001call to order the May 8th uh 2025. We're not quite ready for the work session, but we're starting the budget hearing at 5:00. And if there is anyone that would like to speak on the budget hearing, if there's nobody who's going to speak, we'll wait our five minutes legally that we need to wait and uh With that said, Mr. Holse is on his way to Athens for his son's graduation. And I would like to give our condolences to the Allen family that Mr. Miller Allen that few of us served with him and he was instrumental in the board being what it is today. So feel free talk amongst yourself. What's that? Yes, if you don't mind. The work session uh with board of education for May 8th. Uh we are in the process of contacting
002Mr. Holy. So I'll open it up to Miss Cody. He's probably refreshing. Miss K start. Okay. So we will start with the March financial update. We had uh two budget amendments in March. The first was a decrease for the teacher externship and then the second was an increase that was $3,700. Then an increase of $327,500 for the QBE midterm adjustment. And moving on to the financials. So our general fund revenues are 85.6% of budget and expenditures are at 70.5% of budget. At the end of March, we were threequarters of the way through the year. to our budget position was 75%. Um, as I'm sure y'all all know, East Bloss collections did resume in April and we will receive those collections at the end of this month. Any questions on the financials? So for our investment
003[Music] analysis, we received interest in March of 646,34240. If there's no questions, I'll move on to the budget presentation. Okay. So, what I did on this first page is I just highlighted the changes that we've had since the um budget presentation at the April work session. So based on the um most recent growth in inflation report, I adjusted the increase in tax digest from 6% to 8%. Which resulted in a $7,620,900 increase in tax revenue from fiscal year 25. Uh, also we did receive our initial QBE allocation amount which will result in an increase of $4,960,900. And um, while we haven't received um any specific guidance regarding our federal funding, I know that's been a hot topic. We are anticipating significant changes to our title funds. We have been um we're not anticipating any big
004changes to title one, but there could be a consolidation of our title two and our title four funds. And we have been told that title three may be eliminated entirely. So that brings me to the next change um and that is the increase in new positions. So, this change from last month includes our uh ESOL tutors and 25% of our ESOL coordinator salary and benefits. They're currently being funded by title three. So, we plan to move those salaries and benefits to the general fund next year. So, that's that's the only change in new positions from last month to this month would be that increase for funding those positions in the general fund. Um so the last change is the increase in departmental budgets and that is 1,963,100 and then we have our estimated ending fund
005balance of $25,200,89 are there what what kinds of things make up the increase for departmental budgets? Is it somewhat inflationary or there other things? It is. So, and I can I can send you all a detailed breakdown by department and amount, but I can tell you that about 65% of it is increase in electrical, the increase in insurance I talked about last month. And then we felt like it was really important to pick up a lot of the title three expenditures in our general fund budget because of our um ESOL population. The expenditures other than the salaries. Okay. Yes. Just the program expenditures. Um pretty much everything that's in title three I picked up in the general fund just in case we just haven't seen a decrease in that population so we just felt like
006it was important to continue with that very much and like I said I I do have a breakdown by department and amount um other things were like increasing custodial supplies I increased some travel budgets because travel's just more expensive um but like I said I think a little over 65% of it was the utilities title three and the insurance increase that we don't really have any control over. Right. Right. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Anymore? Okay. So then I will move on to the final page which is um the proposed fiscal year 2026 tentative consolidated budget. So, first we have our general fund budget, which is what we just discussed. And then we have our um special revenue budget, which has an estimated expenses over revenues in the amount of 1,677,700. Um the majority of that
007deficit is because of our workers comp premium payments. We use our fund balance each year to make those payments. So, that's why there is a negative in that column. And then we have our capital projects which includes um our east bloss, four and now five along with our capital outlay. So um we would expect to see our expenditures exceed our revenues because we still have um east blast east three and four are fully collected but we still have projects going on in those splasts. And so th this would be the proposed tenative budget that I would advertise and that we would or that you all would vote on in June. Any questions? Thank you, Miss Cody. Brings us to Mr. Haywood. All right. The first here we have um it's a change order and we
