001elves. >> How about them Braves? Huh? >> Blackerby. Um he they're on their way to Athens for graduation. So we wish them safe travels and and a good time, exciting time for them. So, he'll be back next week for the Tuesday Wait till it passes. a bit. >> Yeah, mental. Yeah, you can say it out loud. play tonight and tomorrow if they need to play I think >> money Miss Cody, you don't have any like >> you don't have any like bombshells or anything we need to talk about? Yeah. >> Can we spend some money on a new clock in the back? >> It hasn't been right. >> It hadn't been right since we started this whole remodel. I think I understood Hey John, how are you? >> All good. >> I'm going to OT.
002>> Yeah. >> And I just left there in fact >> and it hurts when they do. >> Yeah. But when you go to >> Yeah. They work you. >> Yeah. They'll break it. have 30 seconds. >> I guess I'm being punished >> back in the day. >> Good luck charm. Right. >> All right. So that that's that's it. The five minutes are up. So we'll we'll cover anything else we have questions with in a few minutes. But um go ahead and turn it over to Mr. Benson for items of information. >> Okay. So tonight we'll start with our financial reports for June 2025 and March 2026 with Miss Cody. Okay. We're going to start with our um June 2025 audited financial report. Uh overall, our general fund revenues exceeded budget projections by 1,74,046. Expenditures as
003of June 30th were at 99.1% of budget, demonstrating our district's continued focus on maintaining fiscal responsibility and operating within budgetary expectations throughout the year. And as you can see in the expenditure breakdown, instruction continues to be our largest area of investment, representing 63 point 66.3% of the total general fund expend expenditures. Salaries and benefits accounted for 86.7% of total general fund expend expenditures, which highlights our district's continued focus on investing in our employees and supporting student instruction. The general fund balance increased from 25,200,89 to 28,781,7759, which is an increase of just over 3.5 million. This gross reflects stable revenues and discipline spending. Fiscal year 2025 expenditures also included operating transfers of see 4.5 million to the local capital projects fund 42,800 to our prek fund and 151,500 to Glee. The ending fund balances for our
004capital project funds are as follows. Local capital projects 39.1 million East Boss 3 11.6 million East Boss 4 55.5 and East Boss 5 9.8. So the district ended the year in a strong financial position with healthy fund balances and continued investment in instruction personnel and long-term capital needs. These results provide a solid foundation to continue planning for future needs of our district and students. I guess one thing to note is, you know, we have we show balances all the way back to East Blast 3 because there are still projects that are ongoing for those. It's not like we're >> correct left over. Yeah. >> And that was that was um at the end of um June of last year. So this year like our our East Boss 3 is down to 4.2 million because of
005payments for the performing arts center. So >> that's the one project left. Any other questions or comments? Okay, then I will move on to the March financials. So, we did not have any budget amendments in March. been in um our general fund continues to be in stable condition and as of March we were threequarters of the way through the fiscal year. Revenues were at 84% of budget and expenditures were at 71.7%. February sales tax were received in March in the amount of 2,839,39426. Sales tax collections were received in March received in March of 2026 were 047% higher than March of 2024. And then on the investments, uh, interest received in March was 588,69167. Any other questions for Miss Cody? Okay. So, we will move on to the budget update. So, on this first page, I
006have highlighted the changes from my last um presentation. I added an additional 50,000 to the transportation budget to address increased fuel costs. And I also adjusted the operating transfer to reflect a $75,000 operating transfer for our Glee child care program. So really not many changes since since the last presentation. Um, so this next page is um the tenative consolidated budget that if approved will be published on our district's website and advertised in the local newspaper along with the notice for our second budget hearing. Uh, in the general fund, expenditures exceed revenues by $1,796,100. In the special revenue fund, expenditures exceed revenue by $1,26,700 with the majority of that variance related to our workers compensation premium payments. And then in capital projects, which of course includes our local capital project fund and all of our east
007loss expenditures exceed revenues by $45,583,600. The primary driver of that variance is the Glendale replacement which is going to be funded with Eastbast 4. Expenditures are still being incurred from Eastblo 3 and four while no additional revenue is being collected kind of like what was mentioned earlier. Um at this time I still have not received the final QBE aotment or the finalized information from the tax assessor's office. Uh however, I'm confident that I will have both figures prior to the June work session since this is the tenative budget being uh presented for approval. Adjustments can still be made after the publication and prior to the final adoption on June 16th. So there will be another budget update in the June work session. >> I did look again. You don't have to have the millage rate
008history adopt attached to that. Do you? >> I did have it in the last presentation. I don't have it. >> It's okay. We can look maybe Tuesday we can look at it again. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Can you provide us a copy of all the grants that we have that will be rolling over to the next fiscal year? >> Yes. >> F like the federal and state grant. Okay. and thanks for keeping us in the positive way. >> It's a collaborative effort with everyone. >> I'm sure it takes a manager to manage the people. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Cody. We we'll move along in the agenda. Uh the next item we have down is the Otis assessment and analytics software renewal. Um believe it or not, we're getting ready to close out
009another year. It feels like we were just at this point and so um just to kind of bring that request forward for this evening. Uh tonight we are asking for the renewal of the Otis software. Um this year's cost is slightly is a slight increase from last year's um amount. Um, we are looking at an approximately about a $2,000 difference from what the price was last year. We did ask Otis to adjust the uh student enrollment. And so that adjustment did help us offset a little bit of the other increased costs that were there. Our district spent time this past school year um adding items to the assessment bank. I think that was something that came up the last time when we presented this. It's been part of our district professional learning and um teachers
010have become more and more comfortable using this software. Um based on the predictions that we've seen um with the analytics um we are on track to have another uh really nice year in terms of student achievement. So we're looking forward to those results coming forward as we um receive things back from the state. But um overall things are looking really good. So um we would ask for your uh approval for this renewal. >> Any questions? Any questions? >> So tonight we have um several individuals here from u our partners at CESI to talk to us a little bit about school of scholars. So at this time we'd like to invite uh Miss Tasco Madison and Mr. Donald Gillis uh forward for a presentation. Hello everyone. >> Hello. >> Um, so just really quick, I just
011want to introduce my team that's here today. I'm Miss Madison. I'm the director of GL County School Scholars. Mr. Donald Gillis, my associate director. Um, Mr. Kevin Deal, our uh, regional vice president. Miss Julia Graph, our director of support services. Mr. Andrew Maxwell, our regional director. See, I'm keeping all together. And then Mr. Mr. Quinton Munry, he's our director of school partnerships. I'm going to let him talk briefly um about just how you get to a program like this um where we we are also located and then we'll talk about school scholars. >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board. My name is Quinton Mumprey, director of partnerships for CESI specialized education services. And we're honored to serve students across about 18 states uh and students who are in need of special education services
012as well as alternative education services, including our six district partners here in the state of Georgia. Um we partner with districts to supplement the services and add to the continuum of services that districts have to produce high quality outcomes for the students. And so we're honored for the partnership here and want to share just some of the highlights of the accomplishments of the program here with Glen County. >> Very nice. Okay. We're ready. All right. So, thank you, Mr. Gillis. Okay. So, our purpose, um, so we were brought here to serve a specific population of students, students with significant that light is in there, emotional and behavioral needs who also struggle in traditional school settings. Um and then maybe not having a clear pathway to kind of stabilize and get them back to those traditional
013um educational environments. Um so what the district requested from us safe structure learning environment um aligned to a curriculum evidence-based behavioral and therapeutic supports um of course a least restrictive environment with a goal to transition back to their home school. And then of course a team with strong progress monitoring and we'll get into that in a few minutes. Um, so I I won't read all these uh program intents, but two of the ones that I do want to focus on is that increased ability to stabilize and transition students successfully and then the measurable progress in academics, behavior, attendance, and IEP goals, which we'll go over. So, um, and you guys are all welcome to come to our campus. Um, I'm going to talk a little bit about legacy. Um, it's kind of like our school
014theme. If you come, there's a large sign in the front that said tells our students, "Your legacy starts here." Um, and it's about them not being held to anything that they've went through before. Um, and you know, home things, school things, doesn't matter, but that they have the opportunity to start there with any of the changes that they want to make. How do you want us to remember you when you leave here? Because in mind, keeping in that transition focus. So, that's our school theme, legacy. If you ever come by, our students will tell you all about legacy. They'll tell you about their legacy. All right. So, our mission statement, again, not going to read all of this, but I am going to focus on that we utilize evidence-based trauma-informed care that produces positive student
