001Hey guys, good afternoon and welcome to the Wednesday, July 9, uh regular meeting of the Board of Education. Um, I will first ask that our our meeting was posted and I've been assured it was. If we would now all please stand for the national anthem. And today we have a real treat. Our national anthem will be played by Dr. Barnes. [Applause] Are we moving now? Let's move down. When did we cook up this [Music] [Applause] Please join us in the in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] [Applause] Yeah, let's play drum. I guess you guys go home early, right? Yeah. Uh, I'd like to uh
002I only entertain a motion to approve the agenda. I move to approve the agenda as printed. You second. Moved and seconded. All in favor? All right. Thank you. Announcements. We have a few. As soon as I find them as I find them. Aha. All right. Um, first we have a ribbon cutting ceremony at uh Henderson Early Learning Center on Wednesday, July 30th from 10:30 from 10:30 to 11:30 at Henderson for me. We'll have a ribbon cutting. We've got a lot of ribbon cutting coming on. I'm loving this ribbon cutting ceremony at Bloomingdale Elementary School. Uh Friday, August 1st, that is at 101 East Main Street in Bloomingdale. First day of school, I know the kids are ready. Uh, first day of school, since we're the parents, uh, first day of school is August 4th, ribbon
003cutting ceremony for Davis Edwards Harris Athletic Facility and Police Annex on Thursday, August 7th at 10:30. Ribbon cutting ceremony for Windsor Forest High School. Friday, August 8th at 10:30. It's 3:30. It was printed wrong. I'm sorry. 3:30. 3:30. 3:30. Sorry about that. And of course, our uh August regular board meeting is Wednesday, August 13th. Yes. Okay. All right. Um and I guess I'm to announce that um we had a hang on that we have completed the uh evaluation for our superintendent and it was more than satisfactory. So, um, so we're very happy. All right. Uh, next remembrances. We have a few and I'm sad to report this. Um okay. Um Dolores Cummings, uh Johnson High School, date of passing 7325. Barbara Magwood, White Bluff Elementary. Um, date of passing 626. Karen Burrows Groves High School
0045225. And Tabitha Futch, date of passing 6225. If we'll all please stand for a moment of silence. And now for some good news. It is uh with always great excitement that I get to bring some calls for applause to the district. And I'll start off by acknowledging Virginia Vogelman, a junior from Windsor Forest High School who received the cousin ITT Flight Training Award through Thrill of the First Flight Georgia and Savannah Aviation last month. This award is named for Matt Mashburn, a US military veteran and an aviation professional who passed away in 2022. Mashburn created the program to give youth in our area the opportunity to experience flying. Congratulations, Virginia. Last month, community members gathered at the Savannah District US Army Corps of Engineers Depot on Hutcherson Island to witness the dedication of three new
005survey vessels. The vessels were named and dedicated in honor of three service members who were born and raised in Georgia and lost their lives in the line of duty. One of the vessels was named after Army Sergeant Tyrone Chisum of Savannah, a graduate of Groves High School where he played varsity basketball. The three survey vessels will serve as a lasting tribute to the sacrifice and service of each of these men whose names they bear. Each year, the Georgia Department of Education English Learner Language Programs recognizes one exemplary student from each school district or independent charter school in Georgia. To qualify for this award, the student must be a senior and on track for graduation in the school year, have a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average, and demonstrate leadership through participation in extracurricular activities,
006sports, clubs, employment, or community service, and must also exhibit exemplary character, outstanding behavior, and regular attendance. New Hamstead High School class of 2025 graduate Daniela Alejandra Medina Gonzalez was selected as the district's honore and was recognized at the school's endofear awards ceremony last month. Congratulations Daniela. We are proud of you. Congratulations to the Savannah Arts Academy student garden club and the Arsley Park Cadam Crescent Garden Club. They won a certificate of merit in the high school garden club category from the National Garden Clubs Incorporated for the work done in the secret garden at the Savannah Arts Academy. The project provided landscaping for the for two garden beds at the entrance to the gu secret secret garden and created an artist walk with a design feature. Special thanks to Green Dirt Design and landscape architect Tim
007Gay who volunteered his time to assist us with the landscape design and provided plants at wholesale pricing. Finally, let's all give the Savannah High School marching band a round of applause. The marching blue jackets were invited to Washington DC to participate in the Fourth of July Independence Day parade. This is an extraordinary honor and a testament to the talent, discipline, and dedication of our student musicians. Additionally, this honor reflects the amazing leadership of band director Mr. Regginal Mitchell and the support of the entire community. Being on such a prominent national stage is an achievement that not only demonstrates musical excellence, but the spirit of pride and unity at Savannah High School and across this district. This is the first for the Savannah High School band and a proud moment for our district's fine arts department
008and Savannah Chattam County Public School System as a whole. Congratulations. And that concludes my good news report for this month. Thank you very much. As we move along on your board agenda, we do have the board of education matters today. Item 6.0. 01 for your review. We just have one policy matter for the board to review. This is a first read. We'll come back for a second read adoption during the August board meeting. Uh you'll see board policy FGC bids and quotations. Uh comprehensive overhaul here. If you'll take a look at uh much of the revisions that we've provided, the real driver behind this is as we were looking closely at this policy code section uh to understand uh its true alignment as it's in its relation to Georgia procurement public works law. What that
009does is it triggered the need for us to provide much more clarity uh which you see stipulated in the policy and further in the regulation as it relates to the procurement of professional services for facilities projects. Now, this was a a fairly comprehensive uh review of this policy area and much of it it was driven with great support of our finance team, our capital projects team uh with uh leading revisions provided by the uh legal house. So, I'm going to ask that attorney now just provide you a very quick summary of a little deeper rationale for some of the changes. Attorney DeL. Thank you, Mr. Hediger. uh board members. Um the overall uh approach uh is to maximize the flexibility of the school district in negotiating professional services contracts for facilities projects regardless of whether
010they meet the definition of a public works construction contract under the Georgia public works construction law. that law has very specific requirements about how the solicitations for construction projects uh should be awarded. Uh we didn't want to necessarily have those same limitations if they did not apply, but we wanted to make sure we had a framework and standards of our own for making selections for design professionals. So um we we have sort of a table um the main policy we have a sort of a table that is designed to mirror DJ's approval level thresholds that talk about the types of purchasing um methodology uh the board could consider for these types of uh solicitations uh and uh simply clarify that uh the Georgia public works construction law does not apply to the extent the prior
011policy had suggestions about how a particular solicitation might be done or terms of solicitation. Those things can could still be done if uh the purchasing department and staff want to do that. But we didn't want to be limited uh by the policy itself in the ways that we seek to procure uh these types of contracts which can be based on cost but can be based on other factors. such as the design professionals uh special expertise experience. There may be an example of uh projects that we have used a particular design before that we want to use again. It worked before, we want to use it again. Our staff is familiar with that uh layout or floor plan and uh wanted to just go straight back to the same source and and design it again while
012still being fiscally responsible. The regulation um that we have here um tries to streamline what was originally a regulation with three exhibits of tables for maximum fee schedules. We emphasize this is these are maximum that uh fees for design professional contracts not uh the minimum. Uh the board could certainly approve a higher uh amount, but uh staff is encouraged to try and bring in contracts at lower rates and fees uh than are listed in these schedules for uh your approval. And um these uh the the the existing framework on that schedule sort of is a variation on the tables that were in place here previously in 2013. Um, as we're all aware, a lot has changed in the economy since 2013. Uh, so some of these amounts have been have been all of these amounts
