001I call this April 13th work session to order. I need a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Mr. Tool. Second. Mr. Hamrick, all in favor. Passes Mr. Tool. 4-0. Superintendent's report. All right, thank you, Mr. Ransom, and good evening, board members. Welcome back from spring break, everyone. We hope everyone had an opportunity to rest and recharge last week with only 29 instructional days left remaining remaining in the school year. We look forward to finishing strong and celebrating our graduates on May 22nd and 23rd. During the break, our operations and maintenance teams were hard at work on several important projects across the district, including paving and installing new air conditioning units at Oconee County Primary School, activity area enhancements at Oconee County Elementary School, and progress on the digital scoreboards at our two high schools.
002We are grateful for the long hours these teams invested last week to complete this work while school was out of session. So, thank you to those teams. I also want to acknowledge the unity our community showed during the April 3rd situation at North Oconee. I'm grateful to the Oconee County High School administration, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office, and our law enforcement partners for their swift response, and I'm proud of the students, staff, and families for the way they came together throughout that situation. Looking ahead, our focus now turns to finishing the school year strong, and that includes a busy testing season for students and staff. End-of-grade assessments for grades 3 through 8 will begin on April 27th, followed by end-of-course assessments for grades 9 through 12 beginning on April 29th, and then that will be
003followed by AP testing, which will begin on May the 4th. April also gives us the opportunity to recognize several groups who make a tremendous difference in our schools each day, including our paraprofessionals, school librarians, assistant principals, and administrative professionals. We are grateful for the many ways these dedicated professionals support our schools and our students and contribute to their success. In addition to these important milestones, there have also been several highlights across the district since we last met, which feels like a little while ago. Um Mr. Robert Harris was honored during his retirement cele- celebration, and we celebrated five decades of service and impact. Six seniors, three from North Oconee High School and three from Oconee County High School were selected as the Georgia Scholar as Georgia Scholars by the Georgia Department of Education. We also
004had five Governor's Honors Programs finalists representing outstanding academic achievement in their respective areas. Four Young Georgia Authors advanced to the state level this week, showcasing excellence in student writing throughout the district. Our Villa program concluded with valuable feedback and engagement from the 24 participating parents, and the All-Stars games once again highlighted the term determination, joy, and incredible spirit of our students. Together, these recognitions and accomplishments reflect the strength of our district and the people who make Oconee County Schools such a special place. That concludes the superintendent's report, unless you have any other questions. Thank you, Dr. Butler. Next, we have presentations and discussions leading to the Office of Student Services, Dr. Yancey. Good evening, Dr. Butler and board members. The April 2026 Student Services report contains four items of information and two action items. The
005first item of information is our summer youth athletic camps. These camps are this summer our high school athletic programs are offering sport-specific camps for our younger students across the district. Over the summer months, we have 24 camp opportunities planned for students to participate in. Information regarding camp registration has been shared on the district social media outlets by our athletic programs and will be shared through school newsletters as well. I would like to commend our high school programs for not only the outstanding job they do with our current student athletes, but also the emphasis they put on developing the programs for the next generation of Warriors and Titans. The second item of information is a recap of our secondary athletic performance for the winter sport and extracurricular seasons. Starting with our middle school teams, it was
006a very, very successful winter season for our middle schools. Some areas to highlight include Oconee County Middle School girls basketball won the Appalachian League basketball championship. And Dove Creek Middle School boys basketball finished runner-up in the Appalachian League tournament. Uh, for our high school athletic programs, the winter seasons for all of our athletic and extracurricular programs are always enduring as they begin competition in early October and the last one finishes up in mid-March. Looking at our performances for both high schools, it is clear that both continue to excel in competition demonstrating strong results both locally and across the state. A few notable areas to highlight include in 13 of 14 sports either North Oconee or Oconee won the region or area championship or were the region or area runner-up. 16 of 17 GHSA sponsored or
