001I call this March 3rd work session to order need a motion to approve the agenda Mr tul second Mr hammock all in favor pass 5 superintendent report thank you board members uh good evening staff and community members uh we have a few things on superintendent's report tonight uh as you know we've entered the month of March which is music in our schools month and so want to thank Mr cockit for doing a behind the scenes uh peace on social media about music in our schools excellent uh excellently done we look forward to continuing to celebrate all of our uh outstanding students and teachers that add to that we also have youth art month this month and so our student as is our tradition our students artwork will be displayed uh beginning March 14th I believe
002at oaf so encourage everyone to come out and check that out it's also National nutrition month as well as Schoolboard recognition month and so we will be recognizing uh the board next week uh as we have our board meeting and uh doing things for our national nutrition month all month long few other things that are happening this week we have a national school breakfast week so we will be uh featuring lots of different items I'm told not only at breakfast but also maybe some breakfast for lunch uh so stop by and have a bite in our cafeterias if you'd like it's also read Across America week and so there's various activities and themes in our schools and around our County uh as people come in and read to our students and celebrate that very important
003week and finally it's National School social worker week so we want to thank Leanne H and Brian Bishop our two social workers for all that they do and believe we have a social media post celebrating their good work and recognizing them as we uh close out this week going into next week we uh just a reminder our students will be out on Monday uh March 10th for a professional learning day for our staff and as we go into March 17th we will have uh Georgia a week so we'll be celebrating uh agriculture what so important in our community and also around the state few other items we want to point out that maybe you've seen on social media as well advanced placement honor schools congratulations to both okone County High School and North okone High
004School uh being recognized in in all of the categories that they were eligible for uh which includes five different categories we were uh both both schools of Distinction stem schools stem achievement Humanities and Humanity achievement schools so uh congratulations to our scho high schools and students and teachers for that uh congratulations again to Ian Rogers as the board knows because you're in attendance thank you for attending the star banquet uh Ian from North oon was recognized as the uh representative for our County for star student and will be attending a regional uh event next week in Athens and so we're cheering for him and also his star teacher Scott Smith uh to perhaps go forward and be star student and star teacher for our region finally uh from an athletic standpoint we want to congratulate
005North o' con's uh girls basketball team for an outstanding season their season came to an end in the final four triple overtime so a wonderful game and an outstanding uh effort by our young ladies but North con's boys were victorious and we'll be playing for the state championship versus Pace Academy on Thursday in Mon and this is their second straight appearance in that state title game so uh Mr Carter go titans there you go uh we also uh while we celebrate U and conclude winter sports we also still celebrating our fall Sports northon football team has been invited to the capital on on Wednesday and they'll be recognized uh at the capital for winning the state championship Mr Carter go titans okay and then finally as you know spring sports are in full swing all
006you have to do is drive by our high schools or our middle schools pretty much any given day and you'll see the lights on in the evenings and you'll see our administrators teachers and students there uh taking at taking part in those activities that are so important so again appreciate the board support uh in allowing those Sports to take place and all the things that take place there and also want to uh say thank you to our administrators I know those are long days long evenings um and uh your support there means a lot to our kids and I know we could not do it without your uh being there to take care of that that concludes the superintendent report unless there are questions any questions right thank you Dr Branch next we have teaching
007and learn and Miss Whitaker welcome thank you good evening the March 3rd teaching and learning report contains three items of information and one action item the first item of information is an update on Career Technical AG agricultural Education Month in February we celebrate ctae and our middle and high school classes have utilized this opportunity to promote their program areas and provide information to students and parents during the registration process all eighth grade students toured the high school to explore career Pathways and course offerings parent nights were held for middle and high schools to educate students and parents on course offerings and pathway choices the second item of information is an update on kindergarten registration beginning Monday March 10th parents can register students through our online registration system we are excited to welcome the newest members
008of okone County schools on March 31st and April 1st when they will visit their new schools for kindergarten screening these screenings will take place from 2:45 till 5:00 p.m. the third item of information is an update on our regional science and engineering Fair okone students competed at the regional science and engineering Fair on February 8th at pedmont University OCS students earned 11 Gold and two bronze medals at this event the first place finishers will advance to the state state science and engineering Fair held at the classic center in Athens April 3rd through 5th in addition to placing first with their projects Ruby Darnell of Dov Creek Middle claimed claimed the American Chemical Society award and Annabelle Bloom of okone County High and Garrett Torres of okone county middle won the Jackson EMC Pinnacle Award tonight's
