001call this August 4th work session order. Uh first off, we need to approve the agenda. Need a motion to do so. >> So moved. >> Mr. Tulle. >> Second, >> Mr. Hammond. All in favor? Passes. 5-0. Mr. Kofer, superintendent report. >> Yes, sir. I think we can all tell I am not Dr. Harden. So, she is feeling a little under the weather, so I will just be filling in for her this evening. So, for the superintendent report, I'm happy to say that earlier today, we held our annual meet the teacher sessions across the district. Families filled our hallways. Students eagerly met their teachers and the teachers welcomed them with warmth and enthusiasm. It's a clear reflection of the strong relationships that define our schools. We also welcomed staff back last week and enjoyed the blue
002side breakfast. Special shout out to the Okone County Primary School for winning the trophy this year at the blue breakfast. We also enjoyed the Redside lunchon and hosted new employee orientation and our schools provided numerous professional learning opportunities across their campuses while also making time for new family orientation. It's been a busy last couple of weeks. Also, Dr. White. We'll have a little bit more on this later this evening, but we're pleased to announce last week the results of the GeoHydro Engineers industrial hygiene testing at Okoni Elementary. The results showed no significant mold in air problem at the school. We also would like to uh extend our appreciation to the outlets that came uh from the media to our briefing so they could help us get that word out to the community. Athletics are back
003in full swing. Softball, volleyball, and football seasons are underway for both our high school and middle school teams. And our annual Hog Mountain Bowl is set for August 15th at North Oak High School. This beloved tradition brings together students, families, and fans from across the county, and we're expecting another incredible turnout. For those who have been, you know, it's more than a football game. It's a celebration of school spirit, community pride, and everything that makes Okaloney special. We hope to see you there. We'd like to express our thanks for the hard work of our staff that took place throughout the summer to ensure that our campuses are fully prepared to open their doors. From facility work, deep cleaning to technology updates, transportation planning, and instructional preparation, every division contributed to ensuring a smooth and successful
004start on Wednesday. I'd like to conclude by recognizing every member of the OCS family for the role that they play in our school system. regardless of their position. Every contribution, whether in classrooms, on buses, in offices, or throughout our campuses, is essential to our collective success. Lastly, I know I speak for all of the OCS family when I say we look forward to another exceptional year here in Okon County, focused on what is doing on doing what is best for our students. That concludes the substitute superintendent report, unless there are any questions. >> Great job. Thanks. We have teaching and learning, Miss Wicker. and two action items. The first item of information is district professional learning. This summer, OKone County Schools offered a variety of professional learning sessions to help educators grow and prepare for
005the school year ahead. Teachers explored strategies in areas of new ELA standards, assessment, and technology. The sessions encouraged collaboration and gave teachers teacher leaders the tools they needed to support their teams throughout the year. On August the 1st, OCS teachers and staff participated in our district professional learning day, a full day of collaborative learning designed to strengthen educator effectiveness sessions focused on implementing the new ELA standards, exploring updated instructional resources, refining instructional practices, and providing targeted training to support special education services. I would like to recognize my team, Jennifer Haggood, Andrea Pender, and Natalie Stowe for their efforts in planning these events. The second item of information are our advanced placement scores. The first graph shows the percentage of students scoring a three or higher on at least one AP exam. Both schools showed an
006increase over last year, and the total was the highest in OCS history. The second graph shows the number of students taking at least one AP exam. OCS experienced an overall increase from last year and the total number of students was the highest it has ever been with 1,113 students taking at least one AP exam. I would like to commend our AP teachers and students for their hard work and dedication. These results reflect their commitment to academic excellence and continued growth. The third item of information is our new academic content CTAE pathways. The new academic content pathways blend academic and CTAE courses, giving students an additional opportunity to connect academic coursework with hands-on learning. These new pathways recently rolled out by the Georgia Department of Education combine existing academic and CTA courses to align with the
007state's high demand career list. Georgia is one of the first states to offer this blended approach to learning. Okone County Schools currently offers courses in five academic career pathways, including accounting, engineering, graphic design, veterinary science, and allied health. Students will have immediate access to these pathways, providing more opportunities to graduate as pathway completers. The first action item is board policy IBB charter schools. The state board of education recently took action that affected state board rule 160-4-9-.05. This was done to incorporate provisions from HB 318 which made changes to the local charter process. This change affected our policy IBB charter schools which governs how local districts receive charter petitions per state board of education rules and related guidelines. Board policy IBB charter schools has been updated to reflect these changes and it is re the recommendation
