and anything that does not align with who we ask you to remove. Father, we ask you to continue to bless

002each United States. Father, we ask you to then bless your world. Father, we ask you to bless state of Georgia, but more specifically, Lord, we ask you to work bless B County. Father, we ask you to bless our leaders as we go about to do thus our business. Father, we ask you to protect them, guide them, hold them, and lead them. Father, we ask you to bless everyone here under my voice. Father, we ask you to be so kind to receive these prayers and all prayers in this Jesus name we do pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Dr. This evening we have um Blakeley Elementary School fifth grader Jackson Atkinson [Music] right here. Hello, my name is Jackson and I'll lead you on the foot. To the flag of the United States of America and to

003the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Jackson. Want to thank Dr. Eps in his absence for nominating Jackson to do the pledge for us this evening. At this time we are going to be will hear bees course. [Music] I'll save my comments for the end. Good evening everybody. It's an honor for us to be here this evening. This is a small gathering of our students at Wy. We have third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade represented tonight. And we're going to do a song for you because we like to be happy. And singing is about being happy. And the name of the song that we're going to do for you is called I've got pray. [Music] There it is. I got joy. I

004got down in my soul. I got joy down in my soul. I' got joy. I got I got joy. I got joy in my soul. [Music] I feel [Music] myself in gratitude. That's the joy of a brand new day. [Music] Sing [Music] along with us. I' goty joy down in my soul. I' got joy. I [Music] join [Music] it over my mouth and say I had Joy. I joy down in my soul. I joy down in my soul. I let I let I let my soul die in my soul. [Music] Down in down [Music] in my soul [Music] down in my soul. Joy down in my soul. I got joy down in my soul. I' got joy down in my soul. I got joy down in my soul. Thank you. All right. I want to

005say I heard the Blney Chorus performed at a concert with the Augusta Corral, which is a well-known chorus in Augusta. and they performed at Payne College and I think it's about 20 of them. I don't know where they all are tonight but uh they did a fabulous job and I was proud that I was in the audience listening to them. Those children really sang. So thank you Miss Payeyton for giving me a chance to say that Miss Perus. Thank you. I want to thank you for your dedication, your commitment to these young people. I've heard about their performances from Payne College to I believe Baptist Church and all over. And young people, I want to thank you for sharing your talents and your gifts. And if your parents are here, I want to thank them

006for the great job they're doing with you all. And I know some of you in the audience because I'm so captain singing right along with me. So, we are just thankful and grateful for the opportunity for you to perform before us tonight. God bless you all. Thank you. We would like to hear from the young Georgia authors. Madam Chair, board members and community members, parents, good evening. Good evening. It is both a privilege and a joy to stand before you this evening to recognize some of the brightest literary talents in our region. Burke County's recent level winners of the Young Georgia Authors Writing Competition. Each year, the Young Georgia Authors contest provides students across the state with a powerful platform to express their thoughts, creativity, and voice through written word. From poetry and personal narratives

007to essays and short stories, this competition reflects not only our students imagination and intellect, but also the dedication of the teachers and families who support them. Our recent winners were selected from among many submissions across the CS. These young writers demonstrated exceptional creativity, originality, and command of language, truly standing out as representatives of excellence in literacy. Tonight, we celebrate their accomplishments. Their achievement is a testament of our district's continued commitment to fostering strong writers, critical thinkers, and confident communicators. At this time, I'd like to recognize our Burke County Resa level winners for the 2025 Young Georgia Authors Writing Competition. As I'll call your name, please come forward to be recognized. Lauren Evans, kindergarteners, Lauren is a kindergarten student from Wsboro Primary School. for her piece, If I Lived in a Snow Globe. Somaya Jackson, seventh

008grade from Burke County Middle School. So, Maya, I'm going to need a little bit of help with the title of your compelling narrative. I'm so sorry. It's in It's in Russian. It's the man of see. Okay. Gorok. Thank you, Somaya. And Jada Smith, 10th grader from Burke County High School for her powerful writing, Between Love and Hate. These students have not only represented their schools with excellence, but have also brought great pride to Burke County by earning recognition at the recent level. Their voices, creativity, and courage to share their stories are what make this celebration so meaningful. Please join me in giving all of them a round of applause for their outstanding accomplishments. We are so proud of you and can't wait to see how your voices continue to grow. Congratulations, At this time, I

009would like to thank those young authors. I uh look forward to hearing from you, reading your books later on. I know you're going to do it. I have several books now that I'm reading from former students, from this high school, from elementary school, whatever. So, I plan to read some of your books one day. I want to thank your parents as well. And I know there will be great things that you will be doing in the future, and I look forward to hearing from you. But parents, keep them reading. Keep them writing. You can visit all over the world through your reading and your writing. Thank you. Okay. At this time, roll call. As I look around, let the records reflect everyone is present. At this time, we need to adopt our agenda. I need