007governed sports and activities successfully qualified for state competition. And there were four individual state champions, six individual or relay state runner-ups, three third-place finishes, three uh, team elite eight elite eight appearances, and 11 top 10 finishes between our two high schools. I would like to first express my gratitude to our student for their dedication not only for their individual success but also the work they put in to embrace the responsibility of leaving a legacy at their schools and being bigger uh something they are themselves. Additionally, many hours go uh our appreciation goes to our coaches who put in endless hours as they spend mentoring our students and for the structure and accountability they provide. And finally, board members, thank you for your continuing and unwavering supports of all of our athletic and extracurricular programs. Uh
008the third item of information is a report on our Lutzie 43 Safe Driving Summits held at both high schools before spring break. The Lutzie 43 Foundation was created in 2014 in memory of Philip Lutzenkirchen with a mission to end distracted, impaired, and unsafe driving. Our two safe driving summits engaged all of all of our students at both high schools with a keynote presentation and our current 10th grade students with four breakout sessions that included more in-depth topics such as knowing your local law agencies, sharing the road with large vehicles such as semi trucks, and a glimpse into the trauma bay and teams who support recovery after someone is involved in an accident. I would like to thank Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Carter, our hardworking assistant principals and their teams at each high school for identifying a
009need within our school communities and creating a meaningful learning opportunity for our students. The fourth item of information is an update on our installation of our LED video scoreboards in our high school stadiums. Over spring break, the process of taking down our current scoreboards and the installation of our new boards began on Monday, April the 6th. During the week, the team at Digital Scoreboards made great progress on the installation of our new LED video boards as we're on target to have the new boards up and running over the next week. Again, the goal of this project was to have the LED digital scoreboards installed and operational before graduation with the potential to be used during the completion of spring sports and we're currently on track for this to take place at both schools. Student services
010has two action items for tonight's work session. The first action item is an out-of-state field trip for North Oconee girls basketball program to travel to Destin, Florida to compete in a basketball camp in June. And second action item is out-of-state field trip for Oconee County High School's state champion poultry judging team which will compete in the national poultry evaluation contest in October at the national FFA convention in Indianapolis. Student Superintendent's recommendation is to approve both field trips as presented and this concludes the student services report unless there are any questions. Thank you, Dr. Yancey. Yes, sir. Special education, Ms. Pender. Good evening, board members and Dr. Butler. The Oconee County School Special Education Board of Education report for April 13th, 2026 contains one item of information and no action items. On Thursday, April 2nd, Oconee
011County High School hosted the annual All-Star Special Olympic Games. This is truly a remarkable remarkable event where students come together to compete and celebrate their abilities. The event kicks off with a parade of athletes where each school proudly walks around the track carrying their school's banner and the opening ceremony featured students leading the Pledge of Allegiance and the athletes oath. The games included the event rotations tailored to the students' abilities ensuring that everyone can participate and have fun. Each student was paired with a buddy who supported them throughout the day. The event concluded with closing ceremonies where each student received a medal for their efforts. I would like to thank Coach Cal Tanner, the Oconee County Adaptive PE teacher, and Coach Kevin Stewart, the North Oconee Adaptive PE teacher, who coordinate this event. This event
012supports the culture and climate goal and the Oconee County Schools Strategic Plan by creating an inclusive, innovative, student-centered environment while supporting the physical, social, and emotional well-being of all students. And that concludes the special education report unless there are questions. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Technology, Mr. McCollars. Thank you, Mr. Ranson. Good evening, board members, Dr. Bowler. Oconee County Schools Technology Services Board of Education report for April 13th includes one information item and no action items. Our information item tonight is an update on the interactive panels project. After the board approved the panel refresh project back in February, we immediately proceeded with the full replacement of our interactive model, which includes kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classrooms, as well as elementary art, music, PE, STEM, media center, and special education spaces. I'm pleased
013to report that all the work on this project has been completed, which means the panels have been installed, teachers are connected, and students are interacting with with their learning in a new way. Again, this replacement directly supports the district's strategic plan performance objective to improve student engagement, achievement, and growth by providing teachers and students with modern interactive instructional tools that enhance lesson delivery and participation. To recognize this installation milestone, we have prepared a slideshow highlighting each school and class showcasing their excitement and appreciation for the new interactive panels. >> As you can see lots of smiling faces in that video there. Uh I think it's important to note, I don't know if you noticed some of the old paint colors behind some of the old boards. Um throwback to some of the 80s colors there.