008of the superintendent to place board policy IBB charter schools on the table for public and review and comment at the August 11th board meeting. The second item action item is board policy JBC1 homeless students. This has been revised to reflect requirements within Senate Bill 154. There have been no public comments and it is the superintendent's recommendation for the board to approve policy JBC1 homeless students as presented at the August 11th, 2025 board of education meeting. That concludes the teaching and learning report unless there are any questions. >> Next, student services, Dr. Yansy. >> Good evening, board members. The August 2025 student services report contains three items of information and four action items. The first item of information is a wrap-up on our summer youth athletic camps. This summer, our high school athletic programs offer 26
009sports specific camps for our younger students throughout the district. In total, we had 1,368 kids register to participate in in the camps between the two high schools. I want to again acknowledge our high school coaches for their outstanding efforts to develop the next generation of Warriors and Titans. The second item of information is a review of our school safety procedures and measures. Safety in our schools is critical for all of our students, faculty, and staff. We continue to work in conjunction with our law enforcement partners, first responders to ensure our practices are appropriate for all 12 campuses. And we will continue to evaluate for safety or the safety and security protocols throughout the days, weeks, and months of each school year. In addition to the hard and fast preventative measures we have established, I want
010to take a time to take some time to review the emphasis on student wellness offered through the engagement in health and sports services. We have three groups of support staff at the school and district levels that are pill pillars in building relationships and providing care and support for our students and staff. The first group uh we're going to discuss are our guidance coun guidance counselors. Counselors are located in all 12 of our schools. We have one guidance counselor at every elementary school, two at each middle school, and four guidance counselors at our high schools. Our guidance counselors wear many hats in support of students and develop strong relationships. In many situations, our guidance counselors are first line of communication and contact for our students. Guidance counselors welcome new students, guide and plan with current students,
011and work in conjunction with school faculty and staff to ensure a safe learning environment. The role of our of a school guidance counselor varies from K12 to the secondary setting, but the premise of counseling, orienting, and communicating with students, parents, and community partners remains consistent. Our guidance counselors remain available to students to provide counseling that directs our students toward personal growth, self-standing, and maturation during their years in school. Next, we have our school nurses. Our health services team consists of a full-time licensed nurse on each of our 12 campuses. School nurses work to develop firsthand relationships through medical and emotional knowledge of our students to promote a positive learning community. Our team promotes healthy lifestyles by providing health care counseling and guidance to students, their families, and staff. In addition, our school nurses identify health
012concerns and provide appropriate care, administer student medication, and conduct student screenings for vision, hearing, and scoliosis. And our third layer of student support comes from our school social workers. We are fortunate to have three school social workers who support our system. And before I go any further, I would again like to say thank you board for approving the additional a lotment to add a third social worker this school year. Our school social workers work in a variety of capacities and settings to engage students and families to promote healthy opportunities and build those relationships. School social workers support the needs of students and their families by facilitating collaboration between home, school, and community. Examples of connections include our relationships with community partners such as OARC, SAN, OKAF, ESP, Axe, Chamber of Commerce, the Sheriff's Office, Lions
013Club, and Rotary Club to name a few. In addition to connecting our families with support and resources, our social workers conduct home visits and site visits when necessary to better communicate with parents and it also at times support residency and school attendance policy. Okone Okone County Schools implement security and safety preventative measures to ensure our students and staff can learn and work in a safe and orderly environment. All schools implement prevention measures to promote the safety of our students, faculty, and staff and review the following prevention measures are utilized at various levels of safety in all of our schools. Our access controls as pictured on the slide. Our access controls allow staff members key card access for security entry points via exterior and interior doors inside the building. These access access controls allow staff to
