001before we get started I'd like to have a moment of silence for the Morgan Family thank you call this March 10th uh regular session to order I need a motion to approve the agenda so moved Mr tul second Mr hammock all in favor pass 5 Z also need a motion uh to approve the minutes I'll make a motion Mr Hammond second Mr Parish all in favor passes 5 Z recognitions Mr cood thank you Mr Ransom good evening board members and Dr Branch we a lot of folks to recognize this evening so if you'll come forward at this time as you do so I will point out this week's art display is provided by students from aone county middle these images are on display here tonight and will be on the hallway panels throughout the month
002their instructor is Chad Willingham first this evening I would like to note that March is Board of Education appreciation month OK County County Schools thanks to each of you for your dedicated service your commitment to students staff and Community is invaluable and deeply appreciated we appreciate your support and your efforts in shaping the future of our district thank you all and please enjoy your tokens of gratitude from all the schools the w we recognize the March pursuit of Excellence Award winner for student services Dove Creek elementaries Paige Montgomery she is receiving a $50 Visa gift card and a golf umbrella provided by Peach State Federal Credit Union additional gift cards from chops and hops and Rosies Hometown meets and a commemorative plaque from okone County Schools Miss Paige this is part of uh your uh
003nomination form Paige exemplifies the highest standards of professionalism in every aspect of her role and she is a valuable asset to our school Community her dedication to her work with students parents and co-workers is evident in everything she does and her positive influence is felt by all who interact with her Paige approaches all interactions with professionalism she treats each individual with kindness respect and patience and creates an environment of trust and collaboration her work with students is nothing short of extraordinary she is not only deeply caring but also invest herself in their growth and success always going the extra mile to ensure students feel supported and valued she consistently embodies the values and standards of our school serving as a role model for others in her dedication to both personal and professional excellence her passion
004for helping children her commitment to continuous learning and her exceptional care for the students and staff make her an exemplary educator and colleague the March pursuit of Excellence winner PA Montgomery [Applause] next aboard we recognize the 2025 gmea all state chorus awardees from North O County High Zane Taylor and Lily Taylor their adviser is Renee Costigan they're still singing Somewhere okay the board will recognize the 2020 gmea All State chorus aies from malcol bridge middle elizabetta Scalia and Matthew Baxley the adviser is Jordan Richie [Applause] okay the board will recognize the 2025 gmea All State band awardees from Malcolm Bridge middle Gabriel Lim Emerson MCM nevi Mishra Colin York and Allison Jong the adviser is Wes York [Applause] got the board will now recognize the 2025 gmea all state band award E from North okon
005Ava Castleberry and John Casey mat the adviser is Scott Smith [Applause] to next board will recognize the 2025 gmea all state band award E from okone County High Josiah Owens Micah Taylor Parks Powell and Porter Welch the adviser is Mark Provost [Applause] all right next award will recognize the 2425 Beta Club state awarde from Malcolm Bridge middle bony Shin who placed second and eighth grade math the adviser is Stacy Waters [Applause] next board will recognize the 2025 GHSA class 1 through 3A one meter diving State third place finisher Eleanor petto from okone County High the coaches are Derek bar and John Wilson [Applause] Beau next aboard will recognize the 2025 GHSA class 4A swimming State third place finishers from North O con Joseph Ryan in the 100 butterfly and 200 IM and Tessa stagger in
006the 500 freestyle the coaches are Nicole omera and Scott Burell okay and that concludes recognitions me oh oh oh Tony next we have points of proud with the Cor County Middle School welcome Miss pass good evening board members and Dr Branch I'm an I'm the principal of okone County Middle School and I get the opportunity to interact with an incredible group of students and staff each and every day I inherited a school culture and identity built around connect serve and impact tonight we want to just scratch the Sur surf of the amazing ways we live this out every day at our school my name is Brian Robertson I'm one of the assistant principles at okone middle connect serve and impact is so much more than a motto at our school we build what we do
007around these three words tonight you'll hear from students and a staff member that embody connect serve and impact students are finding ways to connect through various clubs and organizations and we will highlight the hero Club where students that may not cross path during the school day can find connections with each other across all ability levels Miss bow has headed up our seventh grade service project for the last two years giving students an opportunity to serve beyond the walls of our school our students are making an impact inside and outside of the classroom and we will Spotlight our fpla state champion Bo Taylor to things up we have what we like to call an almost finished product Mason tiller was nominated by a teacher as a student who lives out connect serve and impact okay okay
008hello my name is Piper KS and this is my good friend Gabby hero Club obviously stands for helping everyone reach out but to me hero Club is something that I feel happy to participate in every day I want to say that the hero Club is something that brings me so much closer to people who I never would have met before I joined the club has helped me connect to students in more ways than I ever could have imagined helping everyone reach out our hero Club has profoundly impacted My Life by fostering connections I never thought were even possible through their events I've met people from different places who share the same activities and hobbies as me this incredibly supportive Community has encouraged me to engage in meaningful conversations share my thoughts and learn from others
