001the good [Music] afternoon and welcome to the April 10th uh regular board meeting of the Savannah chadam County Board of Education um I will ask our uh board secretary if this meeting was announced it was announced and um I will now ask if you will all please stand for our national Anthony good afternoon everyone we are so pleased to have the ls8 school symphonic band performing the national anthem for us today this band is comprised of students in 6th through 8th grade this is stop one of two on their Journey today as they are doing a pre-concert in conjunction with the Savannah philarmonic this evening at the metal building at the at the U Metal Works building this band is is under the direction of Miss Sarah who is in her second year of teaching
002Ellis at Ellis K8 school and her sixth year teaching in the district a point of Pride for Ellis is that of all of the grade levels that offer band in the school this school has a 50% participation rate which is 40% higher than the national average please remain standing for the national anthem for the Pledge of Allegiance teach [Music] n [Applause] [Music] la [Music] [Applause] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Applause] all thank you so much Mr what [Music] let's hear it again for Charles [Applause] Ellis good job motion to agend I I'll I will now accept a motion to approve the agenda oh sorry I move that the board approved the agenda
003as presented and or as amended it's been moved and seconded all in favor thank you for our announcements today um oh this is a great event uh the jrc all units superintendent cup competition as Jenkins High School this Saturday from 8 until 300 p.m. I attended this last year you got you've got to come it is amazing what these kids do is unbelievable uh Thursday April 18th is the SLP year in graduation um Thursday April 18th uh the superintendent's professional Senate April 24th the finance advisory committee I'll say that again Wednesday April 24th is the finance advisory committee at 900 a.m. in this room um also also on April 24th uh the board will be holding whole board training um April 24th the instructional support person of the year reception uh at w Tomkins la
004campus April 25th the audit committee meeting uh in this room at 8:00 a.m. April 27th books blankets and family fund all families are invited it's at Daffin Park from 900 a.m. till 3 p.m. May 2nd is our business partner appreciation event at oatland Island um now in hang on yes um in our remembrances uh we remember Antonio Moody II datea passing March 24th uh a student at Juliet Gordon low Elementary School and Richard Lewis data passing March 31st uh he was a technician in our human resources Department if we'd all please stand for a moment of silence I'm sorry yes please stand and we have also um student Thaddius Woods data passing April 5th Beach High School now we'll have our superintendent report good afternoon it is my honor to be able to introduce and
005speak a little bit about our March student of the month um this particular student is a senior at the school of liberal studies at Savannah High School this outstanding student is president of the National Honor Society drum major of the Savannah High School band last fall and was recently nominated for the Governor's honors program and state superintendent Richard Woods student advisory committee in a few short weeks she will take the stage at inm Market Arena as valedictorian of her class and a superintendent Honor Graduate um the particular Honore for this month is also a member of volleyball and the basketball team um she also participates in track and feel and power weightlifting she's completed three Pathways during her time at Savannah High to include culinary arts Fine Arts and foreign language she's a senior Ambassador
006for 3de a member of FCCLA and deca and is the graphic designer and phographer for the yearbook our student of the month serves her community as well um she serves through the church media team um ensuring that those who cannot participate in Services can do so online she volunteers with the uh aranet group of Zeta FAS sorority with such Services as making sandwiches for the homeless and Easter baskets for less fortunate children listen to what her principal recently said about her this scholar has demonstrated Drive grit and determination by continuing to take the most rigorous courses offered at Savannah High School including honors courses advanced placement courses and dual language through Savannah State University she also is a peer leader and she does so by encouraging her peers to excel academically to get to class
007and to come to school daily she builds positive relationships and she sets examples in the classroom that others can follow when asked what motivates her our student of the month said my family and Faith motivate me to strive for academic success being better than the day before and living by the scripture from second theion chapter 3: 10 if a man will not work he shall not eat please help me congratulate the superintendent student of the month for March 2024 Michaela [Applause] oats as she is making her [Applause] way conratulations conat [Laughter] Caleb got something for you few gifts well deserved Michaela does plan to attend the University of Georgia next year to pursue a major in Mass Communications and a minor in mathematics and Michaela is taking home multiple gifts today from our Community Partners