015outcomes and creates lasting behavioral change. I want to highlight that lasting behavioral change because everything that we equipped our students with, coping strategies, them being able to identify their triggers that carries with them when they go back to their home school, but also in life. One of the best compliments we get from our parents is that the student improved at school but also at home. That's one of our like the best thing we can hear because it means that the student is taking the strategies that we're giving them and using them in all kinds of environments. School, home, doesn't matter. So you can go ahead. Okay. So our program model again not going to read all of this just going to highlight. So we offer clinical behavioral management that's framed around early intervention and positive
016reinforcement with a holistic approach to ensure trauma-informed care for all students. I want to focus on the holistic approach because again when we get students we take the data from the past that they already have from their home school while surp providing them supports in the present and then putting all that together to make a plan for the future which is again transition focus going back to their home school. um our program initiatives. One I want to highlight is that we can't focus on student success if we don't all work together as a team. So that's the school, that's parents, we all have to work together to get the student outcomes that we want. So I want to highlight to ensure that parents and guardians are actively involved in the educational process. A little bit
017later, we'll talk about our parent steering committee. Um that's become very popular and also we've seen a lot of student success um since we've implemented it. All right. So, we do offer two different programs. All right. We have our K through2 special education program. Um that of course offers special education services, behavioral supports, and is again transition focused. Um this program emphasizes individualized support, skilled development, and gradual reintegration back into a mainstream educational setting. And then of course, we have our early behavioral intervention program that focuses on kindergarten through first grade. Of course, that individualized instruction. And then we focus a lot there on social and emotional learning because it's for littles who just don't quite know how to be in a school setting just yet. Um so we provide them with those supports so
018that when they go back to their home schools they're able to transition successfully. What's the next one? >> You want me to hold this? >> I got it. >> Okay. Appreciate that. >> Um so with that in mind um we do when we're working with our students in order to basically accomplish what we mean uh what we mentioned in all of our programs. Sorry, this is moving everywhere. We do have we take a data driven focus and then when we look at our frequency of supports, Miss Mass Mad mentioned making sure that what we do fits into the continuum of services. I'm just going to set this down um that they also provide in the school district. So, of course, some of the things that we do when you think of like your general MTSS
019process, right, with your lower tiers, it's what the supports that everyone receives. So, with our programs, it's very similar. Um everyone gets those therapeutic behavioral supports, those um redirections, those positive reinforcements for that positive behavior. and we'll talk a little bit more about it as well. We use what's called a normative school culture model. So we don't have rules, we have norms. Um so everyone adheres to that. That is the expectation for all students. Then of course as we go on those students that do have diverse learning needs, maybe their challenges are a little different from another student. Making sure that we take a more individualized approach as the need for the student increases. That way we can support them where they are so we can still continue to see that student success even at
020the individualized level. And in order to accomplish that, we have to have an amazing team. So we have an amazing set of staff that help support the students when they enter to our program. So all of our staff are required to attend 80 hours of pre-ervice training before students even come into the building. And then on top of that, we have weekly professional developments that we do. Um and in total with all the professional developments that we do weekly, it totals to about 75 hours of inservice training that we that occurs throughout the entirety of the school year. On the left side is just kind of a brief description of the different professional developments that we do. Our classroom clinics is kind of more of like our catchall where we model different things like maybe
021we go through scenarios with students or specific behaviors or challenges. We model what that looks like in the classroom and also model the supports to kind of help the students in those moments. Or a common planning which is specifically where our teachers, our instructional staff can meet and have that common planning time to kind of review student data, assessments, behaviors that impact learning and how they can manage their classroom and support students that way. And we also of course use our high leverage instructional practices as well, which of course doesn't just support the students and their behaviors and their learning, but it's also how we observe. so we can also support our teachers to make sure that they're giving the students a quality education and reviewing that data and seeing where we can best support
022them. And one thing that all of our staff work on um and that we train on is the science of behavior to work with this population of students. It's very important that we not only can identify the behavior and the supports, but also understand what is the function of the behavior. Where is it coming from? So that way we can really get at the heart of the matter to get at that lasting behavioral change that Miss Madison had mentioned. And of course, all of our staff, there's CPR, first aid certified. We all take the mandated reporter training. We do youth mental health first aid certifications, um, as well as the trauma-informed care training. And then all of our staff are trained in crisis prevention um, with the students as well to just assist if there
023is any need when they do get into those more heightened states as it relates to the more um, behaviors. And Miss Madison, I know, loves to talk about normative culture, so I'm not going to take that slide from you. >> Okay. I appreciate that. All right. So, normative culture. Um so if you ever come to our campus our students will talk about norms um because rules are made to be broken. >> Broken. >> Exactly. >> Um so our students um so normative culture um is the way we kind of it's our kind of a support to our schoolwide PBIS system. Um so instead of giving our students rules, we give them norms norms in each setting. So it would be a classroom setting, hallway, and this gives them a guideline um for appropriate behaviors in
024those settings. Um and some of the benefits of that normative culture is of course clear expectations and consistency, improve student behavior. And then my favorite which is a stronger sense of belonging and community. Um every time people come to our campus, they say, "Oh, it feels like a big family." The students feel like they belong somewhere. And that is very important to us because a lot of times when the students come they oh I don't feel like I belong anywhere. So making them feel like they belong somewhere. Um giving them a stronger sense of self so that when we send them back to their home schools they have a better grip on hey I'm someone I'm I'm important you know just giving them that that boost of confidence. So >> and then when we think
025about the sense of community and belonging especially for our students we have what's called our legends. There are students that join our SGA. So those are students that basically serve as that exemplary model of what it means to follow that normative school culture. They are a model to other students. They assist staff. They have additional incentives that you know for being legends. And then you'll see the blazer that's right here in the middle of the slide. That is one of our newest what we call an executive. So they kind of they're basically like the superintendent of the legends at the school you can think of. So they're they just kind of emerge as that leader on campus and serve as a model for other students. And the students have a lot of pride in being
026considered legends. It takes five weeks for them to become a legend. That's five weeks of consistently following their norms and um being what we call a strength according to our schoolwide PBIS. And then after that, they spend some time there and just kind of emerge as that leader. And they take a lot of pride in being that helping the staff and also of course their favorite part is all the swag, the the fancy sweaters and things. They they love to get those and show them off and let everyone know that they're a legend. So when you guys come visit, most likely one of our legends would give you a tour around the campus and tell you all the things that they get to do there. So um and of course we've talked about legends and
027um the behaviors in nor school culture model. So how we keep up with the data to see are the students adhering to our nor school culture model. We use a platform called live schools. It allows us to collect real-time data on student behavior. Um it even has a little convenient little phone app that we can use. That way we can get as close to real time as possible because that allows us to track the students when the behaviors are occurring, the frequency of the behaviors. Maybe it's a specific time of day, maybe it's in a specific class or a specific subject and that allows us to kind of key in on these students need more supports in this specific time of day or this specific environment. So we can really get at that targeted individualized
028support. We do have an example of one of our students that is currently on the transition list to transition out of our program and going into next school year. He started with us our very first year in 2023 and there were very serious physically aggressive behaviors throughout the entirety of the day. The student started on an abbreviated day. Um and this year they've become a legend. The student has been transitioned to a full day at the school and they are now on our transition list to leave the program. So they serve as like that model of this is the success that we want to see with our students and just showing that if we have the buyin from the family and es especially the students that we see that success. And then when we look