013have been increased with designed to make the uh fee structures more um attractive to the qualified talent uh that would be looking for for designing uh school district uh uh facilities projects. Um, one slight sort of technical difference was the previous schedules had specific job positions. We found not all design professional firms use the same classifications or codes or they don't necessarily mean the same thing. A principal at one company might be a lead architect at another. And so um to minimize some of the challenges of trying to figure out where somebody's employee position fits on our own scale, we've tried to provide some narrative guidance as to what level of experience or skills or seniority um is the qualification rather than relying strictly on somebody's title. I think that's sort of an overview of
014these changes. If there are any questions, happy to entertain them. Miss Kowski, thank you very much for the overview. Um, we have a very robust couple of projects. I think it's really important um that we have a good understanding both for us as a board and for the community of the processes and procedures and I appreciate the flexibility that we are looking um to have at the district to be able to uh hire the the best um for our projects. The only question I had was the the fee and um rate tables those were previously an attachment to the regulation and now they're being embedded in the regulation. Is there any right? Originally, there was three separate exhibits on top of it and that just was more places you had to go on um the
015the board docs to pull it up and refresh it and just let's go ahead and condense all that information into one uh table or the regulation itself. And the the percentages and the rates that are reflected here those are were those based on what we are seeing from the bids we've received. What was the basis for those numbers? The specific numbers were recommended by capital project staff that have been administering us for the hourly rates. I understand they kind of looked at the the average market rate of the uh vendors that we have been working with to get a sense of what our local market average rate would be. The um percentage um scale for flat fees that's based in relation to the stated cost limitation. Those were just simply all adjusted up I think
016by about a quarter of a of a percent. Um uh to um sort of generally the as I understand it the uh fee ranges for the larger types of projects that we're doing um in the market tend to run from 6 to 8%. You'll see some of these fees being above 8% but those are all on projects under a million dollars when you do those percentages. um uh those those additional amounts above 8% are relatively small and recognized for a project of that size. There's still a certain threshold amount of work that has to go into to doing it. So that's why the proposed ceiling is a little higher in percentage terms on those projects under a million dollars. Okay. Well, and I sorry what with the what we're we've been looking at as far
017as with our own projects. Do we look at comparable districts as well? I realize we have to be sensitive to our market, but um in looking at the scale of projects that other large districts might have. Does it look like our compensation, our design fees are comparable? I don't know if the capital projects team looked at that in their evaluation. I'd have to defer to capital projects as to whether they looked at other school districts. Um, uh, I know my understanding was they were focused sort of on the market rates of the design professionals in our area. Miss Davidson, is that anything that you can respond to? Good afternoon. Sorry. Uh, I'm not aware that we looked at other school districts. I believe we only focused on our regional area. Thank you, Miss Hall. Um,
018Mr. Dele, did our capital projects team seek the expertise of any actual design professionals in terms of um, decision making with this? My understanding is they reviewed the sort of the the posted rates that um, were being charged by design process professional firms currently as sort of their current market rates as compared to what our schedule was. Um, I don't I don't believe that anyone particular was engaged per se as a as a consultant, but we we have very talented construction professionals on our staff and some cons consultants that are not for our program management um in Mr. Hutting's um group um that have a wealth of experience and some familiarity of what market rates are and and what these prices are in the industry. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, so that
019is a first read. We will come back with the board with a final uh second reader for adoption in August and that concludes the board matter section of today's agenda. Turning it to the board president for consent agenda and additional items. Thank you very much. I will now accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. It's been moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? Yes. Sorry. The chatty one today. Um we have two the relay and the grow that I know Dr. Hoskins Brown had asked for some information and appreciate those numbers being provided back which are both professional development and training. Um, I'm just wondering if the team might be able to provide just a 60-second overview of of what both of those programs are and how each will be used. Is that
020so? Good afternoon. Um the first one uh school grow uh that is a actually a platform that we will use to capture all of our coaching action steps and um how we're supporting teachers and leaders across the district as we continue to build a culture of continuous improvement. Um historically we have been capturing those um data points in spreadsheets and it doesn't we we need a centralized place where it lives and we can have oversight and monitoring of all the schools and this is a place where u a platform where we can do that and it also um allows us to have transparency as we are giving feedback to teachers and leaders uh is a transparent parent way in which we can track that. The second um contract around relay um that is our comprehensive
021approach around building the instructional leadership capacity of our principles, assistant principles and academic coaches. Um so that as we are coaching teachers, we are meeting teachers where they are and actually have a structured framework of being able um to coach teachers. Um what we are striving to do is create this culture where we have uh universal language u as we are coaching teachers and when we say red is read everybody understand what red is and there's no misinterpretation of that. Um so really that contract is a more comprehensive um way of approaching coaching um from of all our schools our assistant principles and u principles. Thank you. I think both of these are very wise investments in our staff and our talent and it sounds like the the um data component will feed in very
022well with Miss Taylor's ROI. Um so it get things like this I think are are really important and they get sometimes buried under the consent agenda. So, I just wanted to take a moment to elevate those and provide our team the opportunity to be able to share um the great work that they are doing and the strategic investments that we are making in in the district um among our talented staff. Thank you. Absolutely. Uh yes, Constance Brown. I just want to say thank you to the leadership and the team for um responding to comments I made about um items in the uh consent agenda related to the timelines for responding to attendance waiverss for parents to make it a more parentfriendly timeline so that could be responded to before the end of the school year
023um and also for um making revisions to the board superintendent communications policy. Um so I appreciate uh seeing those changes and their revisions. Thanks. Anyone else? Okay. Uh, there being no more discussion, all in favor? Wonderful. Thank you very much, Mr. Jackson. Good afternoon everyone. Afternoon. I think we have item 8.01. Yes sir. This is in response to M26059 NWA map. Um all of the agenda items have been posted to board dogs. board members have had a chance to review the items and a couple of these items you just received some information on them from staff. So, I'm not going to read through all of the agenda items. Thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the three-year district district-wide purchase of NWEA MAP growth and professional learning services for
024physical year 26 through 28. The total contract expenditure will be 1,385,300. Moved and seconded. discussion. All right, there be no more discussion. All in favor? Yes. Sorry. Okay. Item 8.02. Um, this is just a one-year renewal for I Ready. It includes a budget transfer um using end of the year funds from FY25 to create a budget and special programs fund 584. Thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the soul source purchase of the I Ready subscription and professional development for a total cost of $612,99 [Music] and be it further resolved that the board approve the budget transfer and amendment as described above. I'll accept a motion to approve. Is this a a motion for both the um transfer and the uh allocation? Is that what you just requested?