008gift card s from Members First Credit Union Georgia unit United Credit Union Plant Riverside District gelato Savannah Music Festival and the Five Spot restaurant plus merchandise from advertising specialty Savannah State University Georgia Southern University gstream and Bahama Joe's Michaela and the students from her English class will receive copies of her favorite book The Great Divorce by CS Lewis from our sponsor e shaver book Sellers and lastly she will take home a portrait provided by Savannah chattam County Public Schools again congratulations to Michaela her family if they are here please stand please stand parents um the staff and principal at Savannah High School you are here come on stand stand principal and we'd also like to thank her nominator principal Stacy [Applause] pottinger excellent um don't hold your applause quite yet because we have more reason
009for us to celebrate with our uh superintendent's uh monthly good news report um I'd like to say congratulations to our students who have been nominated for the chadam County student pole worker program 40 Scholars from Beach Groves Johnson Woodville Tomkins and Savannah early college and Savannah high schools have been nominated and will receive training at polling places in the upcoming election the students will experience Civics in a completely new way and I'd like to extend a a thank you to board members who have made this happen specifically Dr Tanya Howard Hall miss Connie Hall and Mr Paul Smith for their assistance in getting this program started for our students please join me also in congratulating the 56 Savannah chattam County Public School System students who represented their schools at the All State band Orchestra and
010chorus events last month from Savannah Arts Academy Garrison School for the Arts and Charles Ellis monor as well as New Hampstead high school and stem and stem thank you the these students work very hard to attain Mastery of their CL craft and completed and competed against students from all over the state for a seat in the musical group special recognition goes to Aiden Lee who was named concert Master for the orchestra and you can find a full list of all of the students and their instruments um or specialty on our website sccpss.com our school system as well as the media ation Center for Coastal Empower and the chadam Savannah Counter Narcotics Team recently joined forces to launch a pilot program designed to make teenagers make healthy choices the positive peer influencer program recently trained a
011select group of 60 leaders at their schools uh to include new Hamstead High School Alfred E Beach High School Island high school and herel High School to serve as mentors for local middle school students the positive peer influencer program officially launched at Meers Middle School in Savannah on March 19th the goal of this program is to help local teens learn how to handle social and emotional pressures and to build a relationship with an older student that will carry over when that middle school student arrives at high school it is designed to encourage students to have courageous conversations and to create conditions that will allow students to be influenced in constructive ways positive peer influencers will discuss the dangers of tobacco and vaping as well as peer pressure encouraging local middle school students to choose to
012refuse uh kudos to Tabby Island Academy principal Peter olich who was named Charter School leader of the Year by the Georgia Charter School Association we were lucky enough to hear from the principal this morning in informal um he was recently chosen at the annual conference last month the charter school leader of the Year award honors high capacity educational leaders who effectively harness their Vision to drive School culture and performance at that same conference Savannah Classical Academy was tapped as one of the three finalists for the Georgia Charter School of the Year award this prestigious award honors excellence and education throughout the charter sector in the state of Georgia congratulations to CEO Barry Lawless and the team at Savannah Classical Academy I hope you all saw the recent press conference or press coverage on our attendance
013matters initiative this puts a big stop Spotlight on the problem of chronic absentee ISM which is prevalent throughout our nation a big shout out goes to the district data team to include our social workers under the direction of Dr quintina Miller Fields who led the subsequent sweep out into the community to visit students who had been identified as chronically absent we know that when students miss out on school they miss out they miss out academically but they miss out also on social and emotional support support as physical well-being support and time with their friends and participation in extracurricular activities I would also like to extend a very special thank you to Mayor Van Johnson and the board members who came out to lend their voices to this important topic thanks to the US Navy for
014their visits last month during Navy week savan Navy week featured in-person demonstrations performances and engagements throughout the week including a mini career fair focusing on stem and steam careers Navy banned Southeast performances and a chance to visit a very special 18 wheeel truck that gives students a virtual reality experience on a special Warfare combatant craft the culmination of this week's F festivities was a visit by rear Admiral David bazet Deputy Chief of Staff who spoke to the jrtc students from across the district at a breakfast at Jenkins High School special thanks to Dr Angie Lewis and her team for coordinating the activities the Southern Conference on language teaching has named Bertha delgardo who teaches Spanish at Woodville Tomkins as Teacher of the Year miss delgardo was named foreign language Association of Georgia teacher of the