029at academics, of course, when you are in a classroom setting, we, you know, still in a school, when those behaviors are no longer that serious impact or impeding the learning, we of course are going to focus on our academics, making sure that our lesson objectives are clear and measurable because we do serve a diverse group of learners. They have um a diverse level of needs from their cognitive levels to, you know, just various challenges that relates to their behaviors. So once those are in check and they get their routine and their schedule and that structure, we adapt those lessons and the curriculum to meet their specific needs and where they are. And we did want to just include and it's also included in the folders that you guys have on the data fact sheet as
030well, but um with our I Ready scores and we're currently in milestones testing with our students as well, but we do also progress monitor with I Ready. So we did see um 74% of students saw at least a half year of growth with their ELA and 67% saw at least a half year of growth um with math. And if we're looking at a full year of growth, um 64% for ELA and 67% for math. So having those behavioral supports in place, having that supportive community, that environment where they feel safe and they're able to kind of focus and you know decrease the behavior so they can actually engage in the learning, we are starting to see some positive growth and increase from the students as well. And I'm not going to spend too much time
031on this um on this slide, but how we actually get that education in that instruction out. We use what's called our CIF or common instructional framework strategies, which includes questioning scaffolding. Um I always talk about my students that scaffolding is building off what you already know and they all know what that means because they know what a scaffold is in Minecraft. So if they ever try to tell you they don't, they 100% do. Um and then of course we going back to the high lever practices as well. It's not just for the students in addressing behaviors, but also supporting the staff and supporting the students as well in the classroom. And once again, I'm not gonna steal your slide, Miss Miss. >> All right. So, um, so a part of that social and emotional um,
032learning and development. We allow our students to participate in a variety of community partnerships and projects. It allows them to give back. Um, so this year we partnered with, and there's a couple on here that I want to highlight that word. Um, the hope 1312 collective. Uh the students were able to make bags um for various workers and then I think the my favorite one the stocking holiday drive with residents at home life on Gleno. We also allow our students to kind of write encouraging notes to um every all the residents and they always send us back pictures and how elated the the residents are um at the home when our students write them letters. So I really love um that particular project as well. And then our parent and and this is a highlight
033for our school, our parent parent and family engagement. Um so we do have a parent steering committee called the herd. Um of course we want to ensure parent participation in educational and transitional program but also it brings us and the families together. So our staff and the families we're able to collaborate and provide support for students. We're able to exchange data. A lot of things that we learn again taking that holistic approach. A lot of the the data that we collect from the families um maybe a student is struggling with something at home, maybe something changed in that home environment. Um that's important for us to know that may you know affect their behaviors, certain triggers and things like that. So it really is a cohesive team effort with the families. So we really try
034to bring them into us. Um we've done a few parent engagement events this year. Um counting on fall which is our family uh math night of course literacy night. We do partners progress and pizza which is when we review progress monitoring um results with families. And then a new one we added last year that I really really like and that's because I suffer from testing testing anxiety myself is muffins and milestones. We invite the parents up provide resources how you can support your student at home during testing season um which can be you know cause students a little anxiety um during that testing season. And one thing that we also like to focus on too when it comes to parent engagement is especially a lot of the positive feedback that we've gotten from parents is
035that they feel like their voices are heard and they actually get the opportunity to communicate to the school culture and and not they haven't experienced that in the past but just when their students behaviors have escalated so much they can kind of get distanced from that. So being you know in a space where they can now feel like they're included again it's not just conversations about the behavior. Um, I did want to focus on, and Miss M didn't tell you about this, but I did want to focus on this one, uh, great testimony we got from a parent, you know, just about the great work that we've done and the positive change that they've seen. But I also did want to focus on this last sentence here where they say, "Tell your boss, you guys
036need a raise." So, everyone, you heard it. So, I have several wins. Um, but just just to kind of quickly also glaze over, we do have um, of course, we also get parent surveys throughout the year. So, we always want that feedback from the parents. You know, making sure that we're consistently communicating with them. They're consistently communicating with us. Does your child um feel like they get the those social emotional needs? Are they growing in there? Um Miss Madison mentioned the students that are seeing the behavioral change not just at school, but at home. That's part of our survey as well with parents. Do you notice the change as well? And um you know, you guys do also have a copy of the presentation in your folders as well. Um so, you can go through
037and read some of the testimonies that we've received from parents. But like we mentioned, this is why we do what we do and why we support the students. One, because we love what we do and we love our students. They it feels like a great family and a community, but also that feedback from the parents where they finally feel like their child is able to be successful. They're welcome. They're developing positive friendships and relationships not just with not just with the staff, but also with peers as well. And we did want to talk a little bit about some of the feedback that we've gotten from students that have successfully transitioned out of our program. Um so one who's now a sixth grader uh the homeschool had to share with us that they were like a
038different kids and say they've um returned from school of scholars and they've been doing very well and we've gotten a couple of others for some students um that we just wanted to make sure that we included because those students when they leave and they are successful and of course we we do stay in contact with the home schools when we send the students back. we have, you know, things to kind of help support that transition and knowing and understanding which all of the home schools have been very helpful and supportive in that way as well and understanding that when the students do transition to these new environments, there is going to be an adjustment period and making sure that there are those supports in place and everyone is always on the same page. So, that's
039been great. It's always awesome to hear the success that the students have when they do transition back to their home school. >> Um, so our last thing would be our campus highlights. Um, so just a few I want to highlight. um of course our hundth day of school we do highlight um perfect attendance and monthly and that's because you know getting students to come to school well we can't give them any coping strategies we can't help them with anything if they're not at our school so of course we have a ton of things happening so that they're always motivated to come to our campus um the affirmation garden is also my favorite uh parent engagement committee comes every year and they replant everything have the students write uh affirmative notes to each other so that's
040a really good one and then the health initiative day. Uh we had I think the health department comes out um to you know just update our students on various topics. They really like that one. Um of course they like ice cream social. Um and then international literacy day which is also another highlight of our campus. Um we do have extracurricular activities. Um I feel like every year we probably added something. Um but this year we're really proud of the performing arts club. I just want to talk about a soft skill. When students are in middle school, high school, they have a variety of things they can choose to participate in. Whether I want to be in basketball, football, French club, Spanish club, doesn't matter. So, we try to kind of replicate that at our school
041on a smaller level so that they have the autonomy to kind of choose what they want to do and participate in and really commit to it because that is in itself is a soft skill. So, really proud of these extracurricular activities. Um, and we'll probably keep adding to them um each year probably. Is that the last? >> Yeah. And I think that was our >> Okay, that's it. >> So, we do appreciate you guys giving us some time today to kind of talk through our program. So, if you guys have any questions, we >> Yeah, got a question. What do you contribute to your um decrease in um target behaviors from last year to this year? That seems a big drop. >> So, um well, so for that one, that was for that one particular
042student, the graph that we saw in the presentation, that was just for that was just showing one student. Um, and that student, it's just been that consistent one, finding that staff member that they work very well with. And then a lot of our students, it's every student's a puzzle, right? So, we have to figure out the pieces that's going to make it fit and work. So, we found out that that student, he likes doing things hands-on. He likes helping staff, having the opportunity to work with staff. Um, he has his own little walkie and now it doesn't work. It doesn't connect to the ones for the staff, but he likes having that opportunity and earn that chance to kind of go out and walk around with the staff. And, um, so that was really what
043kind of helped him. but also he loves building things. So, you know, finding those different items and things to help him as well, just having those different incentives. >> How many teachers do y'all employ? >> Um, five total. >> Five. And And what's the ratio between the teachers and the students? >> So, there are 10 students in each class. >> Yeah. And then, uh, teacher and a behavioral specialist. >> So, you have about 50. How many kids you have? >> Yeah, it can go up to 50. Yes. >> Yeah. And you had almost over 50% of participation from the surveys from the parents. That's good. >> Yeah, we're very proud of that that that parents like very proud. >> And then also when they come for our events for parents, they you know they fill