008will be re receiving a credit of $60,1145 from Lavender and Associates. This is from the Needwood project and we are closing out that project and closing out with Lavender Associates. So again, we will get a credit back of $60,1145 and we will also receive another credit from the Brunswick High West uh driveway entrance. Um and that amount is $25,28742 from RH Tyson and construction. So those will go back into the budget and wanted to report those and that's it unless you have any questions. All right, Dr. Nelson. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. So, I'm excited to share with you tonight. And if you can't tell by my face or the flag in the back of the room, um I'm here to talk about our um cogn reacredititation um engagement review. And as you can
009see on the flag, we did pass. So, there's your spoiler alert. Um but I want to talk about a little bit about our journey through um reacredititation and um the process that we went through. Um so, continuous improvement is what reacredititation is about. It's not just about passing and and moving forward. It's really about the the journey. Um so continuous improvement um is Cogna says that that is an embedded behavior that's rooted in an institution's culture um that that constantly focuses on the conditions, processes, and practices to improve teaching and learning, which really is kind of the definition of why we're here. Um and again, accreditation is a continuous improvement process. So uh we use cognitive performance standards to examine our current effectiveness but also to review our capacity and our capability to achieve our
010future goals and uh vision for our system. So one thing that was very different is the last time we were accredited um January 2019 um it was actually under advanced ed which is a very different system than cogn um there were old standards and it was a very different process. So, in the past, the accredititation team came on site. They spent three days um in our district. Um they visited our schools. They There we go. Um thank you. They um they went around and and they were here physically on site. Um in 2022 um cog I'm sorry, in 2019, later in 2019, Advanced Ed and Measured Progress combined and became Cognia. So, we just missed that kind of on the cusp of that whenever we were accredited in 2019. Um and then in 2022, as
011a part of their um continuous improvement cycle, Cognia completely redesigned their standards. So, we can't really compare our our previous accredititation like um uh score, if you will, our rating to what we received this time because they're completely different standards. It's a different process, different standards. Um but we do have where we rated this time and uh we have uh cognitive network average scores to compare ours to throughout um throughout this the presentation. So, um there's your spoiler alert because we did not only pass our accredititation, but as you'll see at the end, we rated in the highest range um possible. We have no kind of um uh progress assessment that we have to do. So, we will do a progress report in three years, which is standard. And then in six years, we'll do
012our formal review. So, there are lots of parts to the accredititation that we're not going to talk about. I shouldn't say lots. There are several parts tonight that we're not going to talk about which are um the executive summary, the accredititation portfolio, um and the asurances because those parts are not actually rated. Those are just us telling our evaluator about our system and about what we do and about our processes. But what we are going to talk about tonight, those are up here on the board. And so if you'll kind of think of these as containers, that's kind of how I want to describe those tonight. So the first container, if you will, there are three required analysis. the learning environment, which is exactly what it sounds like, student performance and stakeholder feedback. And then
013the second container looks at those performance standards, which is how we're truly rated on what we do. So there's 30 standards. Um we did a um self assessment. Then the evaluator separately rated our those 30 standards. And then again, we have a network average comparison to look at. And then the last container, Cognia takes those 30 standards and they break those down into key characteristics. So what a good system would look like. And those key characteristics all look at different aspects of learning. So culture, leadership, engagement, and growth. So those are kind of what we're going to look at tonight. So the first one, when we look at these analysis, we were tasked to identify and select appropriate data sources. And then we took those data sources and determined if we were above, at or
014below the expected levels of performance. And then we looked at trend data for consistencies or inconsistencies in our data. And then once we did that, we did uh we developed finding statements and then created a narrative to kind of support what we saw. Um and as you can see on the chart, the green, the kind of teal color, um those are our ratings and the blue is the cognitive network average. And just to give you kind of an idea, a 4.0 is a perfect score. That's the highest that you can earn. So those are those required analysis, learning environment, student performance, and stakeholder feedback. Moving into the second container, um those are those 30 performance standards. So, um that's what accreditation, like I said, is primarily based on. So, every area, like we looked at