014move fluidly through the building. Also, through the use of access controls, we can manage the point of entry for all visitors. In addition, the Elone County Sheriff's Office has key cards that allow their entry into all of our school buildings. Okone County Schools began equipping doors with access controls in 2014 and this practice continues to be consistently used throughout our district today. Our security cameras. Each school has cameras on the interior and exterior of the building. Camera placement in our building was done through collaboration with our sheriff's office. The main use of cameras is for safety and security purposes, and local law enforcement has access to view all of our cameras. our security uh vegetables. Each school in Okone has been equipped uh with an atrium at the main entrance of the school. This entry
015point becomes the only point of entry after the start of the school day for non-system employees. This entryway includes a locking mechanism that keeps the general public separate from our students and staff. Entry into our school is controlled to only those with school related business to enter our buildings. These were added in elementary schools in 2013 and middle schools in 2014. Our visitor management system has been updated for the 2526 school year. After reviewing our procedures, we felt that moving to the checkmate system through infinite campus would strengthen our process for visitor management and student check-ins and checkouts. This system also allows us to check each visitor against the Georgia sex offender registry each time an ID is scanned. And just a word of notice, when visiting a campus or checking out a student, all
016patrons will be required to scan their IDs in the front office. School Messenger, a messaging system uh that is linked to all of our school websites in the district website that allows individuals to report any threat, big or small, to the school or district administration. The person reporting the threat can remain anonymous or can identify themselves. This system has been in place for numerous years and continues to be monitored by administrators, counselors, school social workers, and district admin administration. Annually, each school in the district participates in proactive preparations surrounding the emergency planning and response. Throughout the school year, each school will assimilate two lockdown drills in conjunction with our sheriff's office, SRO's, and OKone EMA. After each drill drill is completed, feedback is provided from the collaborating agencies. In addition, schools will host nine fire
017drills and two severe weather drills. New this year is the addition of two AED drills the schools will perform to meet the requirements of House Bill 874. But Coney County Schools uses the strategic crisis alert system efficiently to efficiently communicate with local law enforcement if a lockdown occurs. Okone County Schools partnered with Stiggics in June of 2019 is one of the first school districts in the nation to implement this effective communication method in the event of an emergency. As a reminder, each one of our staff members wears a Stigics badge and can activate an alert when needed. When the system is activated, there are audio and visual cues throughout the building to alert individuals that we have entered our lockdown protocol. School and district administrators as well as law enforcement within the county receive the
018alert of who pushed a badge and where they are located within the school building. Each of our 15 buildings throughout the district is equipped with crisis alert. Through the use of our crisis alert and camera systems, law enforcement can arrive on one of our school campuses informed of where the potential threat is located and how they would need to proceed to isolate and remove the threat. In addition to using the cris the strategic crisis alert system, our district has also implemented the safety blueprint digital mapping system from Stigics. The system allows our schools to denote safety assets within the building, disseminate campus information to law enforcement, and plan with local law enforcement to reduce incident response time. An additional area we continually work to improve in school safety is through our relationships and partnerships we
019form with our local agencies. The Coney County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Hail, have been heavily involved in our emergency planning for years, and we continue to work together to keep our students, faculty, and staff safe. There's nothing we do regarding school safety that we do not consult and take guidance from our sheriff's office. On July 29th, Dr. Harden, Mr. Kofheer, and I were able to meet with Sheriff Hail, and Captain Smith to review all of our procedures and measures of school safety. During this annual meeting, we discuss current practices, look for potential improvements to ensure safe safety of all of our students, staff, and faculty. In addition to supporting our decision- making, the sheriff's office uses our facilities to um to compete training sessions to gain more knowledge uh of our school layout. The