010a motion. Madam Chair, um unless there are additions that we do not have, then I move that the agenda be adopted as presented. All right. Need a second. Second. We have a second. Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. We'll vote by show of hands. Let the uh minutes reflect that the motion carries. At this time, we have approval of minutes. I think we have uh two sets of minutes. Oh, three sets. Three. Two call and one regular. Uh the call board meeting which was uh April 22nd at 4. Then we have the board meeting April 15th SI. And of course I have to locate the other one. Governor's training. Governor Governor's training. Thank you, Miss P. You're welcome. And I move that all six minutes be approved at this time as presented. Second. Okay,

011we have a motion. It's been second. Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. Uh we need to vote by show of hands. Thank you. The motion carries. At this time, we're ready for our financial report. Mrs. Martin, good evening. Okay. Tonight, I have the financial report for April 2025. Through the month of April, our fiscal year is 83.33% complete. If you will please turn to the first page in your board packet, you can see revenues as of April 30th, 2025 were 128,42,388. And I'm sure you can tell with this updated number that we did receive the utility digest payment and so those revenue percentages jumped up along with the dollar value. If you'll please flip to the next page. Expenditures as of April 30th, 2025 were 59 million164,279. That is 78.46% of your general fund

012budget. And again, 83.33% is the completion of the fiscal year. So if you're comparing the two, things are looking great expenditure-wise. The next page shows the general fund balance sheet. As of April 30th, 2025, total assets were 304,286,846 with total liabilities in fund equity equaling the same amount. The next page shows the changes in general fund equity. As of April 30th, 2025, end of period general fund equity was 303,224,867. The next page represents investments in all funds. As of April 30th, 2025, total investments were $294,827,342.11. And I'm sure you all noted that this balance significantly increased significantly increased and that is due to the receipt of the utility payments. The next 12 pages represent your purchase order incumbrance report. These are cumulative through April 30th, 2025. And again, I do want to remind you that

013we did ask for the end of the year purchasing at the end of March. So, a lot of incumbrances were made at one time, but the bills are steadily coming in to pay off those incumbrances. So, you should see this number reduced each month somewhat. And your next several several pages represent your vendor activity report. This is cumulative $5,000 for the month of April. And these are items that actual expenditures were incurred for. Are there any questions about the financial report? I don't have a question. I just need you to explain it. This is the first time I've seen this. Okay. Um, it's on the purchase order incumbrance report. Yes, ma'am. And it says culinary depot. Okay. Do you have a page number? Uh, yes. 37. I didn't know if that was pertaining to food

014service. She's holding up her hand, so I'm all right. She says it's Thank you for jumping it out. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I'm okay. Okay. Wonderful. That one looks different. And now we know why. Now we know why. Are there any other questions? There are no questions. We need a motion to set tonight's uh financial report. Motion that we accept tonight's financial report as presented. Need a second. We have a second. There any further discussion? There's no further discussion. We need to vote by show of hands. Okay. Let the records reflect that the motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Yes, ma'am. Okay. I brought hard copies for anyone who may want a hard copy. I know sometimes you all like to make notes. Is anyone interested? Okay. Yes, ma'am. There

015was an update. Oh, Dr. Williams. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. So, first I do want to address that there was an update to the budget today. I do hope that you all received it. Dr. Miles, I know I just put it in your hands, but I'm about to let you know what that update. Okay. Okay. So, with the state health benefit plan for the noncertified employees, and just as a reminder, those are your non-teer positions, your bus drivers, your custodians, your school nutrition staff. It even includes people like me. The way I like to think about it is those people who have a traditional educator certificate. Those are who we refer to as certified when we speak in financial terms and everyone else is non-certified. So the rate for state health per member per month

016for non-certified employees was $1,580. And we have been making that payment since January 1st. So only six months of the fiscal year. We knew come July one it was going to go to the full 12 months. And so that that had already been reflected in the first budget you received. But I did receive word this morning that that rate is increasing to $1,8885 per month per member for the non-certified group. And that is going to match your certified group. Okay. So, I wanted to make sure those numbers were reflected in your budget. So, that is what the update is related to. Okay. It only changed your employee benefit line. Dr. Miles, I know you just put your eyes on it. So, it would only be your employee benefit line in each function area that changed.

017Nothing else changed. Um, okay. So what I have for you on top is I do have a history of your budget from 22 to 25 and then of course your proposed tentative fiscal year 2026 budget. I do want to say that of the $6,919,423 proposed increase, all but about $400,000 is due to salary and benefit increases. Okay, the salaries you all were aware of in total were 3.2 million when you calculated in the 7% cola as well as the step increases when you added those two numbers together. your benefits, your health insurance were just under 2.3 million. That's for the certified and the non-certified group. The additional FICA and TRS that we're going to pay on the 7% as well as the the TRS rates increased to 21.91% that the employer is now responsible for.