009action item is an update on our advanced placement psychology curriculum new advanced placement psychology curriculum was recommended to the board and approved in the spring of 2019 it has been six years and this resource is up for renewal okone teachers administrators and our secondary director Andrea Pender reviewed and selected updated resources these instructional resources will be available for review in the teaching and learning office this will be paid for using general fund dollars the superintendent's recommendation is to approve placing this curriculum on the table at the March 10th 2025 Board of Education meeting for public review and comment until the next Board of Education meeting in April that concludes the teaching and learning report unless there are any questions questions I'm curious about the AP psychology program is it pretty popular do you have a
010lot of kids that take advantage of that how how big would you say those classes are we are able to fill those classes um actually the last year um the College Board changed the standards after um we had already purchased curriculum and so the curriculum that we are purchasing we have been piloting this year um and has been very favorable with teachers and students great aw thank you thank you m Whitaker next we have student services with Dr yansy good evening Dr branch and board of members the March 2025 Student Services report includes three items of information and three action items the first item of information is our annual participation in the survey system from the Georgia Department of Education the Georgia school cimment surveys aim to measure the quality of school life by evaluating
011student and adult experiences related to academics relationships safety and the learning environment surveys are offered to four groups of stakeholders our students teachers staff and families the parent survey window open on December the 2nd and will remain open until March 3rd 1st the teacher and staff surveys began on January the 6th and the student surveys which are administered to students in grades 3 through 12 are currently open at this time School leaders will have access to the survey results at the end of May the second item of information is our athletic programs on behalf of our students coaches and school leaders I want to again thank you for the continuous support of all of our athletic programs last year the board decided to allow sixth graders to opportunity to participate in Middle School athletics as
012a as we look at participation rates through spring Sports in total we've had over 206 graders participate this school year in Middle School athletics this includes the 78 that are currently competing in Spring Sports as a reminder sixth grade students have the opportunity to participate in all Middle School athletic offerings except for football the third item of information pertains to our school resource officer program in September we enhance law enforcement presence in our schools by signing sr's to both high schools following the signing of the memorandum of understanding in January we have expanded the program by adding more sro's to our schools Captain Mark Smith has assumed leadership of the program and will be based at Malcolm Bridge middle school last week Lieutenant Paul Maxi began his role as an SRO at Dove Creek Middle
013School and today Corporal Quinton Nesmith started as an SRO at okone County Middle School with these additions the SRO team now consists of five officers four assigned directly to schools and Captain Smith overseeing the program while maintaining a presence at malcol Bridge Middle School each SRO is fully committed to ensuring the Safety and Security of okone County Schools students faculty and staff staff Sheriff hail and his team will continue to recruit qualified deputies for SRO positions based on criteria jointly established with okone County Schools new officers will be added as soon as qualified candidates become available and we will keep you updated as our SRO program continues to grow student services has three action items for the March 3rd board work session the action action items are three out of state field trips the first
014trip is for North oy high school students to travel to Washington DC to compete in the 2025 national Congressional app challenge the second trip is for the North okone High School band to travel to Orlando in April and the third trip is for okone County High School Deca students to travel to Orlando to compete and in the international career and development conference the superintendent's recommendation is to approve the three out of state field trips as presented and this concludes the Student Services report unless you have any questions any questions I have a comment and a question about SRO I just want to thank you Dr y for all the work and the staff to get us to this point because everybody up here knows what an effort that was to get where we are so
015to see those faces on that org chart is really exciting because it means we're making great progress with that will um Captain Smith at nbms is he going to serve as the SRO or what is the timeline like to get because that's the only outstanding Middle School right unless he's serving as is that SRO correct that that will be our our next location but we are you know awaiting information from the sheriff when he has a deputy available and that's where he'll be placed great well you know we talked about at the beginning of this how the process could take some time so I think it's really encouraging that you've been able to place people so quickly so thank you for that yeah we've had a ton of help and the staff has helped Mr