020training currently pictured on the slide took place in July at Okone County Middle School and involved members of our SRO division and other members of the sheriff's office. We're very grateful for the continued support, not only our sheriff's office, but also our Okone County Management Agency director, Mr. CJ Warden. Together, our organizations are working to provide a safe environment for all students, faculty, and staff. The third item of information is an update on our school resource officer program. As we approach the start of the school year, I'm very proud to announce that we continue to increase the number of deputies in our SRO division. When our school doors open on Wednesday, we will have eight SRO serving our 12 schools. Our goal is to still staff an SRO at all 12 schools and we're continuing
021to work in collaboration with Sheriff Hail and Captain Smith to make this happen for our students, faculty, and staff. I want to again thank the sheriff's office for their continued support and guidance to ensure school safety is a priority. Student services has four action items for the August 4th board meeting or board of education work session. All four action items are out of state field trips for the FF FFA programs at Okone Middle, Malcolm Bridge Middle, Okone High School, and North Money High School to travel to the national convention in Indianapolis uh on from October 28 to November 1st. Superintendent's recommendation is to approve the out ofstate field trips as presented. Awesome. Thank you. >> Yeah, I would like to echo that too, Emmy, because I was actually thinking about that since this started. You
022know, they of course they're there to enforce the law and the rules, but really they've turned into school and community builders there on the campus. So, big thank you to our SRO for that. It's been really encouraging to see. So, thank you for that thorough report. It was great. >> Thank you, Dr. Yansy. Next, we have special education, Miss Cornold. >> Good evening. I was going to board members and Mr. Kofheer. Special education has one information item and one action item for tonight. Just as um Miss Whitaker was sharing, uh OKone County provides an enriched professional learning each year on our district professional learning day. This year we had all of our co-teers receive training on speciallydesigned instruction. They all brought a copy of an IEP and individual goals and they were to divi develop
023a specially designed instruction for that individual student. We also had training for our speech language pathologist. We had a trainer come in to talk about communication devices, core words, and um how to best service individual lessons when you're working with articulation and language. We also had um our adaptive teachers uh get trained on two new curriculums for reading and math for our alternate content students. And then lastly, we also provided professional learning for all of our special education pair professionals this year. So, we did a two-hour training for them as well on uh their roles, responsibilities, confidentiality, behavioral uh plans, how do they best support students and teachers and where they fit in into that educational setting and that was very wellreceived. The action item for tonight is anou for our lighthouse. As you know,
024uh, the past two years we've had anou with, uh, Walton County. It was Walton Social Circle and ourselves. This year, we are now going into a contract with Barrow, Social Circle, and Jefferson City. So, it's going to be the four of the LEAs, and the program will be housed in Barrow County. Questions on that? and theou is um attached for the chair's uh review and signatures. That's it for special education. >> Unless there's questions on that. >> Any questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Technology, Mr. McCullers. >> Thank you, Mr. Ransom. Good evening, board members. The Okoney County Schools Technology Services report for August 4th includes oneformational item and one action item for the August 11th regular session. Information item number one is Innovation Okone. The fifth annual Innovation Okone event was held Friday,
025July 25th at North Okone High School. Innovation Okone is a professional learning opportunity made possible through a strong collaboration between our technology division and the teaching and learning department. This event is designed to empower educators with innovative strategies and pract practical tools to elevate instruction and enhance student engagement. This year's keynote address was delivered by coach Jack Bowerley, a renowned collegiate and Olympic swimming coach. Jack Bowerley uh shared an inspirational message on the vital role of educators drawing powerful parallels between elite coaching and classroom teaching. He emphasized the importance of persistence and consistency. qualities that define great educators and reminded us that the daily impact teachers have on students is truly transformative. The event welcomed approximately 100 attendees and featured sessions led by 28 presenters, many of whom are current county teachers and staff members.
026Their willingness and their expertise and experiences contributed greatly to the success and relevance of the learning sessions. Special thank you again goes to the teaching and learning team and the six uh insurance technology specialists from technology as well as Mr. uh Steve Coquit for their efforts in ensuring a successful event. Action item for tonight is board policy IBFG internet acceptable use. Tonight's action item for the August 11th board meeting involves revisions to board policy IBFG, which aligns with the requirements outlined in Senate Bill 351, also known as the Protecting Georgia's children on social media act of 2024. The updated policy includes strengthened assurances regarding the protection of our students and responsible use of technology within the district. Language within the policy has been streamlined to improve clarity and ensure full compliance with new legislative expectations.