018That's up from 20.93%. So those accounted for approximately another million dollars. Then we also had a small increase to the dental plan that resulted in about an additional $22,000 that the board needed to see in the budget and that is due to the employer paid dental plan that you all offer as part of the benefits package. Okay. Now, um, another thing that I would like to talk about before we move through each function, I want you to jump down to the next to the last line from the bottom and I want you to look at that transfer to building fund number. You see, we landed at $22,450,000. Now, when we met in February at the board retreat, we had backed off some projects from the previous budgets transfer amount. So I had shown you a

01913,450,000 but remember I told you at that time that we just were not sure what projects would be started in the next fiscal year. Well after having conversations this number amounts to the anticipated projects that may begin in the next fiscal year. So we definitely want to make sure that we have that money included in the transfer amount. If you will flip over, you can see what the breakdown of that $22,450,000 is. The largest addition that I think you all did not see before is the $10 million related to the fields. Okay, that um number we feel really good about. There was a long conversation with Mr. Paul Williams who in turn called and had conversations with the powers that be to make sure we had a good reliable number to provide there for you.

020That does include and you'll notice this in your note at the bottom two practice fields at the middle school as well as the football field with track bleachers, lights, etc. Also at the middle school, the new middle school baseball and softball fields with bleachers and bathrooms, etc. and the renovation of the high school softball and baseball fields. Okay. So, does everyone feel good about that number? I did also have a conversation with Dr. Williams to make sure there just wasn't anything else in the works and and this is where we landed. So, your transfer number did jump quite significantly, but we do feel it is very valid and likely that those projects will definitely start in the next fiscal year. Okay. So, Miss Payton, if you kind of want to guide me here, um, I

021can go through function by function and we can review each function and what the increases are related to, or we can look at the history and the 26 and go from there. You just let me know what you'd like to to see. Uh, due to the fact uh, we have two new board members. Sure. Absolutely. Okay. Okay. So, if you'll flip over to page three, I first want to start by saying for the benefit of the newest board members that the general fund budget is approved by function. Okay? And the functions are given to us by the state of Georgia. Every school system in the state of Georgia has the same functions. And so, that is how we budget. The largest you'll see is your instructional function. Okay? That is function 1000. And it is

022by far your largest. This is where you have all your local teachers. You have all of your counselors and your technology specialists. You have all of your locally funded pair professionals. So all of their salaries and all of their benefits you see in this budget. Non-personnel items in this budget are exactly what they say for instructional purposes. supplies, anything that those teachers think they may need to function in that classroom to educate the students of Burke County. So overall, your instruction budget for fiscal year 26 is proposed at $49,879,955. That is a $4,46,288 increase from the previous fiscal year. And that is all related to salaries and benefits. Are there any questions about instruction? Okay. The next function is pupil services. The best way to describe this function, anything that enhances the experience for the

023students outside of the classroom. So athletics is a great example of that. Okay. Within this function, you will find salaries of your social workers and your student information specialist, your nurses, your school psychologist, any clerical staff related to those positions. You will also find your coaching athletic supplements in this function as well. But this function again represents anything that enhances the student experience outside of the classroom. In total, there was a $352,860 increase to this function that was all related to salaries and benefits. Are there any questions about people services? Okay, the next function is instructional improvement. So this is anything related to the professional development, educating our teachers to help them in turn go back into that classroom and better instruct the students. Within this function, you will find salaries of your technology director,

024your curriculum director and instructional coordinators, your instructional technology and testing director and any clerical staff that they have that any of those positions may have. And then of course you have several things in this budget that would pay for professional development travel due to the nature of what this function is for. Overall the increase was $99,976 and that is related to salaries and benefits solely. Any questions? Okay. The next function is instructional media and that is exactly what it says. It is for media. So this is where you're going to find the salaries of all of your media specialists and all of the pair professionals who have been placed in the media areas. Okay. Um again this one increased $115,376 and it is solely due to salaries and benefits. Non-personnel expenditures in this function are

025related to anything that the media centers may need to run day-to-day. Okay, any question about media? Okay, your next budget function is function 2300 and this is general administration. This one tends to be a little bit of a larger uh budget because it not only includes your central office admin staff, but it also includes your technology budget. Okay. Overall, the budget increased $298,384. That is actually very good for this function area. Um, of that amount, $181,221 was related to salaries and benefits. Within this function, this is where our SRO budget is included. Okay, that was increased $61,000 for the new contract that is coming into effect. A little bit of money was added in for increases to the ERE software program as well as the ESS software program. And then $50,000 was included in this

026budget in a non-personnel line item for enhancements to the boardroom. Okay. Any questions about function 2300. The next function is function 2400, school administration. This is for the administration of all your schools. This is where you're going to find the salaries of your principles, your assistant principles, your vocational directors, all the clerical staff, your front office staff, everybody. This is where you will find them. It did increase $433,251. It's all related to salaries and benefits, but you can imagine this has a good number of salaries in it due to all of the positions that I just mentioned. Okay? And then of course non-personnel items are for anything that that front office may need to run that building in an administrative capacity. And all of that takes into account all of your steps, all certifications. Absolutely.