016cofer's heavily involved and we appreciate the support of sheriff hell and his team as well and will Captain Smith stay at mbms and is that a geographical decision we're working through that yeah still working through that great thank you thank you one more question is um as we feel the positions at the individual schools will Lieutenant Maxi move up to the administration portion of that or will he stay at Dov Creek middle that will be towards the end he will remain there until we filled all positions but he is part of that four member leadership team with the Sheriff's Office okay thank you yes sir other questions than next we have special education with Miss cor gold good evening board members and Dr Branch the okone county special education March 3rd 2025 Board of Education
017report contains one information item and no action items the individuals with Disabilities Act which is idea requires that all states review the data from each of its local leas and evaluate if the Lea's performance in meeting the requirements and purpose of idea after the review of the data states are required to make a determination on whether the leas have met requirements they need assistance or they need an intervention put into place these are the indicators that are the state is monitoring us on indicator 4B 9 10 11 12 13 timely Corrections timely and accurate data and then maintenance of effort last month I did um report on indicator 4B 9 and 10 and we had met all compliance this month was the final determination where the state sent the review to every superintendent and to
018the special education department and they give you a report card and you get a zero through two for all of the indicators and this was our report card and we had a 100% on all the requirements that are needed for special education that concludes the board report for special education unless there's any questions technology with Mr McCullers good evening board members Dr branch con County Schools technology Services report for March 3rd includes one informational item and no action items information item number one is an update on the Windows 11 transition I'd like to update you on the successful completion of our initiative to transition teacher devices to Windows 11 the latest major release of Microsoft's operating system as a part of our ongoing commitment to providing a professional and efficient technology environment we have now
019completed the transition of all windows based devices across our 12 schools a total of 1,519 devices were imaged as a part of this effort Windows 11 brings improved performance enhanced security and a streamline user experience all of which are vital for supporting our teachers in their instructional needs the update has not only removed unnecessary background processes but also improved device speed and reliability this ensures our teachers have the most effective and efficient tools for their work to minimize this ruption to instruction we work closely with the school administrators to ensure that the transition was carried out smoothly most of the updates were and imaging were done during teachers planning periods or after school hours so classroom activities were not impacted I would like to extend a special thank you to the technology department for their
020hard work and dedication to making this transition a success their behind the-scenes effort were crucial in ensuring a seamless process for our teachers and our schools and that concludes the technology Services report unless you have any questions thank you m pillers operations Dr White good evening board members and Dr branch operations has three items of information for this evening and one action item for the March 10th regular session the first informational item for operations is an update on our Energy report our kilowatt usage per day for 1,000 square ft has been updated for the month of January as you can see it was cold in January the second informational item is our transportation update for the previous month we had 31 field trips 90 athletic trips 21 special education trips 160 buses deployed for a
021total of 13,890 Miles our third item of information is an update on school nutrition participation for the month of February board members you'll see that we saw a decrease in participation for breakfast of .3% and an increase of lunch participation of 2.91% as compared to February of 2024 our action item for next week's regular session is for white fleet vehicles just like our bus fleet we want to maintain a replacement cycle on our white fleet vehicles that are used across aone County Schools we currently have five vehicles over 200,000 miles that will require replacement three ve excuse me three vehicles will be for maintenance technicians one for the mechanic supervisor and one for technology we expect delivery of these vehicles if approved in mid to late July once we take delivery of these vehicles we
022will bring our annual surplus vehicle list to the board as well the superintendent's recommendation is for the Board of Education to approve Akin Ford with a bid of $266,800 do and this concludes the operations report unless there are any questions I have uh just a couple so looking back if so looking at the I think it was F250 on there so will all five vehicles be the same or they're going to be different types the conol line Etc or yes sir great question so the maintenance technicians and the mechanic supervisor will all have the F250 body the mechanic supervisor will have one of those reading bodies on the back for the tools they need to repir buses out on site and they will come fully outfitted so will there be will there be any additional