044out surveys then too. And we have we always have pretty good turnout with our parents. So our events as well >> that comment about a raise that wasn't our system. That was another system that you work with. Yeah, that's where I just wanted you all to hear it so I could let let my >> Now a more serious question. What what percent success in our system 100%. >> In terms of student transitions. >> So we've had about so we've served about 88 students in total and we've trans we've successfully transitioned out 20 26 students >> and we've only had four of them that have returned >> returned over the three years. what's traumainformed care. >> So that that kind of goes back to that holistic approach that Miss Madison was talking about. So many of
045our students when they come they have a lot of challenges that impact them that come from the home environment or anything outside of school. So that trauma-informed care and um Miss Jules Miss Julia who they mentioned who is our regional one of our regional support members um works with our staff to train them on how we look at the student as a whole. Um, you know, there's something that we do called the ACES. So, we can kind of be aware of our own challenges and our own trauma so we can make sure that we're supporting the students where they are. So, if there's some trauma related to family life or home life, having that whole view of the student to support them when they're at school. >> Just an interesting word as an ER nurse,
046it doesn't >> Yeah. As long as a very would be a very different difference. >> So, I'm going what does they mean? >> I did I did visit a campus before and it's it's a difference. Um, we appreciate that. >> Yeah. Behavior. >> We always love visitors. >> Mannerable. Yeah. >> Uniforms. >> So, everybody stop by and get a shirt. We have lots of swag. Our students are very prideful of where they are. So, please come by. We have tons of of swag to give you all. >> From your vantage point, would you recommend expanding the program to more youth? >> Um, so I would say I I'm I'm a little biased um because I've seen this program work. I've been doing this for 10 11 years. I have seen the impact it makes in
047various settings across three different school districts. I'm going to tell you that the program works 100%. Um and it has changed lives the the course of students lives. So I would always recommend that. I think now with the when we got the lead program, so the kindergarten through first grade uh students definitely making an impact. The earlier the better. The earlier we can equip them with the the things that they need to be successful in school the better. Um and then that way they won't have to see us later on in their um metriculation. So >> how are they referred to you guys? >> How is how does that happen? >> So we work with the home school. the the home zone schools will they've you know been doing their progress monitoring the students as
048it relates to their behavior and once they've kind of you know gone through and exhausted all the things that they all the supports and resources that they have for the student you know we'll call the IEP team together and of course they'll let us know they share all the data on the student and you know give us all the information that we need and we will be on an IEP team u meeting with the student the parent and the homeschool and then we kind of talk collectively about the data where the student is the supports that we've tried what's worked what didn't work and Then of course we always want to look at you know look for that least restrictive environment where the student will be the most successful and if the team decides that
049our setting is the most appropriate at the time um then that's that how that referral process happens and then we meet and then the parents will come and they'll do what we call an orientation and also a tour. They'll get to meet the staff, see the building and all of that as well. So, I appreciate the work that y'all are doing and partnering partnering with our school system in this because it is a more challenging environment. You have, like you said, all levels of um academic development, but on top of that, other challenges as well that really are difficult to address in a general ed setting, mainly because of the size of the class, but other other things too. So, I full wholeheartedly agree with what you said about the early um lead academy because
050it is definitely um a behavior modification can be made more effectively when the children are younger or younger. Absolutely. >> And they've got those tools in their toolbox and they know how to use them through the rest of their school years. Um and and I think really a lot of what can be attributed to the parent participation that you see is parents actually seeing a difference in their child not only on the report card or you know whatever but also at home and then that makes them want to participate more and value that experience more for their children. So, I I mean, I really applaud y'all for, like I said, the work that you do and for helping those students um from our school system that really need that um in order to, like you
051said, change kind of the course of course. Yes. >> Yeah. The direction that they're headed. So, thank you. >> Thank you for being here for us. Thank you. >> We'll move to the facilities update and Mr. Haywood. All right, good afternoon, good evening everyone. Um, we'll get started with our uh facilities, the facility department updates. Um, I'll start off with our East uh projects. Uh, the College of Coastal Georgia, of course, I think everyone has been out and seen the facility. It is a beautiful facility. It is in full use right now. Um they'll probably be doing punch list items for the next few months to finish everything up, but like I said, the the uh facility is in use and uh GIA was able to use it um for their signing day um just
052this week. And I mean it was it was just awesome. So it's a very beautiful facility and extremely proud of it. Uh moving on to Glendale Elementary replacement, our East 4. Um, it looks a little bit different from the last board meeting that we had. And this is, uh, just a picture when you first pull up onto the site what it's looking like. And the picture on the left is the cafeteria. And to the back of the cafeteria, I'll show you a little bit later, is a classroom wing. But this is the first wing when you come in. The picture on the right, this is the second wing, which the front part of this will be admin and then the classroom wing will go on down. So, they have um have those uh beams installed.
053And just a look at some of the masonry work that is already taking place. Like I say, the project is progressing very well. And you can look down on the left. You can look down this. This is a classroom hallway. All the door frames are in. Um, and this uh on the right, this picture here, I'm standing in the prek center basically and looking all the way down the hallway down that corridor to the all the way down to the cafeteria side. So that that corridor run all the way down the length of the building. And then this is a picture of the stage that goes in the gym. They've already built that, got that together. So, um, again, the project is pro progressing well. Spoke with the contractor. Um, of course, all of the
054slabs have been poured. Uh, masonry has started for the mezzanine portion of areas three and four. Um, they have approximately 50% of the structural steel on site. Um, no issues with uh any with the remaining steel. It's not affecting the schedule. Now, this the joist, the roof joists are behind schedule a little bit. They're ahead of schedule, but the the roof joists are behind a little bit. So, um they're hoping that they receive those. The deliveries will start on those on May the 15th and should take about 10 days to receive all of those shipments. And that's it for the Glendale Elementary replacement. >> This is still produced in the USA >> as far as I know. All right, moving on to our our upcoming renovation that we got going on with Goodyear in East
055Los 5. Um, all of the kitchen equipment has been moved out of the kitchen because we're starting there first. Again, thanks to Mr. Waters, um, and Shelley Daniel, their department, um, they've allowed us to be able to move all the kitchen equipment out. We stored it uh, today in a trailer and moved it off campus. So they will begin on Friday at 3:00 uh doing demo on the kitchen just to ensure that we can get that done everything done with that because that's a process with when you get involved with the kitchen. So um we're going to be starting on that on tomorrow around 3:00 with the demolition of that to get us a head start. Um as far as the Greer renovation goes uh spoke with Mr. Tutin. The preliminary large-scale submitt has been
056approved by the state department and the check set submitt will be sent to the state department for approval next week. All right, just quickly just an update. You already approved um the Sterling Elementary roof replacement, but I did just want to um give an update that they will begin work on May 26 for replacing the roof at Sterling. Um, all of the main work, all of the noisy work will be done by July 29th. Hopefully everything stays on schedule, but the project will not be completed until September. But again, it'll be quiet work, quiet things that that will not uh have an impact on instruction or disturb the learning environment. So that um again, May 26 for the Sterling Elementary re- roof project. So that's it for our East Bloss projects. Now I'll move on
057to our local capital funded projects and of course um we just have the board of education um which was phase five. The boardroom is done of course and then we're just finishing up the large training room or the cafeteria. Um we're just doing a few punch list items. We replaced put new lighting in. Um got the floor done, the terazzo done. And um like I said, we're going to do some things with the HVAC, but we're doing those things inhouse. We'll take care of those in-house with our own maintenance department. Any questions on any of the projects? All right, I'll move on to the good report and we'll look at our page six of the summary report. And as you can see in our latest uh Eastloss 5 collection, we collected 3,418,56854. This is our