027And everything. Yes ma'am. Okay. The next function is your business function and that is 100% related to the finance department. Department increases were $61,255. That is related to $57,683 in salary and benefits. And the remaining portion is for increases in the Smart Fusion and ESS programs as well as the ERI pro programs. And the the ERE and the ESS costs are shared between the business office as well as general admin. Um so this is just a third of those increases. Non-personnel items in this function are related for supplies, equipment, anything needed, check stock um for the business department. Any questions? The next function is function 2600 maintenance and operation. And this is again exactly what it says it is. It's for the maintenance and the operation of the entire school system. um it tends to

028be a larger budget for that reason. Um it did increase $777,117. However, I want to note that of that amount, $119,988 is an increase to our property insurance that we anticipate will come into play in the next fiscal year. That is a large increase. We did reach out to our provider and the school industry is just not profitable. The claims to loss ratio is just not good and they are expecting a 20 to 25% increase in premiums. Other than that, increases are due to salaries and benefits. Any question about M? Okay. Your next budget is function 2700 transportation. This is also a large budget. I'm sure you all understand why. Um actually this budget looks really good. Um there were $743,0663 in increases due to salary and benefits, but for non-personnel items, we actually reduced

029the budget by $21,261. Um, one thing we were able to do is that the equipment that was budgeted for in the previous fiscal year, uh, Reverend Dishman did not feel like that that number was going to be needed this year, so it was reduced by $120,000. The fleet is in good shape, but he feels like that the money left will allow for any surprises that come up. You know, things do happen with the fleet, so you do want some money there. Now, also netting with that $120,000 reduction, we did have an increase of $98,739 for the fleet insurance. And that's all in the property casualty um the the large package that we pay for each year. Any questions about transportation? Okay. And your final function is your public relations function. And this is solely due

030to the public information officer budget area. Salaries and benefits increased 13,11 and there were no other increases. Non-personnel items in this area include anything needed to PR for the school system um to run that office and department. Are there any questions about anything I've said? Anything that doesn't make sense? anything I may have skipped over makes sense. But now Sarah, I just think that I'm laying eyes on it for I had received one but I had she's giving me an update. I just think we need to study it and it all looks great. But when I looked at the that's the Burke County Life Center. These are the projects that you met transfer to the building fund and only half of the project cost is there which means that the demolition and rebuilding and the

031fields, not the fields because the fields have a different line item. is going to increase since this is only a half project cost. Is that right? It's got to roll over to the next. It rolls over to the next year. Yes, ma'am. Okay. It will be a 2-year project. And so, for that reason, we were we were able to just incur half the cost in this next fiscal year, right? And then the year after that, you'll see the final half of the cost. Okay. So, that means when I looked at a report that Dr. Williams had sent us in our daily update. Yes, ma'am. She had given us everything that was projected and what had been done. I really did appreciate that because it brought us up to date on all the building projects and

032everything thus far and it was in her report to us this week. And so this means that we can look forward to the attorney school being included. money is there. The money is there. The money is there. So, I've heard this project several times serving on the board and so this time we're looking forward to it and I'm just making a statement. That's all that this is not the first time we've heard this and it hasn't moved. Okay. So, I'm through with that because I know the superintendent will find a place for those students and that administrator. Thank you. I just think we need to study and talk about it. Um because this is my first time looking at it. Yes, ma'am. And uh I want to thank you for doing a great job, Madam

033Chair. She does an excellent job and presenting this to but we just need to talk. Absolutely. You know, and just so you know, Dr. miles when you're looking at it and studying it, there is an additional million dollars from the one you saw in your hand in the mail. And again, it's going to be on that employee benefits line. So, when you go to look, that's the spot that you want to look at. Thank you very much. You're welcome. You're welcome. I do just want to remind you all that we would like to approve a final budget at the June regular board meeting. So, just please keep that in mind. And the budget will need to be advertised in the paper before that can happen. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, all right. You're welcome. So, what

034do you need from us tonight, Madam Chair? I'm just asking anything. We just need to make our decision for the next June meeting. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So, we're in agreeative. This is tenative. If you would like to give tenative approval tonight. Yes, ma'am. Um that would be wonderful. Okay. So, we're going to do a tenative approval for tonight. So, we'll make a motion. Yeah, I'm for that. Go ahead, Mr. L. Make a motion to tentatively approve the budget as presented. I have a second. I have a second. All right. No more discussion. So, we going to vote by shows. Okay. We are all in agreement. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Miss Payeyton. If I could if I could keep you for just one more minute, please. I did speak with Dr. Williams about discussing