025Yes. Okay. Yes, Mr. Catchmore. Is that what you're moving? I was seconding. Okay. To your first thinging. I'm moving. I'm firsting. Okay. May I now? Uh yes. Thank you. Uh, I I appreciate leadership being responsive to my requests to explore sources of funding this action um from from our coffers, from other areas. This originally came to us um coming out of fund balance and last month there several board members were pretty articulate about their desire to leave fund balance alone. Uh, so we I I was not um I w I was not happy about going into fund balance so quickly after approving this year's budget. Um, so I appreciate us spending the effort to looking into our unused funds and really, you know, cleaning out the cupboards before we go grocery shopping again. like really
026making sure that we're utilizing all all of our resources, particularly and I'll mention this when we get to our financials. We're at 92% of the year. So, we know what we've spent in some line items and we know some line items are not fully expended. So, I appreciate you you doing that and hope that we'll continue to do that. So, I support this action coming from uh general fund un unutilized funds for the previous fiscal year. Anyone else? Okay. All in favor. Thank you very much. Good afternoon everyone. The financials that were in your packet uh this month covered us through May 31st. um that being 92% of the fiscal year as um Miss Hoskin Brown just said um and 100% of the school year has lapsed. Our fund 100 revenues, the local property taxes
027are currently at 99.7% of budget, which is higher than our 99% that we were that we received the same time last year. Total general fund actual revenues are at 97% of the budget which is higher than um last year at 96%. Our general fund expenditures actual expenditures for teachers are at 90.7% of the current budget. That's lower than the expected 92% at this point in time. Other support salaries are at 89% which is lower than expected between 90 and 92%. Total general fund actual expenditures are at 85% of the budget compared to the same time last year we were at 81.8%. Um do we have any questions brown? I do. Thank you so much u for this report. I'm looking at page one, general fund um uh fund 100 under uh item 42, purchase professional
028tech services, where we have 4.9 million um remaining in the budget and 46, software maintenance, where we have 1.6 um million left in the budget. Um are we reallocating those unused funds? Are they available for things like we just purchased with the I Ready? Are we reallocating those? Some of those um are available for that type thing. When before we close out the end of the year, we're actually spending this month going through our total year and we will go in and make any kind of adjustments that we need in um in addition to any expenses that were done during June July time period that were for um last year. Thank you. That's helpful. So, we're doing we're doing close out. We'll see if we have any change left over and if we do then
029there might be opportunities there. So I'm I will be looking to see what we do with that couch change in those areas um you know over the next few months as we have expenditures that that need to be taken care of. Thank you. Understood. Okay. And for those that are under the age of 20, uh, the phrase couch change, cash out change. There you go. All right. Okay. So, this um I was just thinking, Dr. watch. In so many cases, you really tried to get down to the bone with um some of the cuts that you felt you had to make. This might be an opportunity where you can have a little space to breathe and revisit some of the things that you really did not want to let go of. Okay. Anyone else? Thank
030you very much. Thank you. And the next item is 9.02. It's a general fund transfer to support the long range facility plans. On December 18th, 2024, the board approved a resolution authorizing the assignment of $60 million from the general fund fund balance to the capital projects fund for designated projects. This assignment was intended to support the implementation of the district long range facility plans. Staff now recommends that the board approve the accompanying budget transfer to formally allocate these funds into East Bloss 5 budget. The transfer will ensure that the funding is appropriately positioned to support identified capital needs and maintain alignment with the long range planning objectives. Thus, beard resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the transfer of the general fund fund balance in the amount of $60 million for
031long range facility plan projects. Moved moved and seconded. discussion. All in favor? Thank you. Item 9.03 East Plus 4 audio enhancements budget transfer. This transfer is being done to support additional expenditures under RFP25-26 multimedia classroom presentation systems and learning common audio visual. Thus, be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the budget transfer as described. Again, the amount is $4,772,000. Move second. discussion. Miss Miss Hall, Mr. Jackson, is our goal to be sure that all schools have audio enhancement in place? Yes, ma'am. That's our goal. That's the ultimate goal. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, how what percentage of our schools have have been completed and how far do we still have to go? Let me ask my operation teams. I would estimate that we are about 35 is just my my
032rough estimate of where we are, but everybody will have the audio enhancement emergency duress tool installed by July of 2026. Okay. And is there a a methodology to which schools come in which order or uh how is that determined? Uh historically, it's my understanding as as the building was being uh renovated or reconstructed, they received that upgrade. Now, understanding um the support from the board and the urgency to get everything done to meet the new Georgia law, uh we want to make sure that duress button is installed. So, we have expedited the remainder of the installation. So, all of our new facilities that it's come with part of the Yes, ma'am. infrastructure already. Okay. Okay. So, it's really our older facilities that have to be cuddled along. And we can get you a chart of
033We have a chart that says which ones have it, which ones are coming up that timelines it out. We can get that. I don't want to p work on the staff, but I do want to know how our audience is rece how the school site personnel, how are they receiving this and using this technology? Is it being um welcomed and actually used to its utmost effectiveness? because I hear there's some places where by they say Woodville Tommpkins has just gone away with it whereas other sites may not be as uh I would say it probably varies per school and I don't have any specific evidence to substantiate how people are using it or not using it or what their perception of it is. Um but I know last year we did roll out some revised
034training. Okay. uh we did some work around the use of the cameras, how it can be used instructionally as well as safety wise, but I think there's a way probably for us to go back and try to capture what the perception and usage rate is, but I don't think we have that currently today. Okay. All right. Well, I I I applaud and and and thank staff for for getting this done because I think in years to come, we're going to be very grateful that we have it, especially for safety, instructional also, but especially for safety Uh, Dr. Breamman, then Miss Kowalsski. Yeah. Um, I know that we have to have this done um to meet the new Georgia law, but I was wondering how much of the 1.7 million that we're going to spend for
035West both the West Cadam campuses and the STEM campus that we know we're going to be rebuilding but not built soon enough to meet the new Georgia law. how much of that technology and integration is transferable versus we're going to put it in there and it's just going to get torn down. Yeah. So, I you might not have that answer, but I just don't know what the structure looks like. So, I hope I would rather spend a little bit more money and save it in the long run if it's something that we can make to where it can be pulled. Yeah. Whoever installs it this time can maybe install it on those uh other sites. We are absolutely being cognizant of the sites that we know will be demolished or have major renovations just installing
036pieces that are are portable or at a minimum meet the laws requirements if it's not something that could be transferred. Mo most of our security system technology systems are portable. Uh when we close a school or renovated we do take that technology and and uh move it to other locations um so that we can use it. We we have some redundancy in the uh in the panic to rest alarm buttons. So the audio um enhancement system is not the only um system that we have. We currently have the rest alarm uh buttons throughout the entire district. Uh this is a redundancy, but it gives us uh even more um opportunity to keep our schools safe from a layer security standpoint. Okay. Thank you, Miss Grabowski. I actually had the exact same question. So, thanks Dr.