015a second ago, the 4.0 is is the highest level you can make. We did earn one 4.0 in one of our standards. We met the expected level of performance on 27 of our standards. And then we had two standards that were improving practices where we were approaching the standard. So, now we're moving kind of into that last um container. Can't quite get it to go. There we go. Into that last container. And that's culture of learning. And this one to me was was really powerful because we spent a lot of time um this year focusing on culture. That's been one of our big focuses for our system. We've talked about it in here. We've talked about it with our principles throughout every principal meeting this year. Um, and so we've broken the word culture down
016into care, understanding, learning, trust, unity, respect, and effectiveness. And for an outside evaluator to see that and to to to value the the um intentionality that we've really put into that, um, it really spoke to me because that one level four that I said that we earned on the standards rating, that was in um, in this um, key characteristic, the culture of learning. And the culture of learning is defined as learners well-being is at the heart of our institution's guiding principles such as our mission, our purpose, and our beliefs. And that specific standard says staff members continually demonstrate a commitment to learners academic and non-academic needs and interests. So that really spoke to me that that one was the one that we rated the absolute highest on. And as you can see here in our
017narrative and in our standards ratings, we were well above the network average. In our next key characteristic, learn leadership for learning. Uh research shows that leaders who engage in their own learning while tangibly supporting the learning process for leaders and teachers have a significant impact on the success of others. So this key characteristic really examined our leaders behaviors and attitudes toward their own learning and then how they set and um expresses um uh expectations to others. And here too our narrative scored the perfect four and our rating was um at the level of expected effectiveness. The third um key characteristic engagement of learning. The look fors in this key characteristic are all learner centric. Um engaged learners participate with confidence and display agency or ownership over their own learning. And at the system level, Cognia
018notes that a good institution adopts policies and engages in practices practices that support all learners. Um, and so here we scored a 3.8 and we were still above the cognitive network average for our standards as well. And finally, the last key characteristic is growth in learning. And growth in learning takes a holistic view of learning and the learner. Um so there are three kind of keys in demonstrating growth in learning. It looks at academic skills but it also looks at non-academic skills and readiness to learn um with an emphasis on um a student's readiness to transition. So if we think about transition between grade levels, transitions between grade bands and transitions um think about like college and career readiness transitions and then also their ability to um attain the skills and necessaries to meet the
019skills and abilities necessary to meet their own goals. So here too we're above cognius averages. So this was a big highlight for us. The summary of findings. We had a lot of noteworthy practices that were listed. Um a high level of community involvement and support throughout the year. Not only did our um evaluator Dr. Anderson note this in um her findings from what we provided, but when we had our exit interview with her um Dr. Spence actually mentioned this. He he verbalized this as well, which was really it really married the two pieces because he didn't know what she was going to write and she didn't know what he was going to say. So to bring those two pieces together was was really really a powerful powerful moment. Um and some of the ways that
020we see this are our mentor partnerships, the sheriff's department with the backpacks for the back to school and the supplies, the college of coastal Georgia partnership with our grow your own. Um stakeholders are routinely involved in initiatives to foster learning and growth. And there's some things listed there that we do with perception surveys and the support programs that are in place to support students holistically. Um leadership skills are cultivated and nurtured. Again, she mentioned um um our outgoing and incoming superintendents included in the interviews, but I have to almost put a comma there and say way more than just during the interviews. U Mr. Blackerby and Dr. were involved the entire throughout the entire accredititation process. Um and then the next little bullet there, mentors, department chairs, and aspiring leaders, that's actually a part of