027The superintendent's recommendation is to place board policy IBFG internet acceptable use on the table for public review and comment at the August 11th board meeting. And that will conclude tonight next uh technology services report for tonight unless you have any questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you. >> business services, Mr. Adams. Uh, good evening board members and Mr. Kofheer. The board approved the final expenditure budget and tenatively adopted a millage rate of 13.91 mills at the June 9th board meeting. With the release of the final tax digest from the Aon County Tax Commissioner, Aone County Schools recommends a roll back millage rate of 13.962 mills, which is a decrease of 288 mills from last year's millage rate. Budget information presented at the June 9th meeting can be found attached to the meeting in Assembly and
028on our social media accounts. An updated budget is also available in assembly that reflects revenues based on the final tax digest and the recommended roll back millage rate of 13.962 mills. The required advertisements were published on the school district website, social media accounts in an illegal organ on July 16th and 23rd, which I think was on the paper actually on the 17th and 24th, but it posted on their uh digital version first. And per do all requirements have been satisfied for the adoption of this final roll back millage rate. So I ask the superintendent the superintendent recommend ratifying approval of the fiscal year 26 roll back millage rate of 13.962 mills. Our second action item is the referendum resolution you have before you that allows the board of education to call for an election to
029continue the existing 1% sales tax and potential potential issuance of general obligation bonds. Exhibit A is the required notice to be published in the paper. Sales tax collections are currently projecting to reach the ELOS 6 cap early in December of 2026 ahead of the 2027 term end. The more than anticipated sales tax collections between 20 and 24 increased approximately 61% providing significantly more revenue than originally projected. Couple of notes. This does not raise the sales tax rate. It continues the current 1% that the voters have supported for years. It allows us to fund future projects without interruption, and it starts projects earlier, locking in better pricing. I ask the superintendent recommend the resolution be voted on at tonight's work session meeting. And that concludes my two action items for tonight's meeting, unless there are any
030questions. >> Any questions? >> I have I have a few questions. >> Yes, sir. Um, so you were just talking about ELOS 6 and capping it out and it sounds like we'll cap out on that about a year early. Um, so the um sales tax collections um were faster than originally uh projected. So we're going to meet that cap a year early. So we're still capped at the total dollar amount that the voters approved um prior to the ELO 6 going into effect. >> That is correct. The 48.5 million. >> Okay. Um, and we're thinking about ELOS 7. So, ELOS 6 will end. So, this will just be a continuation of the existing penny sales tax. Um, and that's what we'll be asking the voters to, um, give a thumbs up to or a thumbs
031down to. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um, I did see um, in here we're talking about, um, the bottom under B paying a portion of the principal and interest on the outstanding Okone County School District GEO bond series 2021. So, when those series 2021 bonds were put into place, those were 10-year bonds, and there was always the intent of those bonds being paid for um over a 10-year window. Um so, this will be a continuation of what was originally presented to the voters in Okone County, then also to the board um during the ELOS 6 um consideration period. >> That's Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um and that also takes into account um to retire those GEO bonds from 2021, how we have um committed roughly 13 million in general fund monies to retire those bonds um
032by the end of the 10-year period, which would be 2031. >> It's I believe it would be 2033 if I'm correct, is when they actually end. >> Okay. not 2031. Yeah. >> And then lastly, just thank you for all the work that you and the staff have put into this referendum so far. Um I know leading up to this, I I really appreciate it. Um going through the schools to be able to start getting a feel for the various projects that um the staff is recommending. um that has been been most helpful uh to me going through Okone Elementary School, North Oak County, Okone High um to really get get an understanding. So, um thank you and uh Dr. White, thank you also for uh for going through that. I appreciate it very much. >>
033Other questions? >> Not at this time. Well, I just wanted to say quickly, you know, I'm looking forward to the communication strategy around this because I think our community has made such an investment over the past few ELOs and so many great things have happened. So, I'm excited to lift up and celebrate what has been done and then talk about what can be done in the future because as Ryan said, it's it's not a additional tax, it's a continuation of what is already in place, much of which will be paid for by people who do not live in Okone County. And I think that's a great asset as well. So, thank you for all your work that went into this. >> You're welcome. One thing, and I thought that was really good what you said,
034a lot of it's coming from outside of the county into here. Another thing I want to thank y'all for, and Ryan alluded to it, taking us around and actually talking to the administrators, the principles to find out what their priorities are and what they actually need and that's what this ELOS will provide. So, good job. >> And just a note that this ELOSS is built on a 8% growth rate. The ELOs prior was a zero growth rate because it happened during COVID. there wasn't a knowledge of where we'd be. Um if you look at our average for the last seven years about 8% last five years about 11% growth rate in our collections. Uh we're conservatively going to go with the 8% and that's where we get the total of 86 million that's in there.
035>> Yeah. Thank you. I I like the conservatism in that and hopefully we do um continue as as Adam was saying and Brock was also uh touching on hopefully we are able to continue to see escalation in sales tax revenues um and hopefully um also from people outside of the county to be able to help our schools but um thank you for that. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you very much. Good job. >> Thank you. >> Operations Dr. White. >> Yes, sir. Good evening board members and Mr. Cover. Operations has five items of information for this evening and no action items for this month's regular session. The firstformational item for operations is an update on our energy report. Our kilowatt usage per day for a th00and square feet has been updated for the month
036of June. The secondformational item is our transportation update. For the previous month, we had four athletic trips and four buses deployed for a total of 1,044 miles. Our third item of information is our operations summer update. Operations consists of four departments: facilities, maintenance, transportation, and nutrition. While teachers and students are away for the summer, we worked fervently to prepare for the upcoming school year. and facilities. Okone High School field lights. We added two and a half million lumens of light to the front practice field. We added 350 feet of new wire and conduit for the new light pole. For the Okone High School parking lot, we added 170,000 square feet of asphalt paving, 700 linear feet of curb and gutter, 925 linear feet of new sidewalk, and 25,000 square feet of sod for summer cleaning.