037Bringman. All right. Um All right. Any other discussion? All in favor? Thank you very much. Item 9.04, budget adoption, eslass 5. On March 18th, 2025, the voters approved an extension of the educational special purpose local option sales tax. To accommodate operations for this program, a new capital projects fund 314 will be created to record revenues and related expenditures. In addition, a multi-year budget will must be adopted which reflects anticipated revenues and planned expenditures to facilitate facilitate recordkeeping and reporting. Each individual project will be designated by its own project number. Below is a summary of the revenues by funding source to include the operating transfer the board just approved along with expenditures by category. Thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board adopt the multi-year east plus 5 budget as shown
038in the above tables. Uh okay David second miss kowski discussion I know there is uh I'm sorry uh Dr. Howard Hall. Yes. Thank you. We've had several email exchanges this week. Um, and I'm here just to talk a little about Woodville Tomkins if you don't mind. Woodville Tommpkins was established in 1847. However, in 2023, they got their first ever auditorium. 176 years later, that same year, they got a brand new gym. We celebrated, did a nice ribbon cut, and even named the gym after Coach Joseph Turner. All high schools should have an auditorium and a gym. Now, there are two middle schools that were converted into high schools. One of those high schools received a CTA classroom wing in 2017. However, the remaining of that school, although it operates as a high school, the facility
039is that of a middle school. On the other hand, there's another middle school that now has converted into a high school that has actually undergone a complete renovation and fully operates as a high school. Now, the two schools that I'm referring to is Woodville, Tomkins, and Islands. And and to make this clear, I agree and I support every renovation that's gone on at Allens. I believe that Allens and those students deserve to have that complete renovation. And I am aware that it didn't happen overnight. It took several years, but here we are now in 2025. East Bloss 5 Woodville Tommpkins has been awarded or allocated, shall I say, $14.8 million. And I would just outline the project of what's taking place or what will be taking place. One is assessments and soil studies. The other
040the demolition of the lower Woodville. But here's where it gets a little cloudy for me because it the language has changed several times. At one time it was the renovation of Lower Woodville. Then it became demolish Lower Woodville. Then later reconstruction of Lower Woodville. Then later potential reconstruction of Lower Woodville. And then finally preconstruction of Lower Woodville. So when I look at the term preconstruction, what are you saying? Are you saying that there's no building to be erected on that property once Lower Woodville has been demolished? And then the last piece is the comprehensive construction of athletic fields supporting infrastructure. My concern is and my question is what exactly are we going to do with the 14.6? We received, you know, I did receive feedback via email, but I want to know the number one
041question. Could you please explain to me about this preconstruction and does that mean that lower Woodville will not be replaced? Because currently Woodville Tommpkins is partially operating as a high school with that wing. The remaining of the school, although it operates as a high school, is operating in a middle school facility. Now, I do know also renovations is supposed to take place as well with Upper Woodville. So, I just need some clarity because I I'm not sure of what's going on with this $ 14.8 million and I'm quite perturbed about it. So, I because I believe that every school should be completely renovated and I'm not saying anything to throw shade at Allens or be negative because I supported them 100%. They deserve to have that school. That was Coastal Middle School. We're still in
042Tomkins Middle School with the name Woodville High School attached to it. Korean Technical High School. Yes, ma'am. I'll attempt to uh clarify and then ask the capital projects team to jump in u to provide additional explanation as needed. So, the 14.8 8 that was put forth in East Bloss for uh Woodville is for the um right now and everything is is um couldn't be changed but for the demolition of the lower Woodville campus. The upper Woodville campus would receive a new roof, new HVAC that was not included in the 14.8 8 because that was in the categories of roofing, HVAC, and then the site improvement category also would cover additional athletic uh improvements, potentially a practice field or a track or both. As we look at the site and and continue through the design development,
043we can identify exactly what this site can hold. Um, so that's the the current plan. understanding that we will rem or relocate the uh building bridges team to the new alternative high school or alternative learning center location. Um and then we also have some staff that are located in that um lower campus site that would be potentially relocated to the administrative site at Savannah High. What happens to the building once it's demolished? because I was under the impression that it would be replaced with another building to expand with Bill Tomkins. Yes, ma'am. It is my understanding and Mr. Boter can clarify that we would uh that 14.8 does include construction of an additional building closer to the upper campus building. Is anybody else going to step step in? So I'll start all over again. So
044in our E5 budget, there's a line item for HWACs and uh since Woodville will need a new HWAC. So if you look at that lower wood, it will take some time because we have to move staff and and high school from there to another location. it cannot happen just automatically quickly. So in the meantime so that Woodville will Tomkins students and staff do not suffer for HVAC needs. So that's why I separated it out which will be between5 to $6 million and in HVAC line in our east long range facility plan phase three it is clearly written there. Then again it needs a new roof which will another couple of million dollars which will be also done before and we have also applied in the capital outlay. The state funds it for HWAC already done.