015year last year placing her in a regional competition each state in the 14 State Southern Conference region may send one state language teacher of the year nominee to this conference Mrs delgardo will advance to the national competition sponsored by the American Council on teaching and foreign language and is as if that is not enough to celebrate Woodville Tomkins principal Alfred Maguire was honored with the administrative support of world languages award from the foreign language Association of Georgia recently mayor Bell Gomez teacher specialist for World languages said in her nomination Mr Maguire has championed World language education within our district fostering an environment of continuous professional growth for his teachers through his Visionary leadership Mr Maguire has inspired his Educators to to achieve new heights of excellence and has positioned Woodville Tomkins as a national model
016for its dedication to World language education so congratulations to both of those individuals for this impactful work I'd like now like to turn the agenda over to our professional senate for their report this month good afternoon everyone okay our professional Senate meeting was held on Thursday March 21st at Hebrew Middle School at 4:15 p.m. it was called to order by Mrs Reagan Dyan and Mr Moses mcneel first we had our representative from the Savannah Economic Development Authority Annie schaen president and CEO of work for spoke to our group about the future of the workforce in Savannah and the need for people to feel the positions of the growing Industries in our area she told us that the Savannah Economic Development Authority is an organization ready to work with the school system in providing support as
017we prepare for our future Workforce we also had updates from the information services and accountability Dr delore May and Heather damaso gave updates on forms the district is using assessment and the purchase of new headphones the presentation answered many questions regarding regarding these issues in the district they also reinforced that they are here to assist teachers and make their jobs Easier by streamlining paperwork it is a work in progress but teachers as well as instructional support Personnel appreciated the open dialogue and the questions answered the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m. respectfully submitted Reagan Dylan and Mr Moses McNeil I'm uh reading a proclamation uh this is the uh National School library month Proclamation this year's theme for the national school library month is ready set Library the theme promotes the idea that libraries are
018places to get connected to technology by using Broadband computers and other digital resources libraries also offer our students opportunities to connect with media programs ideas and classes in addition to books to recognize the valuable contributions of our school library media technology Specialists the Board of Education would like to proclaim the month of April 2023 as National School library month and I'm going to read the thus and the whereases because I like it uh thus like how it how it goes thus be it resolved that the following Proclamation be adopted whereas April 2024 has been designated the 39th Annual National School library month and whereas School libraries provide materials for teachers and students that will encourage growth and knowledge and whereas School libraries provide materials that will develop literacy cultural aesthetic appreciation and ethical standards and
019whereas School libraries provide materials that reflect the ideas and belief thiefs of our American culture and world heritage and whereas School libraries provide books to encourage students to read for pleasure and are considered a fun place to go and whereas School libraries provide materials to meet individual needs varied interests abilities socioeconomic backgrounds and maturity levels of the students served and now therefore be it resolved that the month of April 2024 be proclaimed National School library month signed by our board president Mr Roger moss and our superintendent Dr Denise Watts I'll accept a motion move second yes all in favor we have a library do we have Librarians here yes yes [Applause] oh thank you thank you hey how you doing great meeting and today with us we have Miss Amy yarur from Southwest Middle School
020jeene sheer from New Hampstead K8 Christina Hernandez from Haven Elementary School Shaquisha Tomlin from Woodville Tomkins and the Joey Johnson from White Bluff Elementary who I've known since I was probably 5 years old so thank you for being a librarian Mr hediger thank you Mr board president as we continue on the agenda in the spirit of the all of the great knowledge that is located in our school media centers and of course libraries across chadam County we want to remind all of our families that on Saturday April 27th they can come out to Daffin park for our annual books blankets and family fun as you can see we have a signage here in the uh boardroom this afternoon to help promote that the fund starts at 900 a.m. all of our families are invited to