035this with you all. We just want to tell you about one additional thing that we would like to implement in the upcoming fiscal year and that is going to be a change to the way we pay our pay schedule. I'm sure you all have heard a lot of talk and discussion about the four weeks and the five weeks and everyone hates the five weeks and trust me I hate the five week at my house too. It affects me just like everyone else. I die when I look at the calendar and see that we're in one. But it is inevitable with a 52- week calendar year and we pay 12 times a year once a month. You have to do something with those extra four weeks. Okay. But um Miss Karen Garcia, who is the new

036payroll person for us, I'm sure you're all familiar with her. She proposed paying on the 15th of every single month. And I love it. Okay. It is easy for employees to remember. Now they have to look at the calendar and are they getting paid on the 9th? Are they getting paid on the 17th, the 24th, you know, they don't know. Now they can know it will be the 15th of every month. Now if the 15th falls on the weekend or a holiday, we'll pay the business day the the business day before that, the prior business day before that. Okay. um you would increase, you know, we're now we have a lot of four weeks. Most of them would be four weeks and three days, four weeks and two days, okay? But you would never get

037to a full five weeks. There are some months you might get pretty close, but you would never hit the full five weeks again. So, we're excited about it. Um, I don't know if you all realized that we actually ran a payroll and issued a payroll during spring break. It was incredibly successful. And now that we have a comfort level with being able to submit payrolls and the reports required in the taxes that need to be paid on an off business day, we have a great confidence level that this can work. So, I do plan to talk to all of the leaders of the system on Thursday at our system level planning meeting, but we wanted you to be the first to hear it. Um, so that if you get any more conversations about the fiveweek,

038you will know what is coming and um, we hope to implement this with the July 15th payroll. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. You're welcome. And thank you really minds for working that out to cut out the five weeks. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you all very much. Thank you. We're now ready for the school nutrition budget. Good evening. Sorry. [Music] So, mine also was revised due to the change in the health benefits. So, I've put a new copy up on all of these. Um, Miss Kelly put them out before the meeting started. Okay. So, ours is just we just have one one group unlike we're just one department and then ours is separated out by location or by program. So, al together we have the 5,147870 in expenses and then we have the 4,997840

039which leaves a difference of 150 that we need to make up during the year. Does anybody have any questions about the locations or any of the certain items? After a while, they gonna think I'm retired. Everybody's pointing toward me. Does she have that? Yeah. Kelly gives me a prepared package because I live in the country and it's hard to pull up all of this stuff even though I have a satellite. So yes, I've studied it from the packet. Okay. So the change you just mentioned. Yes. I'm all right. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We have any questions? No questions. You ready to go on it? Okay, we need a motion to accept the school nutrition budget or go ahead. I make a motion to accept school nutrition budget for 2026. I second that motion. Okay, no

040more discussion. Let's vote. Show hands. Thank you very much. Motion carries. Thank you. Now we are down to public participation. Okay, project the Scott. Good evening. Good evening y'all this evening. Well, I have brought with me some of the unsung heroes um that do a wonderful job educating our littlest children. They run the daycarees in this community and as you know um I mentioned this at our board retreat. This is the last year of the L4GA grant and there are separate sections of it. There's birth to five and we're going to focus a little bit. We're going to focus on that this evening. What we've done and what we've done this year. In the past what we've done is we have had these events and we've given away books and we've done all these things

041for the community. So, in this final year, we wanted to do something that was targeted specifically for the children that were going to be coming to our schools. And so, we uh brought along Miss Jones, who's amazing, and she has really coordinated this work for us. She's gotten in charge of the daycarees. So, if we could flip to the next picture. So this was things that we had done author visits, book giveaways and the first thing that we did with the community was the next one um is the first readers and first readers is a company that provides books for children and their their names are put on them and they get out once a month and we had done that with our prek students and we started to work with our daycarees as well

042and the daycarees were were um needing some other things and so Miss Jones we asked her to go out and kind of see what could happen. we can do to support these dayc carees in another way. We just keep these going. Mostly it's just pictures. And so we were we were doing this for the prek at the primary school and early head start with Marie Cozy Kids, Child's World, First Steps Learning Center, First United Methodist, and First Baptist were ones that were getting those books and we wanted to continue and do something else for them. So one of the things we found out was a lot of these daycarees, they don't have a lot of money, right? They don't have a lot of services. So one of the things was what could we do to

043enrich their literacy areas and so we got them together and they said you know we could really use a lot of things in our literacy centers in our literacy areas. So we gave them said make a wish list let's see what we can do with this grant and so they provided us with wish lists and you'll see what happened here. Um keep moving. So these are the daycare centers that we worked with. Many of the same were off that list that we had from the first readers and many of the daycarees in our in our in our area. And so what they did was they started sending us and we started sending it to them. And so they flooded their Facebook pages and showing the boxes they were getting and the things that they were