045Design is actually complete for HWAC. It's about to go on a bid and the next year we'll be doing the roof too because Myers Middle School is needing it sooner than Woodville. So that's additional money which is more than $14.8 million. Then I talk about the last or in E4 we had several high schools had football practice fields and some of them received track and I remember you have been reminding me that Woodville Tommpkins has a great track team. So when we were doing this football practice fields we also looked at the remaining land around Woodville Tommpkins and we hired AIL civil engineering department which did the others. They told us that it cannot be done at this location right now. So when and lower Woodville right now has the highest FCI score. It's like
046the worst building in our whole uh complex I mean whole system. So renovating it doesn't make sense. So when we looked at the land, we said that if we demolish this building, that's where we can put the practice field as well as the track which is needed by the Woodward Tommpkins and that will serve the purpose and that funding is in the site improvements in the E5 and I intend to do that sooner than as soon as we demolish the building. Now in 14.8 eight since we you already mentioned that it has received some TLC because of the new gym though it's late and a new auditorium and a new wing and some other renovations. So we intend to do more renovations in that 14.8 million and in case more classrooms are needed we will
047be able to do that in $14.8 8 million and how did I reach to that? We looked at the current spending done at godly and other projects and since we are almost 10 plus million dollars in other buckets therefore we we feel comfortable that we will be able to do it. So you're saying that they're going to be you're going to add additional wings to upper wood deal if needed be. I mean that's not giving me a definite answer if needed be. I'm telling you is needed be because you're demolishing Lower Woodville. So Lower Woodville is actually used by the high school and CTA staff and some of other Mr. But it's not used by the Woodville Tommpkins students. Yes. I let me give you a little history. Sure. When Woodville Tomkins became a high
048school, the original plan was to use lower Woodville as the ninth grade academy. That didn't happen because Savannah Classical, my understanding, Savannah Classical was there for two years after charter school. Then after the charter school left, you know, due to the to the um EIC score, of course, there was no longer a school because it was Scott Junior High School programs were were there. So, nothing ever came of it. since it's being demolished and the property is there. We talking about the comprehensive construction of the athletic fields. My question and concern is the expansion and you said if need be when there's a weight list all the time it there definitely needs to be an expansion. We'll need to check on the weight list. I'm not sure even if there is a weight list for
049Woodville. I actually think it's not fully utilized. The current building I do not think is fully utilized, but we will double check that. Um, I guess to help summarize and and Mr. Botcher, please help me if I also need clarity on it. The 14.8 million, we don't really have a firm plan on how that is going to be used. We could decide that as we get closer to the design phase. That's right. of the project. The fields will go, the HVAC will go forward, the roof will go forward, but then there is a 14.8 8 million, which could lead to an addition to the current facility, buildings in closer proximity to the facility, or maybe some type of rebuild where Lower Woodville is, but we haven't done enough engagement with the community and the principal
050to think not just about a building, but think about programming. Absolutely. At the simultaneously. So, we don't want to build something that we don't have a need for or does not fit within the vision of the future of the school. Um, and so I think that additional feedback and community engagement will help us better define what that additional 14.8 million can be used for. Am I summarizing it? You did great job, ma'am. Okay. But we definitely need to have a town stakeholders. I think we do need to do that. We also need to find out when where Woodville falls in the priority list because we now have criteria. We'll put all of our projects in it. I don't know. We may have already done it. I don't know that to date. Um if it falls
051within the next year, you're right. Those town hall meetings need to start sooner rather than later. If it falls within three years, it would probably be another year before we decide. But we want to be careful about defining something when we haven't done the feedback and when we haven't really talked about the next iteration of what Woodville can be or how to best meet its needs. So I think that might be why you are experiencing a little bit of like dancing around a concrete answer because if we give you a concrete answer then that commits us to something that we haven't really um gotten full feedback from the community on. We don't have a defined answer but looks like to me we have a defined $14.8 million. We have a defined budget but we we
052had to put something there. I mean, we had to we had to have we know we've talked about CTA labs. You're raising up the need to possibly uh renovate the current site to make it more high school oriented versus middle school oriented. So, I think we have some ideas, but in terms of a concrete idea, I think we've been careful not to overcommit to something that we haven't fleshed out with the community. Lastly, can I David? Oh, I'm sorry. I I didn't realize he was Oh, yes. Just la just lastly Yeah. Uh I just I just don't want this to to um be punted into East Bloss 6. Oh, because we've been we've gone through five East blosses, East Blosses. Well, I shall I say this is number five. And what I don't want to
053happen is, oh, we don't have the funding. So, let's hope we can get east splash six. Okay, David. No. David. Um, so I guess I'll start with u what what Dr. Watts was um first discussing and um just wanted you have to answer right off the bat the update on when the rubric to actually repri prioritize and actually make the schedule and the more hashed out budget if we have an update on that. If not, that's fine and it's going to come come down the line. Um, I will applaud Dr. Howard Hall on fighting for a project. The project is in E5. Thus, that money has to be spent on on that project. That project will be defined through a process how we have done all E5s. And we could all sit here and talk
054about schools that haven't gotten what they needed to get. I mean, Georgetown has been a middle school for all of the East Sloths and is just now in E5, the end of E4, going to have a middle school facility for those students. So, I mean, and and Windsor has never had an auditorium. They've done their school plays in the cafeteria for forever. Um, so we're all always, and I love that about the district, always fighting to get to that next step. It's just we can't snap our fingers and make it all happen immediately. and rectify everything that we think needs to occur at every single site. Um, I love that we work together to figure out this list. Um, and I feel like in the two iterations that I've gone through, it has been a
055very um, amaniable process between all the board members um, and with district staff and projects have changed and more money has moved. Um, and this could very well be a project that once assessments are done, more money needs to be moved. Um, and other projects do get pushed. That has that has occurred. Um, just like it's occurred with STEM. We were going to do a renovation there and then it was going to be a waste of money to renovate that building because we were going to get so close to a new build on the renovation. So, um, I believe that the district is doing what's best for everyone by saying we're not going to say exactly what it is because then we have to do exactly what we say. Um, I mean, if we if
056we came out with our E5 list and said that West Chadam K8 was going to have this many classrooms and this many this and this many thats, then then the community would hold us to that versus what does it look like when we go to have the architect design something and put it out for bid. Um, and what are the needs of the community? Um, and those needs might change in year one of E5 or year two of E5 for Woodville. So, um, the money's there. Every year, two of you five for Woodville. So, um, the money's there. We have to remember as a board that it was put there. And when it comes time to do the project and we see it on the prioritization list, we make sure that it is not just
057a band-aid, but it's actually something that's going to meet the needs of the student, staff, and faculty there. Um, so while this is a nice list, we know probably from from our past that everything doesn't get done. Um, so we will have to make those hard decisions down the road. But um, I I believe in the intentions of our programming and of our operations staff on making sure that um, projects are done. And it's nice to know that now we are going to have an objective process to score that. And then I'm sure as board members once that comes out, we'll still have some discussion about it too. Um because we see things differently as the ears in the community that the district staff is going to be looking at it just from more of
058what I would consider a nuts and bolts and not this is what the community is saying. I believe that's a correct narrative. Um, and that should change this. So, I I think that will be a I look forward to that discussion. It might not be the easiest, but I think it will be a healthy discussion on how we look at things and then having operations remind us that we can't start every project all at once, which we would all love to do as well. So, thank you. You get the priority listing and the CIC meeting in August. So, you'll know the order of the projects in August. Dr. Hoskins Brown, this was done wrong. This is was done wrong. You shouldn't be coming to a board meeting not knowing what a project is funded to