021come out for a great day of reading and we will celebrate literacy books blankets and family fun thank you Mr bringman for emphasizing that point Mr Heder is it 10: a.m. 9:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. on Saturday think it's 10 I think it's 10 oh I'm sorry my my notes were uh conflated so we're going to go with the sign as advertised show early however if you get there at 9:00 a.m. we'll already be there so there'll be lots of fun going on come on out it's a great event every year uh moving mov Along on your agenda we have item 6.01 these are your policy matters under Board of Education matters on your agenda this is a mid period review for school admissions uh you'll note that we had um some some minor revisions
022on the policy side but much of the work on this has been done uh to clarify uh language in our operational side of the house and the regulation we specifically wanted to raise up when there are questions of guardianship how that is managed under school admissions and any uh concerns about power of attorney with a specific reference you'll see as defined in law so much of this that we added is what is driven by law but we wanted to memorialize that in our uh regulation first read Mr Moss yes I have a few edits that I'll share with Miss Ed words um but I have a question uh well there's two places uh one in the in the regulation on the second page I'm sorry on the third page um there's a reference to an
023attached form that's no longer an attached form so we need just need to put what the name of that form is so the parents will know to get it and then there's also um a line on the last page and it would be great if we could have these um numbered um on the last page sibling preference is not guaranteed under the uh administ administrative placement process um potentially it's time to delete that I don't know that there's expectation of sibling pref refence in administrative placement you said this is on the last page last page the regulation not the policy under the administrative placement process so yes sometimes that is an expectation and so it's being spelled out capacity because it is Administrative placement and that is outside of your Zone School sometimes capacity and
024other factors can drive whether or not space is available but administrative place is not assigned by family it's assigned by individual student right correct correct so so do you I guess what I'm trying to determine is is it Our intention for us to have families believe that if they have administrative placement that it would be inherited by all siblings in the home sorry I need to read it Dr Hoskins BR I mean I yes Mr Kowski I I hear your point Dr H Brown but I think clearly spelling it out certainly doesn't hurt to be able to point to in black and white that this is part of the regulation that the Civil preference is not if if there is a perception that it could be ex that that administrative placement could extend to a
025sibling I think having it spelled out as helpful and I don't think it takes anything away from the regulation to have it in there I think the way it's written sibling preference is not guaranteed under the administrative placement process it creates the expectation that yeah you the wording it's it's the wording that sibling sibling placement is something that we would do but is not guaranteed versus it has to be requested because it's not part of administrative placement that's what I'm trying to get yes I get your meaning so it would it's implied that it would automatically be a given if your child is attending that school so we need to look at the wording cuz that child would still have to meet the criteria and this implies that may not be the case if you
026have a child there you're correct sorry okay any other comments and this is a first reading correct correct sir this is a first read so we will um take into consideration things that have been uh not noticed and observed in this uh first reader and bring it back for a second read in May thank you moving on on your agenda item 6.02 this is board policy IDF uh you'll note that we just have uh three paragraphs of policy language here it has been reviewed by appropriate parties and there are no recommendations for changes and subject to that we would like to consider this uh subject to the board's final revie fully reviewed under the 4-year policy process any comments any okay so this is so we're we're approving this today uh no approval but in
027the fact that uh we don't have any further recommendations by the board this will be uh as finalized now as complete through the 4-year review process anyone all right excellent moving on in your agenda we also have item 6.03 this is board policy JC daa student tobacco use this is also a 4year review this has also been re reviewed by appropriate parties and departments and there are no recommendations for changes so again subject to the boards final review and comments if any we would consider this one approved and finally reviewed under the four-year policy review process thank you next item on your agenda 6.04 board policy ebb this is board policy safety and you'll note that in this particular policy we do have some changes recommended one of the big changes is we are recommending
028a deletion of the regulation and part of the reason that that is being deleted is because language that is specified uh in the regulation is already referenced in the policy side under facility controls and safe and secure campuses that is controlled already and mentioned in the policy side we did also want to add to this policy and you'll see much of the content that is in red is the required references to really drive home the need for school safety plans which of course we know are required legally uh but now we have that officially memorialized in policy first read for policy ebb yes Dr howal yes I appreciate um the addition of Acts of terrorism simply because we we um receive hoax phone calls throughout the year and we have to take every one of