009whether it's through Wednesday meetings or social events like this one I feel empowered to reach out build friendships and make a connection to someone new in my life every day hero Club has played a significant role in strengthening my friendship with Gabby through the club act through the club's activities and events we found common interest in shared experiences that deepened our friendship the inclusive environment of hero Club encouraged us to open up share our thoughts and build a trust no one else can break as a result our friendship has flourished and I cherish the moments we've created through this together through this amazing community that I proud to call my school ocms hi I'm Annie Blau our goal as Educators is not just to teach facts but to help students grow into kind responsible and
010globally aware citizens we want them to see how their learning connects to the real world in seventh grade social studies students learn about regions affected by War and displacement they hear about children whose education has been disrupted and ask how can we help last year our students took action by organizing a school supply drive for children right here in Georgia they collected backpacks notebooks and other Essentials donating them to the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta this experience opened their eyes they saw that kids their age face big challenges but are rebuilding their lives lives more importantly they learned that even small efforts can make a big impact we are proud of our students and grateful for the school board's support by connecting learning to action we help students not just understand the world but improve
011it hello my name is Bo Taylor I am in the sixth grade and I go to okone County Middle School recently I represented okone County Middle School fbl for the annual Georgia State Conference in Columbus Georgia I decided to participate in the career research project and presentation I used the learning skills I learned in fbaa and the learning skills I learned from my teachers this helped me to win first place at the state conference this also impacted ocms because I was invited to move on to the FBLA National Conference to represent our school in Anaheim California which is nearly 2,000 miles away also I'm super excited to share this impact at the National Conference it is a great opportunity to show my public speaking skills these things are the reason I am here today at
012the board meeting to tell you how I impacted my school and how my school has impacted me my name is Mason tiller and I'm an e8th grade atone County Middle School tonight I want to share few things that I have that have had a strong effect on my experience at our school things that make it a great place to learn and grow by connecting serving and impacting others in the community of course academics are important and should always be taken seriously but these there are things that I and other students have found that are also important both inside and outside the classroom for our future success first of all I think making strong connections with your teachers is important usually if I'm able to have a good relationship with my teacher it's easier for me
013to learn for example my science teacher is also my wrestling coach spending time developing that Bond outside the room helped me learn inside the room I noticed that my highest grades are usually in the classes where I have good connections with my teachers I also like being in activities like Beta Club because they offer opportunities to serve others outside my school building just just last week I helped kids get out get out of their cars at the primary school with Beta Club enjoyed handing out high fives helping them with their backpacks and compl complimenting them on their team day outfits it's nice for it's nice to know that I could be a bright spot in their day putting together the care bags for OAR was great too because I know they're going to families who
014need them it's a good feeling to help with things that directly benefit people in our community finally I have the opportunity to impact others through leadership this has really helped me grow this year I've experienced this through football and my dad always told me that if you're in the back you lead from the back and so that's what I did when I was my team captain it changed my point of view I've also never been really one to get up in front of a group and talk but in my classes I've learned that if I volunteer to go first it shows other people that they can do it and it's not so hard I've learned that stepping up as a leader can help other people be successful people of my age can have a hard
015time balancing School athletics and other outside activities but putting in the work to be a well-rounded student through developing good relationships with teachers exploring service clubs and taking advantage of leadership opportunities is worth it good grades are cool but it's just also be important other group to be part of other groups and activities that which you work with people in all walks of life because that's will help you be successful and adult and that's what I feel like I have the opportunity to do at Aon County Middle School good evening my name is Josh Marts and this is my first year at ocms uh as an assistant principal as a newcomer to the building and the Braves family I've been blessed to see and be a part of the great work that's going on here
016tonight you've been given a small glimpse to what I get to see every day in a world where we can be anything we want we ask our staff and students to be brave uh to find new ways to connect serve and impact as we focus daily on the many tasks at hand we also look to the Future and explore ways we can continue to be intentional about these three areas of focus next year we're excited about working with our grade levels clubs organizations and sports teams to develop and carry out service projects our hope is that these opportunities to serve will help our students connect with their peers and their and their teachers while also making an impact on our school and our local community Dr Branch I think we may need to formally request