058fourth highest collection of East Bloss 5. And this amount is $316,727 42 cents more or higher than the collection from the same period two years ago. and we do the two years because we did not during this time last week we're not uh doing collections. Um so up to this point in total we've collected about $ 38.7 million a little over $38.7 million in East BLS uh five. All right. And I just have one more. And this is uh the Goodyear Elementary uh classroom furniture purchase. I'm asking the board to please approve the purchase for Goodyear Elementary School classroom furniture from Ernie Mars Enterprises out of Bushnell, Florida in the amount of 380,8658. Ernie Mars Enterprises has provided a quote for Goodyear Elementary School classroom furniture through the tips purchasing contract and this will be
059done funded through uh East Blast 5. So just asking for approval for that um to furnish that uh building. And again, like I said, they're starting on the cafeteria um tomorrow. And the day that the students walk out of the school, the demo crew will come in, start demoing, and we are going to be in that building late July uh for the teachers to come back and ready for the first day of school with a brand new Goodyear Elementary School. >> Is that furniture contract for everything? Is that a total? That's the total for all classroom furniture. >> Oh, >> all every every classroom, art room, music room, >> everything. >> What about the cafeteria? >> They just bought cafeteria furniture a couple years ago, so their cafeteria furniture is in really good condition. So,
060we didn't have to replace cafeteria furniture. >> Did we bid that out? >> Well, we went through TIPS contract and they bid it for us. They they handle all of the do all the heavy lifting up front and they make sure that we get a very competitive price. uh when it comes to and this is what we've used, you know, the Ogrethorp renovation, the Satillaa Marge, all of those renovations, we've done them through the the tips contract and it's worked very well and especially with the time constraints with a summer renovation, you know, having to bid and wait on these and, you know, go back and forth versus normal we're getting a good competitive price. Um it's been very convenient and beneficial to our to our school system. So just asking for that approval. >>
061Any questions for Mr. >> If I can jump back to the performing arts center. Sorry I didn't ask this earlier. Like there you said they'll still be doing punch list items for a while. What when do we have an idea of when they come to us and say okay this is the final installment. >> Well done. >> I I talked with Miss Cody um and as of right now our balance that we owe is because it was about 4.2 million. Now it's down to 2 uh 2,511,94955 because of Miss Cody just made a payment of1683 >> $683,690.34. So we owe a little bit over 2.5 million. So we're we're getting there and it's just waiting on them to send the bill to miss send the bill to us. >> Okay. >> And then when they
062send it, we pay We don't know if that's another 90 days or another, >> right? Or it could be next week. >> Okay. >> We don't know. >> Okay. >> We'll just keep collecting the interest. >> I guess it doesn't hurt. >> Earn a few bucks. >> That's right. There you go. >> Thank you. >> We will move to Mrs. Haywood for a bullying policy update. >> Good evening. >> Evening. >> Good evening. Tonight, um, in conjunction with the policy committee with Mr. Madala, we're asking the board to please, um, consider revision for board policy JCD AG, um, for 30 days to sit on the table for public review. Um, the reason for this policy revision is to ensure that our district complies with statutory changes that go into effect July 1, 2026. to give
063you some summary to give you a summary of the required changes. Senate Bill 351, also known as the Protecting Georgia's Children on Social Media Act, became law in 2024. Part of that law gave a two-year timeline and required that local school systems align their bullying policies with the amended statute by July 1, 2026. The key substant of change narrows the definition of cyber bullying. It now applies only when the conduct occurs on school property at school events or school technology. Off-campus posts made on personal devices, for example, over a weekend are outside school jurisdiction unless the content is shared at school and otherwise meets the bullying definition. There are some procedural changes as well that include expanding notice language and required referrals. Notice to parents must continue anytime there is a any allegations of bullying.
064We must notify the parents and we must also now notify victims parents as well. If there is any targeted or suspected v victims, notices must also include as appropriate under the circumstances referrals to counseling and other age appropriate services. The basically expansion of the law is now requiring that we make sure that we're putting supportive measures in place for all individuals involved. And because Georgia is also now providing more funding for mental health supports, there's an expectation that we're utilizing those supports to make sure that we're supporting any students that are either a victim of bullying or is an alleged bully, if that makes sense. And so the policy um that has been provided to you tonight is our original, but what we've done is the additions that are required as a part of the
065law have been placed in green and the deletions that we're required to remove are in red. And so again, in conjunction with Mr. Madala, our policy chair. We're asking for the board to please um review these revisions that are again required um for this policy to sit for 30 days for public review so that we can make sure that we are in um compliance with the statutory changes prior to the July one deadline. >> So, how does how does this work when we have it sitting at where we put it? It essentially means that we'll leave this sitting out. We'll what we'll do is put it out on um assembly and it'll be sitting in the status of um review a review status for 30 days and individuals that would like to give any public
066review there'll be an opportunity for them to make any comments on assembly and then at the next board meeting in June um we'll take any of you all will take any of that into consideration and then you would then vote to approve the changes that we're recommending and then this would become our new revised policy. >> Yeah. Because the reason why I asked is parents always saying my child's being bullied. We should hear something with this. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Clearly hear something. >> Yes, sir. >> With the cyber bullying, the bullying is taking place in the weekends that they're calling saying it's the school fault. >> Definitely. That's why I asked you how that process document >> they can participate and call look at this. We're we're on the same >> level as
067the state. So this stuff is required. >> Yes, sir. So, whatever we have local that we're dealing with that they think we not doing as a as a school board and as a as administrators, as teachers, this is the time to speak up on the bullying. >> Yes, sir. >> How long have we known that we needed to make these changes? >> So, the state board was required to provide a model policy by January 1, 2026. And that guidance was released in March and GSBA um along with the DOE provided a model policy on April 16th, 2026. So this is modeled by that model policy that was released by GSBA. >> So it is a reasonable period of time to evaluate. Yes, sir. >> Get it get it changed and so forth. >> Yes, sir.
068this time >> after the adoption in June. Hopefully, then we would make this part of our back to school information that we would be sharing with parents and students so that everybody understood the changes that were coming forward with regarding this policy. >> That is correct. And this would also um prompt for us to make a change to our student code of conduct to ensure that it is also in alignment with these changes as well. So, we would have to bring JCDA to you again next month once you all approve this. That would be another change that would need to be made for student. >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead. >> How will the parents know where to go to put in their input to read this and know about
069this? Where how will they know? >> I can work with um Miss Johnson to make sure that there's something on our district website to point them to the assembly website. where the public review is located. >> Anything more than the website >> that would be the place where that those you know where that >> I think maybe the Facebook thing and other social media probably would to help guide them to the website. >> I think it's probably what they're after. I imagine what you mean that's why she's a public relation noticed check square can let them know that we have something >> she'll help >> to review >> and we'll see how many people we get to just wait. So, how does this, if at all, you know, impact? It doesn't happen very often, but
070from from time to time, we um are faced with the the opportunity to discipline a student for something that happens off campus. It does this handicap us with regard to that or is it >> I mean, it sounds like it does, but I'm not an attorney, so I don't know how that works. So from from the way that I understand this, if if it if there is something that happens that causes basically bullying that happens outside of school, we don't have any jurisdiction over devices that are not owned by us. >> Understand? >> That's the change that's being made with regard to cyber bullying. >> What about other conduct though? >> Other conduct that's separate from this. So community misconduct is still in place. That does not change. If there is something that happens that
071would be considered um a felony or those kinds of things that we've talked about before with community misconduct, that has not changed. That's separate from the bullying policy. >> So, it's really if it's off-campus is law enforcement. Yes. >> Right. And they define bullying now. Is that how I'm reading it? Okay. >> That is the main difference. >> Did I hear if it's off-campus, it's not our jurisdiction unless it's shared on campus. >> That is correct. Does that mean if it's shared through a campus device? >> That is correct. >> So if it's just a bunch of kids are passing on their personal devices on campus creating a stir, it's still not our >> because remember now we have the policy that prohibits cell phones during school. >> Yeah. >> So this is a unique
072we could be in a unique place with some going forward with it because of the changes. >> Yes, sir. The policy on cell phones on the school campus is is is age >> systemwide all ages >> K through 12 >> K through 8 is the actual law that prohibits cell phones but there has been a change in the law that will in 27 >> include sign let her finish first >> but that's separate from this okay >> governor signed it two days ago All right. >> Can you send that? Email that to me, please. >> I did. >> Oh, you did? >> Yes, sir. >> Didn't get it. >> I did, Miss Brick. >> I'll have you check the other >> Yes, sir. I sent it to the two. >> Send me a copy, too.