021our strategic plan, too. So, the fact that she pulled that out, that's um strategic goal one of our district improvement plan. So, um the curriculum imple implementation with GMATs, that's our instructional model of instruction. Um student performance is is traditionally higher than national, state, and recent averages. and using data to make decisions. And of course there are areas for improvement. Um our coach pointed out to us that there are always um areas for improvement. There are always next steps because it is a continuous improvement process. Um she said that um as internal stakeholders that teachers do have opportunities to collaborate and provide input in a curricular process. Um the inconsistency was that we have not fully implemented um the protocols of effective PLC's throughout all the systems like the PLC plus training has not been
022um provided at all the schools. So that was an area that we can um improve. And so here's the piece that everybody's kind of waiting for. So our IEQ score, which is the um index of education quality, is a 320. So anything above a 300 is um the highest rating you can get. And there's the last slide I have to share. Um, everyone listed on this slide was a part of our accredititation team along with myself. And a huge also big thank you to our additional Elliott observers. Those were um, learning environment observers, our instructional support specialist, our assistant principles for instruction, our school leaders and staff who let us come into their building multiple times in their classrooms to do observations and to be part of our teams. Um, we really appreciate it. We
023could not have done it without them. And if any of you are interested in the full report, I can give you all the data that you'd like to look at. And if you have any questions, I'm glad to answer those. Thank you, Dr. Nelson. I know that's a lot a lot of work. Um I was we were a little small part of it about 10 years ago and um I'm glad to know we're going to be accredited for at least the next six years and we've come a long way and I just say keep m up maintaining what we're we're doing and that was basic feedback we got too. She was very impressed with our system and our people and our people were a big part of this. Okay. Well, I just want to say
024thanks for including the team because I know it does take a a whole team and I appreciate all of y'all. Um, it's as an accountant, you know, I go through annual audits and I know what it feels like to be observed and you know, all of that kind of stuff and there's a lot of extra stress and pressure that falls on top of your regular um, responsibility. So, I appreciate all of y'all doing that and and I was just going to echo Dr. Jurgen saying we can't take this for granted. I mean, there are systems that don't meet the standards and you know, it's sad to see when that happens, but um it's like you said, it's always a a work in progress. So, we have to keep that mindset. Thank you for the presentation.
025Okay, we'll move to Mr. Haywood with the facilities update. All right, East Blast Projects. Uh, College of Coastal Georgia Fine Arts Center is moving along very well, making some really good progress as you can all see as you ride down Alama Four Street. Um, with the interior, all the framing and metal studs have been um, put up and they are beginning the duct work and the insulation on the inside of the building. with the exterior. You can see on the four street side, they've already stuckled that one side and they're prep doing the prep work to stuckle the Alama side um of that building. So, it is it is progressing very well with the new Glendale Elementary replacement. Um we that project is being broken up into three phases. Phase one will be the site
026clearing, phase two will be site development, and then the phase three of that will be the building construction. Um, of course we're in phase one and I'll speak a little bit more in depth about the site clearing and the financial piece um after the good report um because it's listed on there again and I'll be asking for to approve some site clearing um money. Moving on to our local capital funded projects, we have the BHS fieldhouse. Um the pad was graded and compacted in preparation to begin pouring the slab. They wanted to pour the slab Tuesday of Wednesday of next week. However, with the rain that came yesterday and the threat of rain for the remainder of the week, that's going to be pushed back because it has some dirt to wash out. They're going
027to have to back fill that and compact it again. Um, so, uh, but once they the the weather clears up and they can get all that done before they pour the slab, they'll do the termite treatment. And once they do the termite treatment, they'll pour the slab. And um the backflow pre has been installed and the hydrant fire hydrant will be installed probably later this week. Um moving on to the board of education office. It is also progressing very well. All of the door frames have been installed. All of the windows have been installed. Probably 80 to 90% of the sheetrock has been hung. And um the duck work, they're about two weeks out from finishing the duck work. So, it is moving extremely well at this point and I'm very pleased with the progress