059do in your district. I saw two emails come through. I don't know what other what other emails came through. Um I understand that the e the E5 list is fluid. All of the ESPOS lists have been fluid. But the most major problem that I have with this is that we just heard two people say, "Well, we don't really know the the 14.8 is going to be something, but we have to do further exploration. We have to look at this. We have to look at that." And Dr. Howard Hall shouldn't be coming to a meeting and just finding out that we really don't have that worked out. And the first answer is not going to the community and doing a survey. The first answer should have been during E5 when you populated the list of what
060the projects was going to be to talk with the board members. I mean I assume that that had occurred for the projects. I assume that all the projects in the different part of the district was informed at least by the feedback that board members had from communities that there had been some communication because there's communication about what district needs on other things. So yeah, it it does make sense that it's not completely lined up exactly what that 14.8 is going to be, but what I heard here is you don't really know. And if you don't know now, that means you just kind of created a number when the East Boss list was put together. And that's problematic. 14.8 8 should have added up from some ideas even if it's wrong because when we've done when
061we have done projects in the past we've had some schools that were way over what they were allotted in East and they had to be augmented beach was one of them. So if this was if 14.8 was a cumulative number from a list of ideas that's what should have been said today when leadership came to the microphone. Thank you for that feedback and it is valid and well taken. Maybe I mischaracterized it. Um in the E5 list we described it as CTA programmatic expansion. Okay. And that's how we characterized it without going into detail about what that so it's not just a random number pulled out of the sky. We know we want to do something around CTA programming. That's the part that is yet to be defined. Okay. So that's helpful. That is a
062process where your board members are your partners to help develop and sell the concept to the community. And we should I I think we you know we hear the frustration and we hear the history. I'm a big fan of history, you know, and and you know, we we hear that and we understand that, but it's the lack of information that Dr. Howard Hall has that is concerning to me at this point because we passed a referendum on this. This is not this is not the beginning of this process. So, that lack of communication is problematic for me. and the reaction of some of our board members to her asking the questions, the impatience of her asking the questions is not collegial either. So, I think we can we can improve that. Yeah. Like turning and
063throwing our head down and rolling our eyes and other things that show disagreement. And I don't think that's the best way to communicate how we're receiving this. Um, but I think because we're having the conversation early and because we are aware that there are multiple options available for what changes can happen there and because we know we want to hear from the community, we have the greatest possibility of not getting into E5, getting to the end of E5 and having no action. Possibility of not getting into E5, getting to the end of E5 and having no action, which is what she's expressed as a concern. I think we have a very strong chance of avoiding that. Thank you, Miss Hall. I've always seen these East Blots referendums as moral documents just as I see our
064budget as one. Um, I've always been thrilled that we had a populace here in Cadam County smart enough to understand the value of having East Blockst and what it does for us and how it helps us in terms of using our general funds for more instructional pursuits. Um, I think therefore that we do owe you a kind of a moral commitment that we're going to see this through because Woodville Hopkins, I go around the country and rave, 100% graduation rate, da da da, this culinary perfection, all of that. So, yeah, I I'm willing to put my efforts where where my mouth is. And I'm wondering if there are anything is there anything at the school now that could be improved while we're on this long path that would help kids to know they're at a
065high school as opposed to a middle school for I mean like furniture and that kind of thing. Do we have high school furniture throughout Woodville, Tomkins High? We do have that. So, we have those comforts. My own child went to Okay. So, so, so we have that. But, um, I also like we have a very smart capital projects team. I like when they assign a project manager because what that does that makes you have attention. Oh, somebody's paying attention because that's their project. So, when we hear who the project manager of the Woodville Tommpkins team, then we'll know we're on our way because um like I said, we have and I know he's going to get me. But Kevin Rston, when I heard he's going to be helping us at Johnson High, I was thrilled
066because I know about his attention that he puts on his project. So, um Dr. watch. We're a team and we want every district to succeed. Um, and I think we owe Dr. Howard Hall the assurance that we're going to see that she that that community is made whole with that school. There have been several um emails back and forth on this and part of my displeasure is that some of the things that you asked for Dr. Hoskins Brown were answered in those emails. Some of those figures were were provided in those emails. The you know how much certain things cost. So to say that we had no idea of what was in that 14.8 is false. Okay, that was my frustration. My other frustration is this. We started talking about E5 projects last year. We
067had a whole ES+ campaign. We had we had several board members. We had CIC meetings. We had board meetings. And for us to come up with this project list, cuz we had to have the project list to do E5 and then get to today when we had already done all of that work when we had already presented to the public what was on the list to come to today and go, "Oh, wait a minute. We're gonna No, we're we're going to change." No. the public. It was our duty as board members representing all of our districts. Any problems that we had with that list, we had a year to talk about. Now, as far as, you know, there there are so many schools that if if we're if we were going to go, well, every
068school deserves this. Well, Tom Hopkins is a choice school. When youth in your child show choice school, there's certain things that you may not get. It may not be a robust athletic program. That's just part of it. Savannah Arts has got a great track team. They don't have a track. They have a great soccer team. They don't have field. Plenty of our schools have different have, you know, they've learned to deal, you know, do with what they have. We have limited resources. I love that Dr. Howard Hall is passionate about our district. We, every one of you guys is passionate about your district. But when we did E5, when we started E5, when we started on that project, that was the time for all of this. We got to get started on these projects. That's
069why we're taking this vote today. Do I want to address all of those things? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. But we have to understand we're a big district and we're not always going to get everything we want, but we're going to get what we need and we are going to address some things. And one thing that was implied in one of the emails that really got my goat, this is not an equity issue and don't ever use that word. It is an insult to our staff to call them up on an equity issue. It is not an equity issue. Our staff did not have any of that in mind when they made these. This staff works so hard. They work so hard. So, um, anyone else? had to even ask those questions. So, we you know,
070this is kind of going a little too far, but nobody gets to sit here and tell me what I can and cannot ask and what I can and cannot say. Whether it's disparity or equity or whatever you want to say, I said it and I'll say it again. It's my prerogative and not yours. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh Dr. Howard Hall, I mean Dr. Howard, Dr. Hunra. Yes. So, um I'm calling for the question. Thank you. Okay. Yes. Uh, yes. All in favor of public question. All right. All right. So, all in favor of approving this budget, thank you very much. Item 9.05. 05. Um, in response to bid C25-12, Island High School Athletic Fields Expansion and Fund 308, the purchasing department receives seven bids in response to bid C25-12. Staff recommends that
071the bid be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which was determined to be DABs Williams General Contractors LLC at a total cost of 5 million $4,524,000. Thus, beard resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the contract with Dabs Williams General Contractors LLC for the Islands High School Athletic Field expansion at a total cost of $4,524,000. Miss Grabowski moves Dr. Hoskins Brown second. I have No, I have motion. I do not second. I had a different motion. Okay, Miss Graowski moves. Dr. Bringman seconds. Miss Graowski, any comments? Dr. Bringman, Dr. Brown, I'd like to amend the motion to combine item 9.04 and 9 I'm sorry, 9.05 and 9.06 to approve them as one motion. Any questions? No. All right. Um, all in favor of combining the motion of the amendment.