073>> Okay. We'll make sure that that >> I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. So, an inappropriate photo that's taken off campus, that's shared on campus, personal device or not, is or is not bullying, it certainly has been interpreted as as harassment and/or pornography in the past. If a if a picture taken off campus is shared, even if you show it to someone on your device, I mean, you know, we're going to get into the weeds here. Who who determines what who defines bullying? It sounds like it's going to be in the courts, but those are things that I I don't want to lose our ability to do and discipline if it happens on our campus, right? But I don't know the answer, >> but Miss Awood will handle it. Well, I
074imagine in June we'll be hearing about it as well. >> Yeah. >> At our next conference, >> we'll be able to. >> Gotcha. >> All right. >> Yes, sir. >> Good deal. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. The next agenda agenda item is the Goodyear Elementary School intercom and camera uh replacement. Uh tonight we're requesting the purchase and installation of what we would call the low voltage infrastructure. These are the data cabling, the intercom, and the security cameras for the Goodyear Elementary renovation that we've been talking about with Mr. Haywood now for a few meetings. Um the price quote includes the materials and labor. You'll notice on the agenda item for the security camera installation, the materials have already been purchased. We did purchase the uh property security cameras already and the classroom cameras
075that were purchased will come from the old uh will still be in place with from the Goodyear will reuse those projects those cameras because we just installed them. So that's the reason for the change there. Um but in order to have the materials and things here so that we can complete the project according to Mr. Haywood's timeline, we are requesting um this purchase this evening. Okay. Okay. The next item on the agenda is the egenuity uh renewal and this is again part of our uh software renewals that we complete uh at the beginning of leading up to the beginning of each school year. Um Egeneuity is our online learning provider. I think we say that every time when we we come here to this point. Um looking at what happened this year or thinking back
076I believe Dr. Jurgen actually challenged us last year when we presented this uh item to look at different solutions to think about increasing the rigor of our students at that time. We were celebrating the graduation rates that had we had accomplished and we did exactly that this year. We went back we demoed a a potential different solution from Egeneuity. We've met with egeneuity uh sales representatives throughout the school year and we've shared feedback and through those meetings um we've been able to talk a little bit about a different price. So uh last year uh the egeneuity quote was approximately 152,000. Tonight we're asking for the approval of a price quote that is for 96,000 just over 96,000. So, the Egeneuity folks said um they saw that there was a potential to lose Glen County Schools
077and they said um price was a factor and they said we can we're going to come in with the strongest quote possible and that's what they did uh because they don't want to lose our business. And I would sit before you here tonight and say egeneuity is an appropriate solution. It's meeting our students needs. We are seeing success with the Georgia Milestones assessments and um we're happy to report a really nice savings to you here tonight. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> That supports our graduation rings, too. >> And then the last item we have um for renewals is the Infinite Campus renewal. Infinite Campus is our student information system. It's the place where we house our student grades, attendance, demographics. Um, recently we've added student registration, online registration. We've talked about that in recent
078years. Um, this tonight's quote is a little bit higher than what we've had in the past. And the reason for the price increase is we've added a feature to our infinite campus system. And that is the behavior threat assessment module. BTAM is what we call it. And if you think back to last year's legislation, House Bill 268 said that schools must adopt a standardized threat assessment plan. And BAM is Glen Countyy's solution for that. So you do see a slight price increase, but we are having added service and we're able to meet the obligations of the state legislation. >> $56,000 increase. >> It is not. No. >> No. So we're still we're still in the in the green. We're still up. We don't want those to cancel each other's. >> They did not. So, we're
079happy though that and we've actually been working through that to train our staff and it it really is working well. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Next, we will move to the school nutrition bid approval and renewal with Mr. Waters. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Benson. I have lost my voice, so I am going to let Miss Daniels do this. She sounds a lot better than me. We would like to ask the board to approve all of our food and nutrition purchases for next year and she'll go over that with you. >> Good evening. We're asking for approval of two new bids that we solicited this year. One for milk and one for produce. And then we have a couple of renewals that we're also asking for. Um the first one is on our milk.
080We received two bids back and one was incomplete. And so we're asking for um uh approval for the TG Lee dairy is out of Orlando, Florida. And their quote for our milk was 531,76875. The next one was for our fresh produce products. Um we received three different bids for those products this year. And um Sin Brothers, who we're currently using, our produce company this year um closed mid year. So, we had to kind of do an emergency purchase with Sim Brothers the last couple of months, who also provides our DoD produce, but Sim Brothers was providing that. Um, their bid came in at 754,59445. And then we received a bid from Williams Institutional Foods, who also provides our food products. They're our main food distribu distributor, and they came in at 1,70,940,50. 50 cent. And
081then Royal Foods Services, who does provide our DoD products, came in at 812,8 um 812,81610. So, we're requesting approval for Sim Brothers. And then we have a couple of renewals that we're just um renewing those the current bids that we have. One is with our Bullseye brand um Smartmouth Pizza which is our individual pizza products at our high schools and that's for 155,530 um553 and then a renewal um for Williams Institutional Foods and that is three 3,663,955.14. We can, by the way, we can renew these up to four years. So, that's where we're looking for the renewals. If you need information on that, I'll be glad to provide that. And then we do commodity processing with a lot of our commodity products to get higher quality products on our menus. And we piggyback with Faget
082County Schools. Several school districts piggyback with them to get a better price. And so we have Gold Creek products, our chicken products on that bid for $225,75. We also purchase with Rich's products, pizza crunchers, one of our most popular products with our students at $100, um, $439. Our made right 100% beef patties um products, we spend $30,83 with them. our Brookwood Farms barbecue, my personal favorite at 8,431,000. We have our Smuckers Uncrustable product, Uncrustable um sandwich products. We have $196,439 and JTM, which we get um several of our beef and cheese products from $70,88080. And one more which is our paper products is our local provider Sun Coast Paper. Um we buy all of our paper products for them. We want to renew that bid which has been a great change for us this year
083at $251,767. And that is all. Any questions? >> You said you could renew these up to how many years? four years. >> What's the pros and cons of that option? >> Um, well, once we establish like over the years, you build a bid and you have products that the kids have liked. You've kind of tested those products, taste tested those products, and we just kind of there's consistency. We get what we know that the students want when we roll. Um, Williams Institutional Foods is our main distributor and one of the big advantages is they do 87% of their businesses school business. So, they're stocking what schools are using products that schools want. Um, and the last time we had this bit, we put out solicited for our food bid, we had no one bid on
084it but Williams. And so kind of just keep building and we can do addendums with them through the year adding new products as well and we do that. So >> those school lunches that y'all put on different schools alamagree all of them. Wow they are amazing. They're so bright and colorful and healthy looking and they look good job. Good job. >> Thank you. Thank you. We also the peanut I want to mention this real quick. We got um the num the highest the school to menu the highest number of Georgia peanuts. So the Georgia peanut commission just gave us a $1,000 check for supporting Georgia peanuts on our menu. So I'm proud of that. >> Peach County would give you some peaches but send a discount. >> I have a question. This may this has
085nothing to do with the food bids so I apologize. >> Um it is nutrition related though. Um, and it may be a time for another presentation, but as far as the cost of meals going forward, is that the current plan we're on, is that continuing for next year? Do we anticipate when I say that the free meal plan? I can't remember what it's called. Yes. >> C. Is that about to go away? I just want to give everybody a heads up if that changes at all before it happens. >> We're currently operating under the community eligibility provision. We all refer to as a C. um when we got approved to operate that we have four years that we can operate. So we still have this next school year and the next school year. So we