028that um the construction Tyson uh construction company is making. Um we'll move on to the good report if there are no questions about uh our four projects that we got going on at the moment. We'll go down to page six of our summary report. And as you can see, our collections were [Music] $16,228.11. And this is still uh we're still receiving residuals um on East Plus 4. Of course, East Fly 5 started April 1. So, at the next June meeting, I'll be reporting on our first East Fly 5 collections as uh Miss Cody said earlier in the meeting. And we do have uh Mr. Samson with good here with us tonight. If if anybody has any questions for him, he's here for our meeting. Any questions? Thank you. All right, moving right [Music] along. This
029is for the site clearing uh for the new Glendale replacement. I'll be um requesting that the board approved $521,435.90 again for the site clearing of the Nouging replacement. That total amount does include a contingency um and an alternate for any unforeseen circumstances that may arise once we get into the project of the land clearing. Um we advertised that project um this for the site clearing. It was advertised in the Brunswick news was also advertised on the Glen County Schools web page and on the Georgia procurement registry. Seal proposals were received on May 2nd. um and John Tuton, our architect, uh received those proposals and opened them um for the bid. So, I'll be asking again for to approve the $521,435.90 for the site clearing on that project. Um it won't be able to begin until
030we get the land um disturbance permit signed. Um hopefully that's forthcoming pretty soon. We'd like to hopefully be able to start in June. And once we start, weather permitting, you're talking about a five to six week um to clear those 20 acres that we'll be clearing. Has a construction company been chosen? It is Ridge uh Enterprises. Okay. For the site clearing. For the site clearing. Yes. Yeah. Ridge Enterprise. Yeah, we need to add that. All right, moving [Music] on. And some good news. Um, our local facilities 5-year plan was approved by the Georgia Department of Education. Um, myself and Mr. Blackabby had to present um back in April to the state department along with uh several a few local uh superintendents around the our district area. And um again, our plan was approved. So, I'll
031be asking that the board approve the plan and sign off on the resolution that is attached in the documents. Um it's a I attached it as well, but it's a about 163 page document that if anybody would like to read and go through, you are more than welcome. And it's attached. Um, I expect everyone to read that incogn word for word. You didn't read it before you got here? No, I did. And I also included um I also included our comments. Um the the the superintendent that sat on our committee along with the uh Georgia Department of Education representative were very complimentary complimentary of our school district and our board for the things that we've done our facilities what we've done with safety our transportation department and then what we're planning to do in the
032in the future over the next five years they were very complimentary of the things that we have going on in Glen County. So, um, kudos to our board of education and, uh, Dr. Spence and now Mr. Blackby for the vision to keep our facilities top-notch in the Glen County Schools District. And then once you all sign that resolution, I will send it back to the state department and then we will be eligible to apply for funding um, through the state for these projects that we plan to do over the next five years. Next, we have the Satillaa Marsh uh Elementary Media Center furniture. We did not do the furniture last year when we renovated last summer when we renovated the school and um so the old furniture is still in there and I'll be asking
033to approve $94,3769. Um we will be using Ernie Mars Enterprises who we've you know worked with uh a lot in the past and um the quote has been provided through the tips purchasing contract and um that will take care of the media center furniture the media specialist office the audiovisisual room in there and there's an additional storage clos storage uh office in there as well that will take care of everything. So, I'll be asking for that amount to be approved to do their media center. And then lastly, the Brunswick High OGM at Brunswick High. Uh there are four currently four rooftop units on that building. Only one of them is working right now. Um, so I'll be asking to approve $74,385.40 to replace all four of those rooftop units. Um, again, all of them, as
034you can see, are older older than 10 years old. Um, and our guys will be able to install the units. The curbing will not have to be changed. The units that we're buying will fit right into the curbing that's currently up there now. So, and our guys will do the installation. So, um just want to get that amount approved to get the new units um purchased. And again, that's one of those buildings that will be is in the splice 5 uh east 5. So, we need to get those units replaced if at all possible. Do you know if that's the first time we've replaced those units? I can't. There's a couple of them that were replaced about 15 years ago, I believe. Okay. All right. And that's the old gym. The old gym. All right.