017a 30 minute time slot for next year's points of Pride thank you for all thank you all for allowing us to share about the things that make us proud to be called ocms Braes can we get a picture po [Applause] to he's phenomenal huh he's phenomenal yeah next we have business services Mr Adams good evening board members and Dr Branch uh the business service report for March 10th 2025 contains seven items of information and no action items for tonight's meeting the first item of information is our February cash balance report as of February 28th the closing cash balance is 1.90 decrease over last month um State funding projections are as we are currently stable but we are still monitoring what's going on downtown at the capital of the session and and monitoring any changes to
018any funding levels that may come in the coming months our cash balance for February is strong and we are still well positioned to meet our financial obligations item of information number two is our vendor payments for the month of February we paid over 423 vendors $ 1.1 million for the month our third item of information is our February uh budget report revenues and expenditures would be expected to be at 66% and we are currently showing us at 66% this includes that we are on target for the period maintaining a well balanced financial position again we will continue to monitor these figures closely as we move forward item information number four is our El Los collections report we have a decrease over last month of 25.49 in collections but a 2.60% increase over February of last
019year and it's usually this time of year you have a a tendency to see this slow down in the collections based on the holiday lag and just the shorter months also our next it of information is our Ela 6 report the uh revenues and expenditures have been updated through February end of Fe February our sixth SL of information is our federal fund report for February just a reminder again that these These are on a lag will get reimbursed as these come through throughout the fiscal year um as they as they're grant-based that's how this usually worked with the feds you just get a little slower on the response there and our seventh item of information is our total benefit statement um the B board provides additional compensation to each employee in aone County through the
020form of employer paid contributions that include retirement and health insurance this total benefit statement is a summary of the value added compensation provided by the board for the employees various benefits through December of 2024 uh the example you have is a T5 and it's just example of all the ACT actual benefits that they received for the whole calendar year of 2024 and that concludes my presentation unless the board has any questions I have one question Peter U so that uh last page you had there the average teacher uh I'm assuming that's the average teacher that's a T5 is that right yes sir average teacher for T5 that's a good number to use right there the $107,000 yes on average is what every teacher for that that level yes okay yep it'll vary as they salaries
021go up yeah yeah thank you yes sir other questions thank Peter thank you next we have communications to the board Mr car Mr Ranson we have two citizens signed up to address the board this evening before I invite them up I'll read this policies bcbi and BCB R1 state that only okone County residents or school system employees May address the board and that members of the public shall conduct themselves in a respectful manner that is not disrupted to the conduct of the board's business the board allows three minutes for those who sign up prior to the meeting please state your name address and topic the board request that you ref frame for making any disparaging remarks about school system Personnel generally there will be no response to comments or questions posed by citizens at the
022meeting all comments and questions will be taken under advisement by the board however any board member shall be free to respond and make public comments if he or she elects to do so so to any citizen wishing to provide documents for board members please submit them to the director of communications before the meeting or prior to addressing the board please remain at the podium during your public comment time our first citizen is Katie vicory good evening my name is Katie vickory I live at 11:45 Summerfield Lane six months ago I made the difficult decision to unenroll my boys from Rocky Branch Elementary my son was previously in a classroom where disruptive behavior was common serious threats were made objects were thrown and evacuations became routine I only learned about these incidents because my son told
023me over time his anxiety about school grew and so did my concern after the shooting at appalache I met with the principal to ask what I believed was a straightforward question how are threats assessed managed and communicated to parents rather than receiving a clear answer I was dismissed scolded and told to trust the system rather than my own experiences instead of transparency I was met with defensiveness at that moment I realized something deeply concerning if I couldn't even ask how threats are handled how could I trust that my children were safe I saw answers through every appropriate Channel I emailed School in District leadership yet I received no clear response no Solutions and ultimately silence when my emails went unanswered I filed an open records request for basic documents any parent should have access to
024the response parent handbook no records behavioral threat assessment no records parent communication policies no records school safety plan completely withheld the fact that these records do not exist or are being withheld is alarming and let me be clear the law does not prohibit you from sharing a redacted version of a school safety plan that claim is simply false tonight I'm asking the board to choose to be bothered be bothered that parents are left in the dark be bothered that transparency is treated as an inconvenience not a responsibility be bothered that behavior issues at Rocky Branch are escalating this is not an isolated incident investigate why Rocky Branch's disciplin approach differs from other schools in the district you may be aware that guette County Superintendent was recently removed and one of the key reasons cited was