086have still two years. >> Okay. >> Um every year we re-evaluate to see what our direct certification numbers are. How many students are receiving SNAP, TANAF, homeless, migrant or foster? This if it ever increases, we would renew to start a new four-year cycle. But this year it it did not increase and so we did not ask to start a new four-year cycle. >> Gotcha. >> So we'll just every year continue to evaluate where our direct certification numbers are. >> And we have two more years on this. >> Two years. Okay. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> What's our average increase on each of these bids? >> We usually look at 3%. It was a little higher is 2.7% last time I looked. was a little higher during COVID. We're coming off of COVID, you
087know, we got up closer to that 5% and it was kind of scary, but we kind of go between 2.7 3%. >> Not too bad. >> Some things come down, some things go up. >> Kind of average. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And we'll go back to Miss Haywood for and 2829 school calendars. >> Good evening again. >> Good evening. So tonight we're going to ask we're asking the board we have the proposed and 2829 school calendars and I will pull up the 2728 first. Um these were developed through a collaborative process that included input from a committee of stakeholders representing teachers, administrators, support staff, parents and board members. Their feedback helped to ensure that the calendars support student learning, staff professional needs, and parent planning
088considerations. The 2728 calendar, some of the highlights include 178 instructional days and 190 teacher contract days. This calendar also maintains a balanced first and second semester, which includes 87 instructional days in the fall and 91 in the spring. This calendar also provides designated teacher planning and professional learning days throughout the year to support instructional preparation and staff development. It also aligns holiday breaks and student holidays to provide consistency for families and staff. And again, the calendar was designed to maximize instructional continuity while also considering employee wellness and operational efficiency. And you'll see that we have a legend to identify what each of the days designates. >> And the red and blue down in the corner >> um also helps us with designating the number of days. >> So I'll move to the 2829. >> Any
089questions before we >> questions before we move to 28? Can you just talk briefly about the conversation involving like a winter break like in late mid to late January? Is that continues to come up with people that ask me questions about it? I'm I'm perfectly fine with the calendar and we talked about it, you know, historically about September, October having a long stretch without a little break in there. There's some days built in there. >> So, we >> I for one like it's two months. Let's get over it. But that's just that's just my opinion. Um it's you know, you're there to go 180 days. Um >> yes, sir. So there was a lot of rich discussion about a winter break and um >> we did come to a compromise by building in days throughout
090each month. Okay. >> Um if you'll notice um >> in February and March you'll see um there is a day that like for example here you've got two days together in February, you've got days in March. So, we did come with a compromise because it was just just too difficult to try to build in a full week a full nine days because the other part that you have to take into consideration too is people want a full week at Thanksgiving. People want full two weeks at um you have to get those days back. So, you're going to start school earlier, end later or whatever. So, >> right. And then the other things that we have to consider as well is we have to have first semester end in December when you're thinking about early graduates.
091We also have to think about retirement for new teach for teachers. So we have to end at the end of May for that. We also got to make there's just so many there were a lot of things that we talked about as a committee that had to happen. And so this was the best way for us to be able to do that. But we did make sure that we were intentional in building in days within each of the months to provide some reprieve and break for students and for staff. >> Yeah. February. That's good. Kids got five days, teachers have four. We really looked at the sustainability of if we were to think about a a winter break and whether or not if we could get it one year, whether we could continue to do
092it year after year. >> And it was pretty unanimous with the calendar committee that if we can't continue that type of thing, we we shouldn't start doing that, right? >> And so we we came up with some alternatives that we felt like still met the needs of the the the input that we were gathering. >> And I appreciate the way you look at it. a couple years in advance because a lot of private schools do kind of follow our lead and daycarees and that sort of thing too. So, it's good that we get it out >> um as far in advance as we can. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> Pull up the 2829. >> This has a winter break, right? >> Yes. again with the 2829 um >> highlights again 178 instructional days,
093190 teacher contract days again balanced academic SCA um schedule with 88 instructional days in the fall, 90 in the spring. It continues the use of embedded professional learning and teacher planning days to support instructional quality. Again, preserving the traditional holiday periods and provides strategic breaks during the school year to prov to support our students, our staff and families. Again, it reflected the stakeholder feedback that we talked about focused on instructional time, staff collaboration opportunities, and calendar predictability. Back to your point, Mr. hoy about um making sure that we're providing those opportunities for people to know when we're going to be out. Both calendars refle reflect the district's commitment to student achievement, operational effectiveness, and meaningful stakeholder engagement in the decision-making process. And as Mr. Benson said, we wanted to make sure that we provided calendars
094that we could sustain. We did not want to provide something and then have to take it away. And so, um, again, we compromised with, um, providing those breaks within each month so that we would make sure we were providing, um, wellness days, not just for our staff, but for our students as well. >> And I know you've looked at other districts as well and looked at some of the features of their calendars and there was discussion about does that work for Glen County, does that not work for Glen County? Um, so it wasn't just us trying to continue in the same manner. We were looking for other ways to improve and >> absolutely >> and there was compromise and a lot of good discussion about that. >> Yes, ma'am. For sure. >> Was 180 days
095required. >> It's been minutes. >> God, >> you asked if there were 180 days required. Mhm. >> No, >> it used to be >> used to be >> still in my head. So, >> okay. Thank you. >> All right. And our last item for president. >> There we go. That's an impressive process. Do you help with personal calendars? >> Oh boy. That would be very difficult. Oh, listen. >> Our last item on the agenda for tonight is our pair of teacher graduates. and we'll turn it over to Miss Seals >> tonight. We I am excited to um present our two graduates for this year um from the College of Coastal Georgia who began uh just a couple of years ago on their journey to becoming certified teachers. Both were paraprofessionals in our school district, have
096been paraprofessionals um for several years, and I'm so excited that they are here. Um, the graduates tonight are Lannon Ramirez and Rebecca Scarboro along with some staff from the College of Coastal Georgia. And I believe they have a little something that they would like to share tonight. And they're also here with um their principal, um, Miss Kim Watford. >> Good evening. I'm Dr. Criter from the College of Coastal Georgia. I am the director of field experience. Um, so I work on placing all of the uh pres-ervice teachers in in your schools. So currently we have about a hundred students um in the program of juniors and seniors. Um so our parapathway which Lannon and Rebecca are a part of um they had this great opportunity of continuing to work while getting their degree and both
097of them have balanced that really well and we're very very proud of them because at times we are faced with do I support my family or do I get a college education and they have been able to do both. So I'm going to turn it over to them for some comments but we are very proud of them and tomorrow they will be graduating. >> CONGRATULATIONS. GOOD EVENING. MY name is Lamon Ramirez and I am a student at the College of Coastal Georgia, a mother of three and a future special education teacher. My path to this moment hasn't been traditional. I started my career in hospitality, working long hours while raising a young family. But when I stepped into a classroom as a profess a paraprofessional, everything changed. I found my calling. I discovered a passion
098for helping students, especially those who need a little extra support to succeed. But going back to school while raising three children, well, that's not easy. That's where the paraprofessional pathway program came in. Because of their gen generosity, I've been able to continue my education without placing that full burden on my family. You've given me the ability to focus on my class, on my course, coursework, my students, and my future rather than having to worry about how am I going to make it all work all and because of that, I will soon become a certified teacher right here in this community, helping the same students who inspired me to begin this journey. This support doesn't just change one life, it impacts every child I will teach for years to come. Thank you for believing in me
099and my family and the students I serve. Congratulations. >> I need a little more. I need a >> Being a part of the She's going to make me cry now. Being a part of the PAR professional pathway program at the College of Coastal Georgia has truly been such a meaningful experience for me. As you can see, I'm not your typical college age student. I have a senior in high school and a senior in college myself. There is no way I would have been able to achieve this without this program. I've worked as a paraprofessional in the Glen County school system for the past nine years and you guys have given me the opportunity to earn my degree while continuing to work in education and help support my family. The financial assistance removed a huge burden