023items that will be added to the vehicles after we accept delivery yes sir so as part of the package deal the maintenance Vehicles will have a rooftop with that will hold ladders as well and pull out drawers in them for all three of those Vehicles the mechanic supervisor will have the reading body and the technology van is just an eono line van and it'll have a metal mesh behind it just make sure nothing hits the driver during driving okay and that'll all be installed by aen prior to delivered okay thank you good job Ron that's really really needed in maintenance and that's going everybody have maintenance and both Transportation going to be really happy about that thank you facilities Mr ricketson good evening the okon County Schools operation and Facilities March 3rd 2025 Board of
024Education report contain contains two items of information and two action items for the March 10th Board of Education meeting the first item of information is the league custodian meeting for February was held on Thursday February 13th and was hosted by the team at Malcolm Bridge Middle School the team discussed slips and falls and the proper use of scrubber pads our custodial teams are to be commended for their rigorous work ensuring that our schools are clean for health second item of information is construction update the ISC I'm happy to report that the contractor has completed the architect's punch list they are continuing to respond to any warranty issues as they may arise and we're currently working on the closing paperwork districtwide generators the contractor has begun placing generators in their Final locations they will continue to
025work to make connections and perform startup operations over the coming months we are expecting the last two gener to arrive and may action item number one got to head myself on my notes Here excuse me acttion item number one is a con County high school practice field lighting this is an upgrade of the lighting on the practice field from recreational lighting levels to competition levels we musco Sports lighting pricing uh pric this job for us at for government projects as part of the approved sourcewell contract number contract the superintendent's recommendation is for the Board of Education to approve musco Sports lighting with a bid of $135,200 dollars action item number two is the Georgia Department of Education facilities plan every five years were required by the Department of Education to develop a local facilities plan
026this plan is specifically related to any facility work that would be eligible for State funding as you can see from the chart every school is listed along with the amounts of State dollars that we would be eligible for as a reminder State funding for any of these projects typically amounts to a fourth to a third of the actual cost of to do the project the superintendent's recommendation is for the Board of Education to adopt the attached local facilities plan resolution and that concludes the facilities operations report unless there are any questions have a question about the lights when it comes to that how long do they estimate those lights will last before they need to be replaced they have a they will have a 25 year warranty did you explain the uh the approved vendor
027bid on that again to me please yes uh we we are able to use uh musco lighting because they are a part of the sourcewell contract which is pre-approved Nationwide contract that the state of Georgia recognizes okay thank can you also talk about the importance of those being competitive lights rather than wreck lights what does that necessarily mean for the students well that that would allow us to host games uh on that field if we so desire it also allows our our athletes to practice under um real time conditions of what a game will be like okay thank you than thank you next we have human resources Mr kofer good evening board members and Dr branch Human Resources report this evening contains one item of information and no action items for the March 10th Board
028of Education meeting our item of information is an update on our request for proposal for a benefits broker displayed before you is our timeline that was provided as a part of the RFP process we have successfully moved past the submissions deadline and after a review of proposals we've identified our finalist later this week we will hear presentations and be conducting interviews with these finalists to further evaluate their qualifications and determine the best fit for our district we remain on track with our timeline and will continue to keep the board informed as we progress toward a final decision this concludes our report this evening but we remain available for any questions thank you Mr CER yes sir Communications Mr CIT thank you Mr Ransom good evening board members and Dr Branch Communications report this evening contains
029two items of information the first item is febru social media information okone County Schools registered an average of nearly 14,500 views for its 39 social media posts during the month the top post for February was the announcement that Niche had chosen aone County as the number one County in America for public schools that post was viewed almost 51,000 times and was shared more than times three of the top five four of the top 10 and nine the top 20 were related to Athletics led by Vera Spencer of North oone winning her third straight state championship in wrestling that post was viewed nearly 38,000 times for the month 25 of the 39 posts were seen more than 10,000 times and averaged 18,652 views OCS gained 126 followers in February giving the district more than 22,700 across
030Facebook Instagram and Twitter in addition the OCS newsletter released on February 25th had 8,447 unique opens which is a rate of 68.8% the industry average for education is 40% we thank the parents students community members businesses and media Outlets that follow and engage with the OCS social media accounts the second item of information is the February highlights video [Music] as you can see a lot of great news packed up to 28 days and that concludes Communications unless there are any questions for me question thank Mr carck we do have a need to go into executive session I need a motion to do so I will 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 thank
031you Mr Parish to thank you all in favor passes five zero we returned