037Over 2700 work hours were spent restroom cleaning, wall cleaning, carpet cleaning, scrubbing LBT flooring and stripping and waxing. My bad. In maintenance, 645 work orders were completed. Inspections and service were completed on 1,50 fire sprinkler devices, 20 kitchen exhaust hoods, 584 fire extinguishers, playgrounds, bleachers and gym and outdoor facilities, 23 backflow preventers, five elevators, and three lift stations. We serviced 14 grease pits and eight septic tanks. HVAC coils were cleaned and we continued our year round filter replacement as part as part of our preventative maintenance plan. Seven gym floors were refinished and we completed electrical for three pizza ovens. And transportation, we inspected and serviced all 86 buses, began installation of illuminated lights and stop arms, implemented new maintenance tracking software for buses, routed over 400 students, and hired and trained four new drivers. In
038addition to training 13 teachers for the 14 plus one vehicles in nutrition, over,200 free and reduced applications were processed. Six ovens were procured. A 30-hour orientation for nine nutrition employees. Another eight-hour food safety training for five employees was completed. A 100% pass rate for the Surf Safe certified manager exam. We hired three new employees through ESS. And finally, we added 15 new menu items for the upcoming school year, including a Zachbins inspired Buffalo chicken kick and chicken sandwich. I'd like to thank the maintenance technicians, nutrition workers, and transportation staff, mechanics, and drivers for preparing us to start another great year in Aone County Schools. Our fourth item of information is an update on Aone County Elementary School. Board members, Dr. Harden directed operations on July 1st to conduct industrial hygiene testing at Aone County Elementary
039School in room 607, the gym, and the gym office. Testing was completed on July 9th and Geohhydro engineers sent us the 41page report on July 24th. This report is available on the Okoni County Schools website. Air samples were compared between several outdoor and several indoor testing devices for mold spores. The results of the testing showed, and I quote, there did not appear to be a significant mold and air problem. The suggestions from Geohhydro engineers were cleaning surfaces throughout the gymnasium and office 509, maintaining upkeep as relates to HVAC filter replacement, and closing openings to the elements within the gymnasium. Supreme maintenance organization has cleaned the gymnasium per the geohhydroengineer suggestion. We are continuing to identify methods in collaboration with appropriate third parties to implement a permanent solution to openings in the gym. operations will continue
040to visit the campus see and seek feedback from the principal as we do with all our campuses. Our fifth item of information are our proposed projects for ELOS 7. As a reminder, we are currently in ELOS 6, which is a current penny of sales taxes paid throughout Okone County regardless if the payer is an Okone resident or not. The p this penny of sales tax is the primary funding source for large technology, transportation, and facilities capitalists projects for a Coney County schools. Also, keep in mind that over the last few years that labor, material, and professional services prices have escalated exponentially. First, I'd like to thank our community for supporting six ELOs referendums over the years. E-LOS support has allowed Aone County schools to build Dove Creek Elementary, Dove Creek Middle, High Scholes, Malcolm Bridge
041Middle School, North Aoney High School, and the instructional support center. Additions at seven schools, renovations at six schools, go onetoone with Chromebooks, replace HVAC at North Okone High School and Oak Coney County High School, maintain our vehicle fleets on a set replacement cycle, add generators to our freezers and coolers, add lighting, excuse me, add field lighting to middle and high schools, convert high school stadiums to turf fields and track resurfacing, and add audio enhancement in all elementary and middle schools. I'd also like to thank our principles for their valuable valuable input during our walkthroughs and formal visits, technology and transportation for their work in projecting upcoming replacement and maintenance technicians for their working knowledge that supported the creation of this proposed list of projects. This was truly a team effort for the upcoming ELOST staff