100and the online classes made it possible to balance work, school, and home responsibilities. This year, thanks to Miss Watford, I had the opportunity to teach my own third grade class while finishing my degree. This program helped make that possible. The teachers at the college have also been amazing. They have been so supportive, helpful, and encouraging every step of the way. I've also met and made some wonderful friends along the way who have walked beside me through this journey, and I'm so thankful for the opportunities, support, and friendships that this program has given me. It's been awesome. I just wanted to end on this note that we do value the partnership that we have with Glen County Schools and the employee as distance program. I mean, you are putting in you're showing your commitment to future
101educators and how they're impacting your district. So, we really do commend you and we value your partnership. Thank you so much. >> I have one thing I wanted to say. Um, >> we um, we did a excuse me, we were filmed for a video to be presented at our conference here in early June with the Georgia School Board Association and I was seated like right about where um, Miss Seals and Mr. Heywood were and they were asking questions and when they said you know what's something that you that's one of your favorite things about your school system it was this program right here because as you said it's a way for you to step up and to take a step up in the career that maybe you wouldn't have been able to before. We so
102appreciate the college working with us to provide this. Um my husband when he graduated from high school, his mom graduated from college that same time. So similar to you, she didn't have that type of program. But um it's a wonderful experience. It's wonderful to see y'all put in so much time with our students and really know what your work environment's going to be and then go get your certification. And it just makes you all the more better as far as being a teacher for our school system. And we really appreciate it. So, thanks for your hard work because I know it was a lot of juggling to make that happen. >> And I just like to say too that this while we are so excited for for them, it also supports our school district um
103with our teacher shortage and um we already know they're committed to our students. They've shown that by working as pair professionals for multiple years and so why not give them this opportunity? So, I'm thankful that the board of education that you continue to support this. I really appreciate it. and to the College of Coastal Georgia for your support. >> I do want to give it a shout out to the principles to um Miss Watford. She works so well with us, but also they have to arrange coverage like when we're doing practicum hours, they have to arrange coverage for our paras and it is a lot of puzzle pieces that we have to work together several emails and just making sure we have coverage for our students. So, um school administrators here have been very supportive
104and have been great with with helping us do that. So we commend the principles for that too. >> Did we start this program? >> It was started under Dr. Spence. >> Yeah. >> And it really does represent a homegrown solution to the teacher shortage that you guys have been made aware of like Miss Seal said. So >> and so many you know this program I know when I came out of college I was going to be a teacher. >> I was I was like what you know I didn't have that opportunity to be in those classes and be a pair pro for nine years. She said nine years. You know what it's all about. I was clueless. Okay. Still am on something. But >> they pick on me. But see, y'all have been, you know
105what this class is like. And you will be in there with that passion a lot longer than many of those coming out of college who think they want to be a teacher and then it doesn't really work out for them. Y'all got the passion. You've got the experience. Applause Jesus. >> You want us to get out? >> We need to get out. We get out. >> Are these chairs? Yes, sir. She said go out earlier today. >> Well, just one last word of thanks especially to the college and and um to our staff as well, our principles and and your staff, the seals. I mean, we we've we've been through this a lot, right? We're talking about grow your own and and teacher to pair and there are a ton of roadblocks like not only
106on a personal level but on a professional level like how do we make this how do we make it work? So I applaud all of you. We don't we don't do anything. We we vote on it and we think it's a great program. We'd like to take credit for it. But you guys do all the hard work. You knock down the the roadblocks and the barriers to them being successful. So we really do appreciate that. And if you ever, you know, have another idea or anything any way we can help um any further, please don't hesitate to to bring it to us because we'd be happy to help. >> Do we have plans to expand it? We just, as a matter of fact, the applications just closed yesterday for the next cohort. And so we're
107looking forward to having cohort 4 starting in the fall. So we'll review the applications and the college will review and we'll we'll choose the best candidates because it is a competitive process. Um the best candidates, they have to get um a letter of support from their principles because their principles will have to work with them. Um, also too, if they're in high school, they have to rethink what do you want to do because the degree is elementary education and special education. So, they come out with a dual um, certification, but it is elementary school and special ed, but I always tell everybody it's okay to start in elementary school and then go up. A lot of teachers do it. A lot of teachers do it. So, um, it's a great opportunity, but it is competitive
108and we will have cohort 4 starting in the fall. >> And how many will you select, Michelle? >> Well, it depends. It just really depends. We look at our budget. Of course, we've got to consider our budget and look at um how many we can fit within that budget. So, try to keep those. >> Do you have a rough estimate of what it would be right now? >> Our budget right now is $50,000 a year. >> So, that would provide for how many? >> We can probably bring in about anywhere from three to six. >> Would it be worth expanding? >> It's always worth expanding if you're going to give. It's always worth expanding, but I >> I knew the answer for ask, especially in light of >> rhetorical question, especially in light of the
109teacher, the difficulty, and and these are women in this case that just love to do what they're doing. >> And all of them have love what they do. They love our students. They love our school district. And we know they are quality people. We know they they've been working with our students for years. And so, um, it's definitely worth expanding, but I want to say clearly that I thank the board for all of your support thus far. >> Would you recommend expanding it? >> I recommend expanding it. >> I started 15 years ago saying, >> can you tell Can you tell? >> Wait, wait. I asked the question. >> You We saved it 50,000 tonight in software. You got money to to >> You spent half of it. It's going to be spiff before we
110walk out. >> Mrs. Can you tell us or maybe it's s Can you tell us how many applicants you got? >> 16. >> Okay. >> 16 applicants. And Miss Ramirez just said she applied several times before she was accepted. >> It's a competitive process. >> Good for you. I presume that that that people candidates come applicants come with with all different backgrounds. So you do have some that come with credits or some come with no I mean does all that figure into how long it takes for the program to >> because the program was initially designed for people with at least two years of college credit or an associates degree. We prefer an associates degree, but two years of college credit is helpful because >> I'll be honest with you, we want people to have
111some skin in the game. you know, want to see what what are you thinking about? What do you want to do? And you've already committed something to that process as well. And also too, it makes our financial commitment um about two two and a half years. >> The ladies who completed this year, do you have any recommendations over the time that you spent in the program that would be useful to the board in looking at whatever opportunities present themselves, especially expanding the program? Do you see any pitfalls that you can share with us? >> Well, the one thing that I was going to say was that I had grant I was able to get grant. So, >> that did help take off a good chunk and she had home. So, that did you see took
112off that first and then they covered the rest. But still, I mean, one last semester was almost $2,000. So, I didn't have that already >> like I said as many as we can >> because if they go through our school system they already work here they're going to stay here. So you're we're doing nothing but investing money in our people to stay in our schools. I mean I have no problem increasing it. >> So why don't you bring us a proposal doesn't have to be next week obviously for doubling it. Just bring I mean if it works it works to get with the college. I mean we don't want to do anything because we're just again we're just um making suggestions but if that's doable then then we'd be happy to look at it. I
113welcome. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Mr. Jackson, you good? >> Okay. >> Um, I know we've got personnel. Anything else for executive session? >> Yes, sir. >> Entertain a motion to go in executive session for personnel. >> So move. >> Who moved that? Mr. McVy and second by Mr. Jackson >> at 6:36. Um, any discussion? All those in favor? It's unanimous. Good deal. See y'all in a little bit. Thank you everybody for being here. >> Absolutely. Take five. We need to to open session. So moved >> by Mr. Jackson, second by Mr. Dodger. >> Any discussion? All those in favor returning to open session. All is unanimous. >> Um at 7:07 >> I um I move >> I move we adjourn. >> Second by Mr. Jackson. He beat you by here. So
114second >> move by me and second by Mr. Jackson to adjourn. All those in favor >> is unanimous at 707.