044getting. as we go ahead and throw some more of this. All the daycarees were so excited to be receiving those boxes and then they realized, wait a minute, we have to unpack these boxes. We didn't we didn't provide the support for that. So that was up to them. So in the past couple of weeks, we went out, they've been putting their stuff out, and Miss Jones and I went out and started looking at these areas. They set up science centers. They set up some activity centers, a lot of reading nooks, plenty of books that we provided for them through this grant, new carpets, new furniture, things that they could not have been able to provide otherwise. Um, so it was really great to see. And so the next step was what else can we do

045for them? Well, they have to do training every year to since they're all bright from the start certified and they had to pay for that training. And so we looked into they said, "Well, we have a person that does our training and she's fantastic, Miss Bobby Lee, and she's out of Augusta. You just got to get in touch with her." So we got in touch with Miss Bobby Lee and she has been running these trainings for our daycare um their employees and we've been doing this for the last six weeks on Tuesday nights and Thursday nights from 6:30 to 8:30. We provide them a little meal out there. Miss Kamala Smith has been instrumental in that. And uh our team, Dr. Luke Oh man, Miss Dye and Dr. Evans and Sean Middleton who's not here.

046Of course, you would know if he was here, right? And and of course, M. Broen, who's also been very instrumental in this whole program, working with us, getting books out all kinds of places and supporting us tremendously with this work. And so those trainings have been fantastic. And so I wanted uh and I think as we've sat in those trainings as a team, we realized, wow, how much this we need to impact these daycarees and how these folks need this support. And so uh I asked Bobby Lee to come speak to you just for a few minutes on the importance of literacy training with our daycarees and in our community. [Applause] Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. And I want to first say thanks to all the childcare programs in Burke County because

047I think it's by their word of mouth is how I got up these roads here. And so I want to thank them. But I um emphasize to the group our first night the 55 hours versus 10 hours. And research tells us that uh children start their their career their first six weeks in life in an early childhood program. They spend up to 55 waking hours a week in that program and they spend up to 10 waking hours a week with parents. And so we understand that through early literacy and we understand the importance of when that zone of proximal development happens, the window of opportunity is more open between birth to five than it is at any other time. By the time they get to a brick and mortar to school, that window of opportunity

048is closed and it takes intervention to get those literacy skills in. And so we recognize the 55 hours has a bigger impact than the 10. And so we needed to make sure that early childhood educators have the opportunity to pour all of that in them at the time when they're most likely to learn it. And so that's one of the reasons why we do this early importance. um we look at early literacy and we try to elevate that in the early childhood setting and not just wait until they're able to, you know, read a book and look at words, but we put those foundational skills in them before they even able to speak. And so I thank you guys for um even funding this important work and and ensuring that the early learners got a

049chance to reap the benefits of this as well and not an afterthought. So thank you. Thank you. I'd like for all our friends here, our daycare folks stand [Applause] to do a thank you from all the child. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you all so much just for supporting us and equipping us with the materials that we need that makes uh reading more engaging and more accessible in our centers. Um through your support through the trainings through Miss Bobby Lee, it has really empowered our teachers and we know that it is really going to make a difference. We thank you so much for this investment. Thank you. [Applause] That's what we have for presentation tonight. We appreciate your support of this project and you have any questions or any comments we'd like to hear those

050as well. Thank you from public library. She Yeah. Well, yes. I'm just excited. It was like Christmas to us. I mean, honestly, it was our our children. I mean, they they kind of when they got the new stuff in, it was like they went home telling their mas about, you know, the new furniture that we had up in daycare. You know, we we don't have a lot of money in daycare. You know, it's mostly spent for payroll and everything else that we have to do. But to be offered and Merl come in to, you know, give us this thing about our wish list. So, when the trucks pulled up in front of my daycare and it started to load, it was like, what am I gonna put on? So, it was like I was just

051praying that the state did not come in while I had all these boxes and it was definitely not organized. But, um, it was a blessing to us and we do we definitely thank y'all for including us in that because it was something completely different for our kids. I mean, every room was a part of it. Everybody, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Well, we thank you all for your hard work and I know the babies are happy. Okay. May I acknowledge the teaching and learning team again because on the Tuesday and Thursday that they are that the daycare providers are in our building until 8:30 is the teaching and learning department that facilitates and support that work. So I would like for them to take a moment to stand and acknowledge the work that they are supporting. Thank

052you all. [Music] See, we have so many good things happening. And every time I turn on the TV and look at Facebook and see all these stories that Burke County is doing, believe me, it does not go unnoted. Thank you all very much. Hey, Sam. Okay, we'll continue old business. Mr. Oh, SR. So, you remember, I think it was last month, you approved the contract and we sent it to the county and they and the and the contract you initially approved included that you would pay for all the overtime for the SRO's that you had not been doing, but you you offered to pay all of the overtime. And when they received that, they came back with a couple of additional um requests, both of which are pretty straightforward. And in fact, minimal. Uh one