042is proposing the following projects for ELOS 7. ELOSE, excuse me, ELOS 7 items for transportation include continuing the bus replacement cycle of 20 years, continuing white fleet replacement cycle of 20 years or 200,000 miles. ELO 7 items for technology include interactive panels for kindergarten, first and second grades. network equipment and Wi-Fi, servers, firewalls, OCS owned fiber replacements, and Chromebooks, laptops, desktops, printers, and projectors. Elaw 7 items for facilities include resurfacing activity courts at Colum Ferry, High Scholes, Okone County Elementary School, and Rocky Branch Elementary School. addressing water and weather intrusion issues at Colin Ferry Elementary School, Dove Creek Elementary School, North Oone High School, Coney County Elementary School, Coney County High School, and Aone County Primary School. Renovating Malcolm Bridge Elementary School, replacing exterior door hardware and door sweeps in Malcolm Bridge Middle School. At
043Aone Middle School, replace HVAC as needed, flooring, fire alarm, roof sections, and adding some sewer cleanouts. at Okone County Primary School, replacing the HVAC as well. At North Okone High School, it is time for renovation. Uh we will also be replacing flat roof on the school and athletic improvements at Aone County High School, replacing the original roof on the building, which had a few leaks during all the rain we've had lately, and athletic improvements as well. This concludes the operations report unless there are any questions. >> This is the first major renovation for North County. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. >> How how old is that building? Is that 21 years? >> Uh it was built in 2005. >> Okay. So, right at this will be its 21st year then. So, it's time for
044some major >> it becomes eligible at 20 years with the DOE. It is you know board's discretion of when we can proceed to you know use those funds. And when you say eligible, that means that there are certain things that can be reimburseable from the state. Um, granted, it would not co cover um an overly material portion of the renovation, but it would help. >> Yes, sir. Okay. >> And Dr. White, can you also talk about Malcolm Ridge Elementary for a second? That renovation, has it experienced any renovation other than the addition that it had? What um what's going on there? >> Sure. So, Malcolm Ridge Elementary has not been renovated and it was built in 1997. So, it's been in good condition, but it's just time for us to look at it and renovate
045just like we did Rocky Branch, lights, paint, ceiling, floors. [Laughter] >> I serve at the pleasure. Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you, Dr. White. >> Of course. Operations Facilities. Mr. Rickson. >> Good evening. The operations facilities report contains one item uh of information and no action items for the August 11th meeting. First item of information is the construction update. Districtwide generators. All of the work is complete. We're compiling the final documents now and awaiting the final invoice. Uh, North Oak County hardware improvements. All the work is complete. Maintenance paving. All work is complete. The paving is complete. We have some punch list items that we're working on this month. Oh, we have a video. Thanks, Steve. Uh, the paving is complete. Uh the parking space numbering is 90% complete and it'll be finished with that once
046it's done once with the rain dries up. So uh but it's looking good and we're ready for students to return on Wednesday. Um and then finally transportation offices. Uh we've begun surveying and doing design work to replace the transportation office trailer with a permanent facility. As you know, this trailer is over 20 years old and is approaching the end of its life. I'm just going to say after going through that building, I I wouldn't say that it's approaching its end of life. I think it's past its end of life. Um, so it's [Laughter] >> and that concludes the facilities report unless there are any questions. >> Thank you. resources. Dr. Manros, good evening board and Mr. Kofur. The human resources August 4th, 2025 board report contains three items of information and two action items. Item
047of information number one is the new employee orientation for 2526. We recently held our new teacher orientation to welcome and support our newest educators as they began their journey in Aon County schools. The event featured collaborative sessions led by divisions across the district, including human resources, business services, and technology. New staff received important information on payroll and benefits, certifications, systems, system expectations, and classroom technology. All designed to ensure a smooth and successful start to the school year. This event would not have been possible without the support and leadership of our teaching and learning team who were instrumental in organizing and coordinating the orientation with the HR team. This year we also introduced a dedicated orientation for all newly hired classified staff including pair of professionals, bus drivers, clerks, custodians, and school and nutrition team members.