014It was kind of fun to to see, but all of the installations happened after school hours. So, we're talking from 2:30 to sometimes 10:30, 11:30 at night. So, no instructional days were lost and did not impact the classroom and then we were like elves in the night and basically when the class came back the next day they had a brand new device. So, the installation is complete, but the work's not done because now we're going to this next stage and that's really focusing with our integration with the technology. So, taking it beyond and really playing on the fact that these are interactive and so how can we use this new interactivity? So, and that concludes the technology report unless you have any questions. I just just a quick comment. Just um I I'm glad you
015mentioned the late nights that your team and others spent getting this out there to be able to help our children and then the the teachers also um that's just really impactful. So, thank you to you and your team and and everyone involved in that. Especially for those late nights. >> operations really was heavily involved in coordinating and so it was definitely a team effort, no doubt. So, Thank you. Thank you. Operations Dr. White. Good evening board members and Dr. Butler. The first informational item is an operations update. On March 13th, transportation hosted all drivers to review standard operating procedures for communications, accidents and incidents, and pre-trip post-trip inspections. We also role-played various scenarios with all drivers using an interactive online program. We'd like to commend and thank our drivers for their commitment to student safety
016and building positive relationships with our students. Last month, maintenance and nutrition collaborated on the installation of temperature sensors on all our coolers. Previously, only freezers were monitored for temperature. Now, coolers and freezers have remote temperature monitoring that includes access for appropriate staff and notifications in the event of equipment failure causing temperatures to rise above certain thresholds. In March, operations also conducted our spring walk-through of schools. Maintenance, facilities, and myself completed walk-throughs on all 12 schools with Gima, Dr. Kevin Yancey, our director of student services, and our school administrators. We identified utility cutoffs in addition to inventorying water heaters, bleachers, and gym floors. This process continues to help us inventory current equipment, determine any needed replacements, collaborate on any needs from the principal, and ensure internal personnel and outside agencies are familiar with our buildings. Over
017spring break, our director of maintenance, Chris Young, coordinated and facilitated the installation of a new HVAC system in the Oconee County High School press box. This upgrade represents a meaningful improvement to the facility, enhancing comfort and usability for staff, media personnel, and visitors during events held throughout the year. In addition to improving working conditions, this project helps bring greater parity between North Oconee High School and Oconee County High School, as the North Oconee High School press box was already equipped with HVAC. Our last topic for the operations update is an update on school nutrition. As a reminder, we're anticipating a roughly half a million dollar shortfall in the district's nutrition enterprise fund for FY27 if no changes are implemented. This is due to rising state health benefit plan premiums, an increase in the employer costs
018for TRS, rising costs in food and supplies, and rising wages, as we have low turnover from year to year. Based on our student survey data, nutrition task force meetings, and collaborations with other districts, nutrition is proposing the following changes for next school year. Adjusting all a carte pricing to reflect USDA recommendations and neighboring system costs. Moving from Smart Mouth pizza back to regular pizza based on student survey results and to lower labor and food costs. Transition from a convenience model to a quick scratch cooking model to save on food and supply costs. Continue to investigate third-party partnerships for food that will increase participation and drive revenue to the enterprise fund. And lastly, continue to educate stakeholders at leadership, villa, school councils, and other opportunities on school nutrition finance and regulations. An adjustment to meal prices
019was recommended by the nutrition task force. We are proposing a quarter increase to both breakfast and lunch prices. Even with this adjustment, the nutrition program anticipates a $330,000 deficit for FY27, which is proposed to be supported by the general fund. This nutrition department will continue to evaluate operations and pricing strategies to strengthen the enterprise fund. While no board action is required, we want to provide an update on this change. Current and proposed meal prices are attached for your review. This concludes the operations report unless there are any questions. I I do have a few, so thank you and I I thank you very much for the overview on this and um glad to see the attention this is getting with the budget shortfall when it pertains to school nutrition. Um and also just want to
020say how important it is that we have a strong school nutrition program. Um it it's really tough to to learn whenever you're hungry or you're not liking or enjoying what you're eating. Um when we look at the current meal prices that we're offering out here, going from $1.75 to $2, $2.75 to $3, and $3 to $3.25, how do those fall in relation to other districts in our RESA? Sure. As we've talked to other districts in the RESA, we're currently matching their prices at breakfast and lunch, and in those conversations we'll be matching what we expect them to go up to next year as well. >> Okay. Do you see their participation rate for their students to be roughly the same as ours or materially different one way or the other? Do you have that? Um