053is they wanted to change the language such that you the district would indemnify whole harmless the county for anything u any liability incurred as a result of something the SRO's do while they're in the performance of their functions. As happens, we had already insured them. they're already on our insurance. Uh so we just simply add the county as an additional insurer. So that covers that. Uh and the other request was that we would agree to pay all of the salaries for those SRO's all the time. And there had been a provision in the in the agreement that talked about if they were pulled away from the campus for some emergency, then we would deduct that and the county would pay for it. Well, according to Colonel Fluger, that's never happened. Um, and I don't anticip

054I don't anticipate it ever happened. And if it did, it would be such a minimal amount that might be worth keeping up with. And my understanding from Mr. Markson is we've been paying their salaries 100% all along anyway. So um but we made those changes to the agreement and that's the agreement that you now have before any questions concern anybody get a chance to look at it and you answered my question. Thank you very much. Okay so we need a motion to set the new contract that has been presented our lawyer. I shall move. Second. Second. Okay. No discussion. Let's vote by show pass. Thank you very much. Motion carries. We'll need to sign it. Yes, ma'am. I'll take it. All right. Let's move on. Dr. Williams. All right. So, um, early head start report.

055Miss Reed is away to her at her granddaughter's high school graduation in Arizona. Yes. So, I'll be Miss Reed tonight at the uh to the best of my ability, the early head start report. Um so, the top sheet there uh just as a reminder tells you what's in the report. So, we'll start with the U monthly program report. Uh, of course the program is funded for 94 and there are actually 94 students enrolled at the center. The average daily attendance is 86% and there are currently 10 students on the wait list as of the end of April. 31 of the students will be transitioning out of the center and uh we're currently working with three pregnant women. Health checks are up to date at 82% and shots are 100% up to date. And we have

056the minimum required 10% um population students with disabilities. We have to have 9.4%. So we're at 10%. Um staff training activities for the month of April. There were four staff training activities and three parent involvement activities. As you can see there, we are uh four months at the end of April. four months into the year. Um we still have 71% of our inind to collect in that area. And then also there is the school nutrition report you see the number of children served for the month of April for breakfast, lunch and snack. And then over on the next page um very minimal expenditures for the month of April. $366 at Walmart. The next page you see the um expenditures for April. So we are a little bit ahead of where we are in the um

057this time of year. We're in the fourth month and 41% of the budget left, but that's typical. The next several pages are from Smart Fusion and they will show the um April expenditures, the year-to- date expenditures and then also the details on the encumbered sheets. So that's what you have there. The only other thing that's not in the packet, um, Miss Reed sent the nonfederal share, um, that we always get a waiver for that. I and I have a copy of it. And this would be for the years 2020 and 2024. So, I can get you all to sign off on those at the end of the end of the night. Okay, that's it. Tell that was approved. Yes. So, we finally got Thank you. We finally got um um confirmation from the office of

058Head Start from Miss Yolanda Willis to start and she showed up the next day and uh she has been doing a great job. Today was her first day in the center without Miss Reed because Miss Reed is is out. So, that's great. Um the staff has been very receptive. Um she's been in and out of those classrooms and nothing but good support. So, we're glad to have her on board. Okay. All right. to uh have a motion for the April Ed Head Start report. Um Dr. Early Head Start report to be received with the comment that the training was excellent that we had the other night. We missed my partner there, but he was working uh because we all try to work together and it was wonderful. Thank you very much. And we need a

059second now. Thank you. Okay. All right. No discussion. All right. We need to vote. Show hand. Motion carries. Let's continue, please. Okay. Okay. Good evening, distinguished board members. Thank you for allowing me a few minutes to provide a brief update and share an important request. I am pleased to inform you that effective July 1st, communities and schools of Burke County Family Connection will officially transition to Burke County Family Connection Incorporated. We are proud to be a part of Georgia's statewide family connection network, a collaborative effort focused on building partnerships, leveraging resources, creating strategic plans, and implementing programs that serve children and families. Our shared vision remains clear for all children to be safe, healthy, educated, and part of a stable, self-sufficient families within a thriving community. Your continued participation in our collaborative is a vital

060is vital and is making our vision a reality. As we embark on this new chapter, we have developed an annual plan that depends that deepens our commitment to youth and families in Burke County. Some of our priorities include continued participation on the Early Head Start Policy Council, increasing education and outreach on the importance of attendance, providing over 1,480 backpack snacks to students in need. Supporting youth leadership and action sessions through planning and facilitation. Continuing our community education efforts on power-based violence prevention, sustaining and expanding our resilient teens program, which equips adolescents with emotional regulational tools, coping skills, and peer support opportunities. And pending grant approval, launching a more expansive initiative to address the opioid crisis. While time does not permit me to list every planned activity and initiative, I would welcome each of you the