035Which is part of Espos 5, which we are going to renovate the inside of. This will just kind of be the first thing. So, for an AC unit to last 15 years, that's pretty good. So, if there are no questions, that is all I have. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, Mr. Hwood. Good evening. Tonight, the uh technology department is seeking the approval of two additional server nodes for our data center in the amount of 290 282,128. Um currently our data center consists of four server nodes which is essentially we run 138 virtual server machines which basically supply um services and resources to our students, staff and administrators so that they can conduct their daily um activities and responsibilities for the amount of technology that we run. The upgrade to six server nodes um will
036allow us the ability to maintain critical services in the event of a hardware failure and also ensure um seamless use of our video streaming and recording. Um currently we are based upon our tech guys we are at capacity um for the recommended threshold for our normal operations. So, we are hoping that um this purchase will put us um will make available the critical resources that we need to make sure if we do any further expansion, we have the space that we need. Be happy to answer any questions. Is there a way to project like is this a two-year fix, a fiveyear fix? It's a good question. I Yeah. The answer is you. We would hope it would be for the next few years, but as technology changes and as different requirements for different systems is
037kind of a kind of chasing yourself around in circles to to determine that. I do know this will handle the elementary classroom cameras that we are planning and so part of this is to get ahead of for that addition. Thank you. Mr. Waters. Okay. Good evening and thank you to Miss Daniels for being here tonight. The first thing we would like to ask the board to do is to renew all of our school nutrition bid proposals um for the 2026 school year. None of these are new. These were all proposals that we've presented the last few years. The first is for milk products. Um, and we just recommend that the milk products go to TGE Dairy for $433,162. Our next proposal is for pizza, which is probably the most important one tonight. We propose uh
038for Bullseye Brand Smartmouth Pizza out of Atlanta for $151,023. Our next proposal is for commodities. And if you'll notice there, one of these brands is a local company, rich product. So that's always a good thing when we can reward a product to a local company. But uh instead of going through all those, they're all listed there for you in the amounts. Um so we ask that you renew the commodities. Next we have our paper bid which is um Sun Coast paper here locally as well. So thankfully we can use a local company for that in the amount of $244,434. And next we have produce and we recommend Garden Wholesale Creation Gardens out of Jacksonville for $260,000. And the final one is the big one. Um, of course, we've used Williams Institutional Foods for a long
039time. They do a great job here locally, and we recommend that you rem renew their proposal for 3,557,238. And this is paid for through school nutrition funds. This may be a question for Miss Daniels, but you know, we all know that groceries, all of groceries are going up. How has that impacted this year's fees for what we're looking at? It really it'll impact our adult plate cost because it is based on what the plate cost what our plate cost is going for. But um we usually see an increase in about two to 3%. We're seeing more of a five and six% increase. Thank you. Any other questions orders? Okay. Next, we would like to ask um the board to approve the purchase of new school safety radios. These would be in every school in the
040Glen County school system, elementary, middle, high, and geek. Um we'd be purchasing 245 radios for each school. And the uh total amount is 153,383.32. And these will be paid through the safety grant um that is in our general fund. Did you say 245 for each school? It's 245. 245 total. Sorry. Yes. 245. There are some principles that like 245 deal. I was thinking it was a great deal. That's funny. Okay. And finally, um, we'd like to ask the board to, um, purchase four new police interceptor vehicles from Wade Ford, um, out of Atlanta for $199,655. And these will replace the last of our Crown Vicks that we have that you may see that are very, very old. But, um, so these are these are needed badly by our police here in the school system. We
041ask that the board approve these four vehicles. JD doesn't need new vehicles. Steve. Yes, ma'am. Um, do we always use Wade Ford? Do we do a bid for that? Have we tried someone local? It's It's the state contract. Oh, okay. So, it's already Yeah. So, that's that's where they they come from. It's very It We do price them out locally occasionally. It's very hard for them to compete with the state contract. And Miss Seals, for one of the more exciting pieces of the tonight, I'm very excited to talk about um I get the opportunity to talk about something that's been really important, I believe, to our school district tonight, and that's our uh employee education program, particularly our parents to teacher program. In June of 2022, um, in that work session that year, um, after