025the failure of the same restorative practices being used here ask ask why amazing teachers are leaving why does leadership refused to answer basic questions about safety and communication Are we more concerned with maintaining the illusion of Great Schools or actually uring them my family's experience is not unique parents across the District share the same concerns ask them see if the answers you find align with what I am saying tonight and most importantly remember who you serve because once the curtain is pulled back the truth is impossible to ignore thank you thank I have a quick question in response to that thank you Miss vicory for your time today and you know that's a great question and this is the place for answers so I'm curious about what is the policy if a threat is in
026a student students classroom how's that typically communicated to parents depends on the situation of the classroom experience and so every situation is different and the availability for the information that we can share is different based on those situations would you say that's a frequent issue or is it not as frequent as people think okay no thank you our next citizen is Ian Taylor welcome Mr tyor good evening you all so we're not talking about budgets tonight for a change huh um I just have a request for you I'm going to ask I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years and I've just never got around to it because we've always had something more important going on but is any chance that you all could please publish an agenda with the details of
027what's going on in the meeting ahead of ahead of the meeting um typically what's on your assembly uh website is exactly what was outside tonight which is unusual this is just a list of a placeholder meeting there's nothing actually what's going on there I do know that on a Friday afternoon at about 5:00 local newspapers in the area get an email with the uh with the agenda slightly a little bit more embellished than than the basic points I mean there would be relatively simple to put onto your website or I don't know tweet it out face space whatever whatever the communication department wants to use by being on the website as I've said before we are about to get walloped I mean and I I know we are we're going to get walloped with a
028huge tax increase this year it would be nice if you all could publish so people in the county could actually come and understand what's what it is that we're going to be paying taxes for but that's basically it what I got for tonight please just think about publishing that agenda it's a zeroc cost deal and if you want transparency with the county you know let them know what you're going to talk about thanks well Mr Ron that concludes Public Communication thanks Stephen next we have action items Dr Branch yes sir um first up we have a local board training plan form and you'll see that that's been amended uh that is to include our two new members and so we did have to file that with our uh outgoing members Miss Argo Mr Burgess and
029so would recommend the board approve the new amended plan thank you Dr Branch any motion M Parish Mr tul all in favor pass 5 Z okay up next we have uh three field trips if it pleases the board we can take all three at one time uh so we'd recommend the approval of item b c and d all field trips to be approved as presented a motion I'll make a motion Hammond second Mr hammock all in favor passes 5 Z okay our next item is the White Fleet replacement cycle uh that Dr White and his team have been working on for some time and so appreciate the good work that they did to put this together would recommend that be approved as presented so moved Mr Tool second second Miss Parish all in favor pass
0305 Z okay also from our operation staff and the good work of Dr White Mr ricketson uh the replacement of the con County high school practice field lights to make them competition quality and we'd recommend those lights be approved as presented a motion so moved Mr hammock second Mr to all in favor passes 5 Z okay uh two left we have a go five-year facility plan resolution uh as you know Fred presented that last week talking through those points and we would recommend that be approved as presented I have a couple of questions on this if I may um Dr Branch could you help when I and I pulled up the the um document from our work session last week um where it talks about the five-year facility plan tabulation of priorities and we have
031several different columns out there one of those is support one of those is additions one of those is Renovations one of those is modifications out there and I know we've looked at this in practi years um could you just refresh me on what Falls underneath support additions Renovations and modifications yes sir I see that Fred is uh fearful of my answer so he is taken to this to the uh Podium to uh provide that expertise so if it pleases the board I'll ask Fred just to explain those those categories for us R so the different categories the uh the additions would be the the first thing you would notice so for North oon high and okone high it says seven units for additions at North and one for okone high if we were to build
032additions for these additional instructional units we would have to have support space to go along with them which is corridors restrooms mechanical closets that kind of thing so that's what the support spaces are and they fund both the additions and the support spaces uh if we were so choose to do that Renovations are typically uh things that you see in the building building uh it's paint it's carpet it's flooring it's lighting uh intercoms white boards uh those type of things and modifications lastly are more of the infrastructure in the building that's that would be uh roofs uh car canopies uh kitchen equipment air conditioning equipment that kind of thing so this would it would be fair to say um in some of these it's going to be U bringing current deferred maintenance items that HVAC
033system gets old over time and eventually need to be replaced correct I may be oversimplifying that but uh the the way it works if you'll notice that that duve Creek Elementary and Duff Creek Middle have zero across the board the reason is is because they haven't reach the age to start earning entitlement dollars from the state so uh North okone it has the most because it's 20 years old and it's reached it's reached that that key for each one of those items Renovations modification um have have reached that that point and as I understand it from from prior years on this this is not a document that says this is absolutely what's going to happen at every single school this is a when we look at at the separate schools these are the items in