048This new event was developed in response to feedback from staff who expressed the desire for a more formal welcome and onboarding experience for our classified team members. Action or item number two for information is the teacher of the year selection process. As you can see on the screen, we're once again, well, make sure I get it. We're once again kicking off the teacher of the year process with ballots going out on the third Wednesday of the school year. The top five nominees at each school will be asked to submit their school level entry forms the following week, and staff voting will take place the week after that. School level winners will be announced Friday, September 5th. School level winners will then move forward in the district level process by completing their free response questions with
049district observations scheduled for September 16th and 17th. This year's selection committee includes last year's teachers of the year from NOHS, MBMS, OCMS, DCEES, CFES, and OCEES. Item of information number three is our Hall of Fame. The nomination window for this year's OCS Hall of Fame is now open. We began accepting nominations on August 1st and will continue to do so through August 31st. Eligible nominees will be former employees who have been separated from the school system for at least three years and have continued making a positive impact on our community. All submitted nominations will be reviewed by our Hall of Fame selection committee and any individual selected for induction will be honored at the November 10th board of education meeting. We have two action items for the August 11th, 2025 board of education meeting. Action
050item number one is board policy GR, which is employee leave and absences. Board board policy GR was placed on the table for public comment at our July board of education meeting. No comments have been received. As a reminder, the G has been amended to include living and organ donations donation leave to adhere to recently enacted legislation. The superintendent's recommendation is to approve board policy J GR as presented at the August 11th board of education meeting. Action item number two is the YAS platform. The YAS platform is a cloud-based HR and finance solution built specifically for K12 school districts in Georgia. It streamlines per personnel processes like hiring, on board, leave, time sheet entry, substitute management, and secure document storage while integrating seamlessly with our other programs since MU such as Munis and Infinite Campus. This
051platform will not represent an increase in spending as the funds are already allocated for our current HR solution frontline and YAS will it will be replaced by YAS. The superintendent's recommendation is to approve the purchase of YAS at the August 11th board of education meeting. This concludes the human resources report for this evening, but we will remain available for questions. >> Questions? >> I'm totally going to put you on the spot, Justin, but I'm so confident you know, I feel comfortable asking. What percentage of the new staff are alumni? Do you know? And you can report back if you need to. I I haven't done the math on the percentage, but it is, I believe, a total of six OCS alumni at this point. >> None from North, Mr. Carter. >> There's time. >> Thank
052you. >> Next, we have communications from Mr. Cquit. >> Thank you, Mr. Ransom. Good evening, board members. Mr. Kofur, communications report this evening has two items of information. The first is an update on the 202425 annual report. The annual report was sent to 18,967 Okone County mailboxes during July. That is the highest number ever in district history. OCS thanks Okoney State Bank, Bank South, Georgia United Credit Union, and Peach State Federal Credit Union for their sponsorships, as well as the AdSmith and Burman Printing for their critical roles in designing, printing, and mailing annual report. Second item of information is July Social Media. Okone County Schools had 26 social media posts in July with an average of 20,299 views. For the month, 21 posts were viewed more than 11,000 times, including two at 47,000 and two
053at 30,000. OCS gained 148 followers during July, giving the district just shy of 23,300 followers across Facebook, Instagram, and X. Now, I don't have any hard data to back this up, but we did see a surge of new followers while we were embedded with the Okone County and North Okone bands uh this year. So, we do thank them for letting us spend some time with them. And if those followers came from the band, then we thank them for that as well. We are so appreciative of the parents, students, community members, businesses, and social media and media outlets that follow and engage with our social media accounts. And that concludes communications unless there are any questions for me. >> Thank you, Mr. Carpet. >> Action items. Mr. Kofer. >> Yes, sir. >> Our first action item
054for this evening is the FY26 mill rate on behalf of Dr. Harden. It is the superintendent's recommendation for the board to adopt the FY2026 mill rate of 13.962 mills. >> Motion. So moved. Mr. >> H. Second. Mr. Hammond. All in favor? Passes 50. >> Next up, we have the ELO 7 referendum resolution. Again, on behalf of Dr. Harden, the superintendent's recommendation is for the board to approve the referendum resolution. The referendum resolution allows for the board of education to call for an election to continue the already existing penny sales tax and to issue general obligation bonds. A >> motion. So moved, >> Mr. tool. >> Second, >> Miss Parish. All in favor? Passes. 5-0. We do have a need to enter executive uh session to discuss personnel matters. And I need a motion to do
055so. >> I'll make a motion that the board will adjourn to executive session to discuss or deliberate upon personnel matters as described on the affidavit to be attached to the minutes. >> Miss Parish. Second, Mr. Hammock. All in favor? Passes 50. We are getting to executive session.