042many discussions with our former superintendent, Dr. Scott Spence, and contacting several school districts throughout the state, um, I reviewed with you the memorandum of understanding between Glen County Schools and the College of Coastal Georgia to establish a parented teacher program in our school district. Um recognizing the shortage of teachers um not only just in Glen County but throughout the state and throughout the nation, we thought what a great way to help support and um provide support to people who were already doing the job many times. They're in our classrooms. They already live in our community and many of them have already dedicated many years of service to children as paraprofessionals. And tonight I'm exceptionally happy to say that um after starting that first cohort that tomorrow night our very first cohort will graduate from the
043College of Coastal Georgia. I will tell you it it really does my heart so much good to be able to say that. Um, and tonight I'm excited to inform you that um, they will graduate with a bachelor of science and education um, degree with dual majors and certification in elementary and special education for P for P through five. So, they'll be able to do elementary or um, special education. And because they already have those degrees, they'll be able to take tests to do any other grade levels they would like to do. Um, so many of those employees are here tonight. Um, but first I'd like to say a special thank you to the College of Coastal Georgia and to you, the Glen County School System Board of Education for supporting this program and to our
044principles and schools for providing places for these employees slash students to be able to do their work. Um, so tonight, Dr. Amy Sneed, who's been very a very important part of this process, is here tonight just to give a little um overview of that program. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you so much for inviting me to this space on this very um celebratory night. Um I guess they were just in rehearsal uh yesterday. I assure the president they are going to be the line leaders. Um you're going to do great, but we are so excited to celebrate the partnership we've had with county schools. We talked a little bit earlier about that grow your own initiative and that we have arrived in place with our first graduating cohort. So, um, three years ago, I was
045actually looking back in my email. I'm like, when did I first get the email about that? It was March 22nd, 2022. Um, that we thought about, you know, where are we getting our future teachers from? And the answer is obvious. It's the it's the Alma McCoy. Um, it's the Ryan Knights. It's the teachers that are already in our communities and are invested in our student success. We So, we had this real shared um vision of the talent that already exists in schools. So we built the pathway. So um Mrs. Shu, Miss Steels, we all, you know, lots of people on our team got around the table and um the what wasn't hard, right? They got their cohort selected. We got our program in place, but the how the how was like how is this going
046to unfold? And I remember Dr. Parish saying like hang with us because we're kind of building and flying this plane. But I'm here to tell you that this is probably the one of the most um influential experiences I've had in my professional career, seeing that you guys do this long after I'm probably going to bed. You guys have worked a full day. You've probably had been with your families and you are firing up your videos to improve your own practice to make a difference in these kids' lives. Watching you go through this has been inspiring, amazing. Um and I do want to with with any great project becomes a lot of thanks behind it. And I did want to offer um my thanks to the school board. Um the district leadership has been amazing. I'm
047so thankful for your gift um in support for them, not only in time, but in funding. Um we asked these pair of professionals what's made the difference and it's really been two things. Number one, it's been the financial support that's taken that pressure off so that they can do the great work that they're doing. Um, but also then I also want to thank all of the the district, the building level principles, the mentor teachers that you guys all speak to that really came around as a community and supported created a space for growth and encouragement. Um, your families and but I want to just thank you. You have been trailblazers um since you've been through. We've expanded now this program to I think over 15 districts and it's growing and you guys have really led
048the way. um for that and tomorrow we are so excited to stand beside you and yes I just want to this is dual degree they are getting two different degrees and two different certifications um so we're excited to stand you know right with you not only in the next week but in the months to come as you continue to not only teach lead but build futures for our our students and our families. So thank you so much and thank you to the board. Thank you so much I did I did not ask any of them to say anything tonight, but I mean I don't know if any of them This is the most quiet wants to talk. Sorry. Um my name is Drew Lo. I currently work at St. times elementary school and this has
049changed my family from not almost giving up on this career knowing what I want I want to do the financial to help me push through has been so much and I just want to thank you because I wouldn't be able to do it without you. I'm sorry I'm emotional. Um, I feel like that this program does so much good for people that I feel like regular traditional programs should be pair pros because the perspective that you get into the classroom is so different. And I'm telling you, next year I'm ready to be a first year teacher. I know the challenges I'm going to face and I just want to thank you for everything that y'all have done for me. Thank you for the college and I'm just so grateful. So, thank you. So, I just