021I I'd have to get that information. Okay. I'm not aware of their participation rate at this time, but I can get it to Dr. Butler. Okay. Get you that information. Yeah, I'm just curious if if ours is very different from theirs. Um I was also glad to hear you you talk about just the changes in USDA guidelines and how we're taking that into account in what we um offer our children um to eat, and then also the quick scratch food, which I gather means um a little more hands-on prep, or is it Yes, sir. Okay. So, less just Yeah. a little more hands-on I'll leave it at that. Um And then, what I'd also be curious, when we think about the percentage of students that we have that are on free and reduced lunch, does
022that percentage negatively or positively impact the profitability of the overall program or Yes, sir. So, we have a very low free and reduced lunch rate in the Oconee County Schools. And because we have a low percentage, uh as students eat in our cafeterias, we just don't get as much reimbursement uh from the feds or the state as compared to other districts around us that have much higher percents. And so, would it be fair to say that the reimbursement is the same or higher than what our proposed pricing is for breakfast, lunch, and Uh the reimbursement on a free and reduced student is higher than what we charge for a student that's not free and reduced lunch. No more questions. Thank you. Yes, sir. I don't have a question, but I want to commend all of
023you for utilizing that spring break time for so many projects. As somebody who drives down that primary school drive every day, it was a nice surprise this morning to have a wider You know, I don't know how we fit there before cuz it's much better now. So, thank you all for utilizing that time so well. Well, thank you. We have a great team of people here. That's all right. Mr. Facilities, Mr. Rickerson. Good evening. The operations The Oconee County Schools Operations and Facilities uh April 13th, 2026 Board of Education report contains one item of information and one action item. First is the Oconee Primary Driveway project. The pavement is complete. We're uh the plan is to add uh striping once the asphalt's had a chance to cure. Uh we've learned that if we wait for
024it to cure, the striping lasts longer. Uh the Oconee Schools uh transportation edition. The new well and septic tank are complete and are in use now. The slab has been prepped and the plumbing has been roughed in. The slab will be installed within the next couple of weeks. The contractor was able to get some work accomplished inside the existing building over spring break as well. North Oconee Auxiliary Gym, the design continues to progress on the gym uh with the intention that we would uh be complete with design by the end of calendar year. Oconee High School Athletic Fields, as a reminder, each school was asked to provide their most important needs as we plan as we were planning for East Phase 7. North Oconee needed indoor athletic space, while Oconee High needs outdoor athletic space.
025So, in answer to that, uh as you know, we're working on the gym design, but in at Oconee High, we've uh we've done our first step by adding air conditioning to the press box, and the next step is we're in the process of uh designing an an addition to the existing practice field to make it a full-size practice field, as well as uh currently planning to create uh as develop as as well as developing plans for future changing facilities and restrooms for the athletes. Oconee Elementary School Activity Area Improvements, the outdoor play court was paved over spring break. Storm drainage was installed around the gym. The lights and ceiling tiles were replaced inside of the gym. Oconee Primary, Oconee Middle HVAC and fire and fire alarm improvements. The air conditioner at Oconee Primary was replaced
026last week. The rough the rough ins for the new fire alarm at Oconee Middle was performed last week. Malcom Bridge Elementary School Track Walking Track, the new walking track was installed over spring break. Again, striping will be will come later after the asphalt has had a chance to cure. We do have one action on this this month and that is over at Honey Middle School flooring glue repairs. This project will include removing the flooring in the oldest part of the school. The slab will receive will be prepped to handle the new flooring and that's and a special adhesive will be used to keep this problem from happening in the future. It's superintendent's recommendation is for the Board of Education to approve DCO Commercial Floors for repairing flooring adhesive issues and the replacement of flooring for
027a proposal cost of $128,393. This project will be paid for using e-splost funds. And that concludes the operations and facilities report. Are there any questions? I think that flooring activity is much needed at the middle school. Was that practice used at any other school as far as that adhesive? Are there any other challenges at any of the other schools as far as that goes? It's it's more of an issue of the age of the building and that that build the the oldest part of the school was built in the mid-50s. Back then they didn't have the technology they do today to to keep vapors from coming through the ground through the flooring. And over time glues have changed to be no VOC or low VOC. And uh so the the great old adhesives that that
028have plenty of VOCs don't exist anymore. So uh it's been a learning curve for for flooring installers over the years to learn how to deal with the vapor barrier deteriorating with age and the glues not ever curing. So um with that said, this process has been proven to work. We've used it before. Uh it's just one of those things you never really know for sure till you do it and it doesn't work. Um it's it's uh the process that works is much more expensive. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Any other questions? Thank you. Thanks, Brett. Human Resources, Mr. Kofer. Good evening, board members and Dr. Butler. The Human Resources report for this evening contains two items of uh I'm sorry, no action items and two uh Let me start over. I'm still on spring