034which we can request funding from the state for should this body approve those items outside of any um small items at individual schools which fall underneath operational things such as if a lock sticks somebody needs to be able to swap the door out or the lock out yes sir this this list is only a list of items we're eligible to receive funding for nothing there's not been a request at all asking for funding for any of these things we're simply eligible for these dollars okay um and then this would be the same sort of plan is I think back to your construction updates that you provide um every month so I went back and pulled just the current construction items that are out there and I see we have Dove Creek Middle School from a
035new construction out there um and I think we're re we've already requested reimbursement there final reimbursement on it um phase two items at the primary school and Elementary School and the roof at the high school we've requested that reimbursement some tail end items here at the ISC which are continuing to be worked on the uh districtwide freezer and cooler generation installation I know you've been working on um for the last couple of years um continues to be ongoing and look forward to to seeing that wrapped up Rocky Branch Elementary School has a renovation modification I believe that reimbursement request has been submitted as well and then the um practice field lighting that we just voted on um so we really have three items out there um anything else that I am missing that's in process
036no sir that's that is a complete list okay um sorry I made a few notes on this just in advance when to make sure I'm getting it and then when this plan is submitted is this set in stone can it be modified are we as a governing board able to look at what goes on in our community and our schools to make changes if something becomes eligible a year from now two years from now because I seem to recall we may have done an extension on the the prior plan yes this is a planning document that can be modified through the process uh this is just a as we said required state document and we can modify it at any time with action of the board okay great thank you and I hear you about
037you know this doesn't mean seven units are being built at northone necessarily by seeing this but I did want to ask is there a need for some of these additions or improvements at this point or do we foresee that need over the next five years I I think we certainly by listing North oone facil staff is telling you that that is the building that is uh most uh ready for an update of Renovations modifications as you will recall most of those buildings have been touched through our last uh several years and so uh that is certainly why it's first the additions that are there are just showing that that is there that we earned that entitlement uh staff will continue to review enrollment and uh review whether those additions would be necessary in a timely
038fashion coming forward but certainly uh it's good that we're earning that I think the other thing that as I talked with Dr White Mr ricketson is that you know in another year or two you're going to earn even more money in terms of entitlement so this is not a frozen document this is a document that continues to add and so as we see continued growth there may be nine classroom units there or there may be two somewhere else things of that nature would that be correct Fred absolutely and what effort is there to have equal treatment I guess to all the schools to ensure that over time each school is is touched in an appropriate um amount yeah I think if you look at the history of the facility planning uh and the work that's
039been done there's a tremendous amount of uh effort to make sure that every school is uh touched and renovated and updated and uh I believe uh every build has been touched in some form or fashion in The Last 5 Years U every single one has had something great thank you sure couple of followup items on that so on that same vein I think I heard you say that the school administration has input on this as well so this is not just a it's not just people that sit in this building it's the people that are boots on the ground every day absolutely uh Fred Brian do you want to talk about the walkthroughs you guys have been doing yes sir so every semester we visit every school in the county and we talk with the
040principal we walk the building uh we walk every mechanical closet every data closet every kitchen freezer cooler uh just to make sure that you know we are not deferring any maintenance and up uh upkeeping what we do have and that also gives us a an idea in order to put this list together as far as the tabulation of priorities okay and then also just to be clear so this is a request that would come from the state and then of course there would be local dollars that would have to go along with the should any of these items um should we decide that any of these items move forward absolutely to earn the entitlement I think typically we say we have to spend about 75% to get 25% uh of the funding so it is
041definitely uh it's better than many states in our country and we appreciate the earned entitlement dollars but there is still significant local impact thank you other questions I need a motion on the facilities plan resolution so moved Mr hammock second Mr Tool all in favor passes 5 [Music] Z okay our last action item is advanced placement psychology curriculum and you heard from Miss Whitaker last week about that and so we would recommend placing that on the table for public review a motion so moved Mr Hammond second M Parish all in favor pass is 5 Z we do have a need to go into executive session I need a motion to do so I'll make a motion that the board will adjourn to Executive session to discuss or deliberate upon Personnel matters as described on the
042affidavit to be attached to the minutes need a second I'll second Mr Hammond all in favor Mr Tool yes sir passes 5 Z