061opportunity to meet with me in person oneonone. Now to my request. For the past 13 years, we have been fortunate to be housed at the Burke County Life Center. I am deeply grateful for this support which allows us to focus on our energy on serving the community. However, due to upcoming changes at this facility and with Mr. Anthony Child's permission, I respectfully request the opportunity to utilize room 230 at Wsboro Primary School as my new space. This room is located at the very end of the first grade hallway, which will allow me to work without disrupting daily school operations. While I do plan to contribute to school activities when possible, especially with the attendance committee, please rest assured that my presence will remain discreet. I will not host large meetings or allow unscheduled visitors to

062roam the halls as the safety and privacy of our students will always remain top priority. I am humbly asking for your support so that I may continue to serve the families and students of Burke County effectively and responsibly. Thank you for your time, consideration, and partnership. Thank you. Thank you. How many people on your staff? So, effective May 30th, I found out today it'll be me. And I have I have an accounting assistant that comes twice per month, but it'll be me, okay? Doing so, but it's with partnership. This is why partnership is so important. Mhm. So you're going to lose the people who helped train my debut since we came over there and worked with him this year. Uh not only does she work with the children, smaller children, but she does workshops and

063the one that's interesting is making it 100 and talking to those seniors about what to expect. didn't like it. She does an excellent job and I must say I'm proud of her because she was one of my students at Gerard Elementary. So I don't expect anything less. Thank you. Thank you. She is a counsel in town and I can't think of her name. Infinity group. Yes ma'am. I have a meeting with her soon next week as a matter of fact. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We have to give up. Yes. Does the super you've had a chance to think about that and talk to Mr. Childs. So, yes, I talked Mr. Childs a little bit. They've already been using the room because they had an in-house um tutor at Primary. So, that's essentially the room she's

064asking to take her office. Okay. Any will this be permanent or once the life center's redone, will they go back over there or will this be a permanent change or we don't know at this time? There's no office space being extra office space being built. Okay. All right. You want to discuss it further and come back and give her an answer. Are we ready to vote tonight? I'm ready. You're ready? Okay. Let's um have a motion. She's from area. Okay. She's from the big city of Jory, member of one of the churches that I play with. Okay. I motion that we allow Miss Teresa Carter the use of room 230 at the Burke County at Williamsburg Primary School for the Burke County Family Connections. I second that motion. Second. Any other discussion? There's no discussion.

065Let's vote by show of hands. Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Ro educator. Yes. Um so annually you will approve or consider for approval um to continue funding the 4 educator. And so that request has come up again for uh FY26. And so we need the board approval to in order to move forward with that. I did include a request of a call. Well, that would be second. Okay. The first request is that you all will continue funding the position. Okay. Let's have a motion. Someone make a motion. I make a motion to continue the funding of the 4 educator position or second. Okay. It has been a motion and second. No discussion. Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. Let's vote by show of hands. Okay. Motion carries. The second request. Yes. Um was that we

066um typically so we only pay half that salary. Um the and there are other 4 positions that the county um funds, but according to them when they give a cola to the county, they also give it to the 4 person. So they're making requests that for the um young lady that we provide funding for that we consider that same cola for her. So the request is to extend the cola for the 4 educator. Okay. Ne motion. I shall move. Okay. Second motion is second. Any discussion? Are we paying all half of it? We pay half our salary in UG half. All of the code. Okay, I got it. I got it. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, uh let's vote by show of hand. Okay, motion cares. Okay, for your report, I have nothing. I have

067one question and I don't know if Dr. Williams has had a chance to talk to the new directors of Early Head Start yet, but uh she was thinking that the employees at Early Head Start do not make the same money that we make as fair pros in the school system. So the thought was that we would think about elevating their salaries commensurate with what parapros are paid the steps and everything and they'll be able to keep a great staff over there. People leave because when they find an opening in the system they're going to leave because they make more money. And I didn't know if Dr. Williams wanted to discuss that with us additionally. So I can we can talk about it or we can talk about it next month. Alice and I have had

068conversation. Good. Remember early head start is on a different fiscal year. We have a labor on January to December. So she and I have talked about it. We have not worked up numbers to bring to you all to consider. But whatever happens it will not be effective until January 26 just because of the way their budget year runs. But we have discussed it. Yes ma'am. So we have time to discuss it. Okay. If there's nothing further, this concludes our open session of our meeting. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for attending. God bless you and have a great afternoon. Thank you. We're now going into Y'all need a break. Vote a break. That was a long time. Okay. Okay. But let's vote. Okay. Okay. Motion is made. Second. Okay. Let's vote. Okay. We in it. Go

069to B. Yeah. [Music] Thank you very much. All right. God bless.