029break. No information items, two action items. We're all on the same page. All right, good deal. As part of our continued commitment to attracting, supporting, and retaining high-quality staff, we have engaged in a comprehensive review of compensation across all employee groups. This ongoing work is grounded in our strategic focus on employee retention, market competitiveness, and recognizing the critical contributions of every role within our system. Through this review, it has become evident that our current nurse compensation structure falls below that of neighboring districts within our RESA. This disparity presents a growing challenge in both recruitment as well as retention of the experienced professionals that we would like serving our students. School nurses play a vital and multifaceted role in the daily operation of our schools, and their work directly impacts student well-being, instructional continuity, and the
030overall safety of our school environments. To better align our compensation with our RESA, we are proposing an increase of $6,000 annually across our school nursing scale. This adjustment reflects both the realities of the current market and our belief that their contribution should be appropriately recognized and supported. By making this change, we position ourselves to better serve our students while strengthening our ability to recruit and retain the exceptional staff that we so value. Our second action item of the evening is the TST 2 pay scale. Again, as part of our continued effort to realign our organization for efficiency and effectiveness, we have reviewed the structure and compensation of our technology support roles to better meet the evolving needs of our schools. Technology support technicians, TST 2s, play a critical role in ensuring the day-to-day functionality of
031our instructional and operational systems. Their work directly supports classroom instruction, minimizes downtime, and ensures that both staff and students rely on consistent, high-quality technology access. We are proposing the following changes for TST 2s. An increase in the annual compensation across the pay scale of $3,500. And increasing their work calendar by 15 days that they will receive payment for at their daily rate. This adjustment reflects the growing scope of technology support, as well as the need for consistent service beyond the traditional school calendar. As part of this realignment, we are absorbing the help desk administrator position and redistributing responsibilities across the TST 2 team. This approach will streamline support structures, increase responsiveness at the school level, and better align staffing with actual operational needs. The superintendent's recommendation is to approve both the enhanced nurses pay scale
032and the enhanced TST 2 pay scale at the April 20th, 2026 Board of Education meeting. This concludes the HR report for this evening unless there are any questions. I have one, please. Um Yes, sir. And I'll just look focus on the nurse change on their pay scale. Um I understand if we have a nurse that say transfers in from a different district, we're going to give them their prior years of service. Um if you have someone coming from outside of K-12 and they've been a nurse for 10 years, do they start out at the entry level or do they start out? >> not. So, as long as their experience was is related to the position they're going to hold with our school system, we do grant them experience. Perfect. Thank you. You got it. Thank
033you, Mr. Carver. Communications, Mr. Cockrell. Thank you, Mr. Ransom. Good evening, board members and Dr. Butler. Communications report this evening has two items of information. The first is March social media information. Oconee County Schools had 37 social media posts in March with an average of 17,462 views. The top post for the month was the announcement that Oconee County Schools alums Adam Frazier, Kumar Rocker, and Bubba Chandler made opening day Major League Baseball rosters, the first time all three have been active at the same time. That post was viewed more than 66,000 times. For the month, 20 posts were viewed more than 10,000 times, including the one at 66,000, one at 50,000, four at 40,000, and three at 30,000. OCS saw tremendous engagement in March with posts on Major League Baseball, Governor's Honors, and National Merit
034Scholars, a reception for Mr. Robert Harris at Colham Ferry Elementary, students being chosen for National Assemblies, state success in literary, and the recognitions at the most recent board meeting. Board members, thank you for carving out that time at board meetings to recognize these hardworking folks. You can tell it means a lot to them, also to their families and their friends. OCS gained 141 followers in March, giving the district now 24,795 followers. In addition, the district newsletter distributed on March 31st was opened 9,375 times. Board members, I'd like to briefly provide a communication update from this month, not from March, but from this month. During the April 3rd situation at North Oconee, keeping our community involved in real time was essential. Averages of 2,228 emails and 1,354 texts were delivered to parents and three direct messages.
035On social media, the initial post and subsequent updates were viewed more than 100,000 times and shared more than 300 times. Of note, OCS gained 93 new social media followers that day alone. We are so appreciative of the parents, students, community members, businesses, and media outlets that follow and engage with the OCS social media accounts. Finally this evening, we have the March highlights video. And that concludes communications unless you have any questions. Questions? Thank you, Mr. Corprew. We do have a need to enter executive session. I need a motion to do so. I have a motion for the board. The board will adjourn to executive session to discuss or deliberate matters as as described on the affidavit to be attached to the minutes. Thank you, Mr. Herrick. Second. Mr. Hammond. Call in favor. That's 4-0. We
036are adjourned.