050want to say um graduating we have Oh, Mr. Good evening to everyone in the room. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Cheryl Douglas. I currently am a parapro at St. Simons Elementary. I have been a pair of pro in the Glen County school system for 35 years. This year will complete my 35 years and I just want to say how grateful and I know that it was divinely done that I have a ch I had a chance to be in this program. Um I have the sentiments of Drew. It is it has blown my mind. It has built confidence for me. It has shown me that somebody does believe in me and does care. And so I thank you to the board, to the community for investing in me and all of us. Um,
051thank you so much for the privilege. And so since you've invested in me, I'm going to give it 100 when I walk in in August. So many years I've been on the support side. So this year I'll be on the lead side and thank you. That means so very much to me for your time and your effort. Thank you. So, those who are graduating are Greta Hall, Ryan Knight, Payton O'Neal, Landa Carol Harris, Elma McCoy, Carly Lawson, Daniela Pedroso, uh, Cheryl Douglas, Drew Loe, Brooke Loveing, and Francine Price. And like I said, many of them are here tonight. [Applause] Thank you, Miss. Thank you so much. And I would like to say something also. This this idea came to us years ago and I can't not say thank you to the college for uh the
052partnership and I can't y'all should be proud of yourself the because any pilot program, startup program, there's rocky roads. I mean I'm sure I can't imagine how many times you know you probably had something ran into a roadblock. Okay, what do I do here? Okay, I'm afraid all these people are going to leave. But you stuck with it and and that's what college is all about anyway. Just sticking with it and y'all did it. Congratulations. And I just want you to know that I firmly believe I think our school system firmly believes that our most valuable resource is our human resource. And we we just can't wait to see y'all continue your careers and seeing how you're going to even more effectively affect students. And please tell other people, please. This is a valuable valuable
053program. Thank you. Yeah. Can I add to that? So I do appreciate the courage that y'all um explained in stepping forward in the new territory going, you know, back into to school yourself while working a job. It has um shown us the passion that y'all have. And that to to me just shows what great teachers y'all are going to be. And I do agree with Drew. That seems like a great thing for kind of everybody to start out in the pair pro world because you learn those things that you don't learn when you're in college. Um just the innate environment of a classroom and the dayto-day. You don't know what's coming for you and how to navigate all that. So I appreciate that. but also appreciate, you know, the people that work to make this
054happen and um that means everything to us. Uh I think Miss Seals, we kind of challenged you and a time of uncertain workforce um supply to find ways to to staff our classrooms and you've like paid off in spades with that. I know this year we've come to a point where we have fewer vacancies at this point in the year than we've ever had in recent years and I I know your leadership and your team is a big part of that. So I appreciate that too. Thank you and thank you for your support. May I say something without crying? I may not say it, but as a retired educator, y'all feel my heart. Keep that passion. Keep going. Yes. Thank you. Yes. I mean, we're we're hiring first year teachers that are actually seasoned veterans,
055and that's going to be be a good thing. So, congratulations. All right. We have one more item on the agenda, which is the memorand memorandum of understanding with Coastal Plains High School. This is uh just a continuation of the uh the same memorandum that we that we used the last couple of years as far as our arrangement with uh with coastal plains. So nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. All right, Mr. Holy got back on. Okay. All right. So that's the end of our agenda. All right. Thank you. And that brings us to executive session. Before we talk about executive session, I would like to make a comment uh about the vacant district 5 board member position. Uh we'll vote on that at the next board meeting. Uh that'll give opportunity for anyone who would like to
056speak at the last minute um to speak and that's our regular schedule voting meeting. So at the next board meeting, we'll be naming the new district 5 interim board member. So that brings us to executive session. Uh I know we have personnel, land, and legal. Does anybody have anything else? Personnel, land, and legal. Nope. That's all right. Entertain a motion to go into executive session for personnel, land, and legal. So motion. Motion by Miss Lee. Second by Mr. Dodge. Any discussion? All in favor, raise your hand or say I. I. And it's unanimous. Gotcha. Thank you, Mike. Mr. Holes, he's on speaker phone. And we'll go into executive session at 557. Thank you. Motion to return to open session. So moved. Motion by Miss Sams. Second. Second by Miss Lee. Any discussion? All in favor?
057Raise your hand or say I. I. I. And uh turn to open session at 6:41. Uh before we adjourn, I would like to take a moment to say happy teacher appreciation week. Uh thank you to all the teachers out there and also yesterday happy nurse school nurse uh day. Um we can't do it without all our human personnel and human resource. So thank you very much. Entertain a motion to adjurnn. So motion by Mr. Dodin. Second. Second by Miss Sams. Any discussion? All in favor? And it's unanimous at 642.