072All right. Okay. You should read. Just read it. Yes. I 49.05. Thus be resolved upon the recommendation that the board approve the contract with Dav Williams General Contractors LLC for Islands High School athletic field expansion at a total cost of $4,524,000 item 9.06. Thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the contract with Mach Plumbing and Mechanical Incorporated for the Allen High School HVAC replacement at a total cost of $10,795,250 and be it further resolved that the board approved the budget transfer for the HVAC replacement multiple locations account to the Islands High School HVAC account as described above. Okay. We are. Yes. Yes. So, um, all in favor of any any question on the on the amended. Okay. All in favor of I think there has to be a
073motion to approve the amended motion, right? Okay. All right. Yes. Okay. Moved and second. Any question? Any discussion? All right. No discussion. All in favor? All right. I believe this takes us to item 5.9.07. This is a supply agreement between um Genuine Parts Company doing business as Napa Auto Parts and the Sino Cham County Public School System. Thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the use of source well master agreement 11520-gpc off of the state of Georgia statewide contract to purchase goods and services from genuine genuine parts company doing business as Napa Auto Parts for fiscal year 2026 with an estimated total spend of $1 million. been moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? Yes, Dr. H. Sorry. Okay. Yeah. Um it states in in this that two positions will
074be eliminated in the department. Are those positions that haven't been filled or are there names attached to those positions? There are names attached to those positions. one of those uh individuals is interested in another position. Um and then one of those individuals if not interested in another position, we would work with Napa to ensure that they would interview that individual. Thank you, Dr. Hass Brown. Uh my question is about the savings. I mean I I understand logistically how this is um helpful for us and allow us to take care take advantage of a contract a state contract. Is our savings in administrative time of like having what we need on site or is it also in contract price on the parts too? Like where is our big win in this? Is it both or one
075or the other more than the other? It is it is both. So this would allow us to have easy access to those parts efficiently. Um and it is a model that is in Cobb Pauling for Scythe and several other districts around the state. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? I'll call the vote. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. Continue. Item 9.08. um RFP 24-57, swimming pool maintenance services. This is the first renewal for the contract. Staff recommends exercising the first one-year renewal of the contract with Aquatic Management Incorporated for the contract period August 1st, 2025 through July 31st, 2026. The total cost is estimated at $778,340. Thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the award of the first renewal of RFP 24-57 swimming swimming pool maintenance services annual contract
076as described for an estimated annual expenditure of $778,340. have someone to I'm sorry moved and seconded discussion. Sure. Dr. Brig. So we got to do this this year to keep the pools maintained so that we can work on the intergovernment agreement with the city. We have we have a short-term agreement with the city that I think is going before city council this week tomorrow. Um but this is for the year-long contract to maintain Jenkins since we've renovated it. Um and to continue to work with the city to determine how and who will operate the other two pools once they get operational. It's for It's to take care of the maintenance for those two pools as well. That makes sense. Oh, it makes sense. I would just like to work towards us making sure the pools
077are operational and then getting them into the cities. Yes. And and us not maintaining them. Um, well, in order for us not to maintain them, we would have we would probably have to sell them. And I don't think that decision has been made yet. Right now, the city has agreed to operate the pools for us, but not maintain the pools. We we still are responsible for the maintenance of the pools because they're our property. So, what we're working Okay, so I am I am lost then and was unaware and I'll take this as my own incompetence for not asking deeper questions. I was under the assumption, which we all know what that makes me. Um, that these pools were no longer going to be any part of our budgetary process after we got them back
078up to a swimmable, usable level. and that we were working judiciously to make sure that they were the cities as soon as possible. And when I when I thought we were working towards that, I thought that was the whole kitten kaboodleoodle. Like the only thing is that they would be adjacent to our buildings and maybe have a plaque saying the history of them, but that we would have no more ties. But right now, I'm coming to the realization that we're going to ask the city to operate them, and we're going to pay over threequarters of a million dollars every year to maintain them. No, sir. For No, sir. I'm sorry. Let me let me jump in. Okay, please jump. Yes, I'm in the deep end. Sorry. We'll rescue you. So, the largest portion of this
079of this expense is for the restoration of the Brock and Haven pools. I mean, by a little bit. By a little bit. Yes, by a little bit. So, and then once we um and Madame Superintendent was absolutely correct, we are in um conversations with the city until we can come to an agreement to do a a property transfer or a sale. Then we would as part of our um partnership in this pay for the maintenance and they would operate the pool. But hopefully we will come to a resolution soon to um have a a property transfer or or sale. We're just trying to move forward with the current piece of operating Jenkins restoration of Haven Brock and then having this in place if we cannot um come to a a partnership. I'm a Thank you,
080Miss Davis. I'm a ping pong back then. um fully get the $400,000 and the pool covers to get everything nice. Um but if we are working towards getting them to city ownership, usership, whatever it looks like that would take this recurring maintenance off of our budget. Is this going to be prrated when that happens or are we paying for the whole year and then the city gets us to pay for their Yeah. So, um, I would kick the can on the maintenance contract or have it by monthly for that 313,000 because if they become the city's if the city agrees, which I hope they do, um, that they're getting a lot from us. Um, well, you all would have to agree too. It's not just the city to allow the city to have the the
081the pools is Yeah. to do a proper transfer. Yes. And I don't know where those votes lie. Um, but it it seems odd to pay for a year of maintenance when we think we're about to to make a transfer in the next two months. And we've been very clear with the vendor. Um, and I'll ask Mr. May to confirm that we have it right in the um contract that we don't pay upfront. We pay for after services are rendered. We don't pay for maintenance on the pools that have not been restored. Right. We So it is after services are rendered. If the transfer happens, then we should not be paying for maintenance. Okay. As long as that that Thank you. That sounds great. We're all on the same. So as long as the contract reads
082that if it change ownership, we're not paying anymore. Good. Thank you, Dr. Hoskins Brown. Thank you. It just seems the difference between I mean the what we approved in the consent agenda was an agreement that we hope the city will sign uh that is focused only on the Jenkins pool and if we think that they're going to be signing that this week, why do we need to vote on this this month when if we had it on the agenda next month, we would already know that and we wouldn't be committing to this contract for Jenkins. The agreement that you all voted on in cons agenda was just for shortterm from now until the end of September just to get the Jenkins pool open so that people can take advantage of it this summer. It's not
083the long-term agreement. Okay. So, there's another agreement coming that we will have the answers to some of these questions that you all are asking. So, what agreement are they voting on this week? The longer agreement shortterm. So they are going to vote on this. We're voting. We voted on this today. They're voting on this in their next meeting tomorrow. The short term tomorrow. And then we'll bring the longer term plan hopefully next month or in a subsequent month. One one point of clarity on theou. It did go back and forth with a lot with some iterations and the the last iteration does have an extended period for that short-term. So, it can be somewhat confusing to say, is it really short-term when it's sitting there for 3 years? But the purpose of that agreement is
084to get kids in the pool at Jenkins over the next two months. We'll work out the details in August when the school is there. We did they were not willing to pay for the maintenance over that two-month period, but they were willing to assist with operations to make it operational and provide the services. So, we decided wide open, let's do that. Let's try to get that piece in place. Some of that language is confusing because it could make it look broader, but whatever gets negotiated further is going to take into that take into consideration maintenance costs and not just operations if it's something that we still have. But it's that will be an ongoing negotiation, but we did not want to keep kids out of that pool that is ready to go for what's left
085of the summer if we could. Uh so that's that's why you have that agreement before you and what it says. Thank you. That's helpful. I I don't have the same concerns about this that Dr. Bringman does, but the time component did seem dist distracting. So, thank you. I'm I'm clear on it and I'm uh supportive of this action. All right. Any other questions? Yes, Dr. Whisker. So for for Haven and Brock um because there is that that capital expense for the improvement. I mean do we anticipate actually making those improvements before we have negotiated the fuller the more long-term agreement with the city because it seems like we would want to have higher level of assurance that we've reached an agreement with the city. Um, I thought the commitment was that we would bring the
086pools up to a operational state. Okay. I thought that was I mean the board's commitment that we would bring them up to a operational state and then the second part of that was and then who takes it over after that. Okay. I'll defer to your cuz we used fund balance, right? To bring it to fund balance. Yeah. And then the ongoing maintenance would be decided once we come to a long-term plan with the city around who would actually have ownership of the property. Okay. And I know we had also discussed evaluating if there's any potential CTA programming potentially that could complement the the use of the but again that goes back to is it going to be a city property or our property and Yeah. But meanwhile the kids are in the pool. Yeah. Yeah,
087I mean I I am thrilled to death that we got Jenkins up and going and have and I and thank you to the team because to have that pool just sitting there ready to go and not in use when it's 100 and gazillion degrees outside is sad. So thank you for the work on that. Um so okay well anyone else? All right I'll call a question. All in favor? continue. The last item 9.09. Um, this is another one-year renewal for annual contract for HVAC repair, replacement, installation, and preventive maintenance services. Um, staff recommends exercising the first one-year renewal of the contract with the awarded vendors, and there are four vendors that are included listed above for the contract period of August 1st, 2025 through July 31st, 2026. The total cost total estimated annual expenditure is
088$2.3 million. Thus be resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the award of the first renewal of RFP 24-62 HVAC repair replacement installation and preventive maintenance services annual contract as indicated above. The estimated annual expenditure is $2,300,000. I have a motion, second. It's been moved and seconded. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? Thank you, Mr. Jackson. Okay. Now for appearances. Um uh each person that comes before us is allowed three minutes. Uh we thank you for being here today. This is part of what we do is listening to you. So uh first we have uh Angelisa Bryant. Good afternoon to all board members. Good afternoon again and Dr. Watts. This is my spouse Dr. Vernity Bryant. We have a child that goes to Coastal Middle School. protocol was followed to address
089all concerns today through the proper chain of command process attached. You all will see um my child scores for the seventh grade GMAS. The state wants all grade level students to be above 60%. Our school system local is at 47% in all grade levels. The data assessment department director stated in April that the reason for the low performance is because we are in an urban area. My child goes to a non urban area school. She makes A's and B's. On April 29th, my child was scheduled to take math 2 on the GMAS. I received an email from the administrator that she could take math one on May 8th through May 10th. Your makeup days, as you can see, she failed. The administrator of the school emailed shared that they gave all students one hour break.
090All students were checked on that nothing was done wrong. I was also told we don't have to tell the public that we roll up the students and again did nothing wrong. I asked you why did the administrator email me and stated there was miscommunication by the staff and apologized in email. And he also stated that he did not know that the schedule was changed. I asked can I appeal silence no response all the way to the all leaders in this Savannah Chattam County school system. The state has high expectation. The question to you, are we really truly teaching and preparing all students to be prepared to be achieve high achieve proficiency level and distinguish learners. We need change. We need someone to open the door to have quarterly meetings with all district voters and parents
091to discuss the decess success of all students. The state is taking over our schools. We need to dig deeper to find out how to prepare all students for success on Gmail and the future. I come here and when I come, my child was retaliated. She was retaliated and I come to you again to ask to help. Thank you very much. Uh, Dr. Bryant, since you're up there, you want to say something? You want to see? I just would say ditto to what my wife has said. Uh, I fully support what she's just said and and uh what you what you have before you. I have I would just add that I'm I'm a product. I'm a Savanian, native Savanian, a product of the local uh public school system. Came through the ranks and I stand
092here in support of my child. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. All right, Steve. Good afternoon board. Uh Dr. Watts. Um I haven't been in Savannah. So I'm a product of the Savannah Channel. I was I graduated from the original Savannah High School on 500 Washington Avenue. I'm so happy to be here with y'all today. Hi, my name is See Adigun. Um, I'm with Team Drive Safe. Team Drive Safe is a uh P is a risk management partner for pasture transportation companies. Uh, we recently identified um public schools uh public school districts as a major uh uh component of what we want to do. Um, we understand that school driving is one of the absolute hardest jobs in the world, one of the most high stress jobs in the world. Um there aren't a
093lot of metrics to identify the the correlation between driver stress and cost that school districts go through. The last four years, my company has spent lots of time trying to correlate or trying to put these um um create these numbers. What we've come up with is a program called Driver. Driver is the first ever program to help assist with school bus driver mental acuity. I'm sorry, mental and emotional acuity. We believe that there's a direct correlation between um the high turnover and um low retention rate as well as the high cost um school bus transportation um companies uh school bus transportation um deals with. We've created a comprehensive data-driven program that we believe is going to help change the game and we would love to work with Dr. Watts um Miss Mills um to speak
094with you further about how we can implement driverude here in the U Savannah Chattam County uh school system. Um we are in the beta beta stages. Our numbers so far point to we are definitely moving in the right direction. We had a chance to speak with Mr. Ken Johnson from the state a few weeks ago who signed off on Hey man, definitely go out once you speak with some of these school districts around the state and see if we can um get driver to implement it to help again assist drivers proactively so that we're not dealing with incidents reactively. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. I look forward to speaking to you. Thank you. All right. And Vernon Baxter Is that it? Okay. All right. Did we have anyone else sign up? No. Okay.
095Wonderful. All right. I will accept a motion to adjurnn moved. Someone's going to second it. It's moved and seconded. Any discussion? No. All in favor? Thank you all. Have a great day.