029those calls very serious because we know that the intent of those calls is to instill fear and disrupt the daily operations so I'm glad to see that that's been added in there Mr Johnson um I also want to say that I'm glad to see that juven Court was put in as one of the um people for input for the eprp um I think that's very appropriate with considering that fact that we are dealing with almost 36,000 minors so um their input and their knowhow is I think is very important so I appreciate that anyone else thank you excellent so this is a first reader you will see this come back for a second read and official adoption during your May board meeting turning item 6.05 facility naming the announcement of renaming for the multic complex
030to Dr Howard Hall thank you based on the reconfig the rec based on the reconfiguration of the ghoul merca grow multic complex as a result of the modifications implemented through the long range facilities plan phase one the campus previously named the GMG K12 would need to be renamed in accordance with the policy FDC and the administrated regulation FD r-r naming facilities the committee has been appointed to the superintendent to provide recommendation for renaming the GMG k 12 multic complex two committee meetings were held and a proposed name has been agreed upon for presentation to the board the proposed name will be read into record during the regularly scheduled board meeting on April 10th 2024 the name of the K12 complex is now being presented to the board reviewed in accordance with board policy that States
031before adopting a name for a facility the name shall be presented to the board at one meeting and voted on by the board at the next meeting the recommended name based on committee consensus is Harris Edwards Davis educational complex and some of you are probably wondering who are those people who are Harris Edwards and Davis well just to give a little history on this that property was at one time called sweats subdivision a Springfield Plantation and all although this property did not have running water although this property did not have access to sewage and although the houses on this property was in the process of being deemed as condemned one thing that this property did have was ownership and these families owned this property however due to imminent domain and an agreement between the city
032of Garden City and the Board of Education they had to to sell their property and that property was used to build Gro high school a school that during that time was not permitted for their children to attend so we found it would be awesome and an honor to give homage to those families so the question became what order do you put the names do you put them in alphabetical order or do you it numerically contingent upon who owned the most Acres so our student summer Coleman decided Well let's let's make it have a flow to the name so she said the acronym had H so that is how the names are Harris Edwards and Davis and just so happen those names are in numerical order according to who owned the most Acres of that property
033um comments yes I'd like to applaud the work of the committee I think it brings Great Value that just for the for the oration that Dr Howard Hall just gave helps really clarify why we need to have Community committees um and board members serving with them for us to reclaim and and amplify history that's um that's this important so excellent work um Miss Hall do we have any current family members uh who could amplify on the uh history of this yes we have um descendants from All Families the Edward's family Davis as well as the Harris family they they um the original homeowners they're not here anymore but they have grand children that are here and they told them the story so they are familiar with what happened and they are elated to know that
034their they can see their family's name when they pass by that building and we have the um documentation and pictures actual pictures of the The Cottages which they were called with the ouses of you know because they didn't have sewage my go but it was actually Four lots and we have the names of the owners of three of those lots and one lot is unknown okay they never didn't know who owned that particular lot but I'm sure our Communications Department can help us in terms of getting this out to the public since this will be quite a change from Groves you know so that people know what we're doing and why and who I'm glad you said that because Groves actually remains Groves Mercer remains Mercer and the way I explain it to the community
035when I go out to community meetings it's like we're naming the umbrella in which which the schools sit under so the complex is called will be the Harris Edwards Davis complex but the school remains grows and it remains Mercer oh okay all right very good thanks for that see I I was anyone else so uh could you tell us a little bit about the makeup of the committee was there who they who they repres you don't have to give the names but what entities that they represent had we um of course Miss B Oliver also played a pival role into this she was on the she organized it it was Miss bald Oliver um Gary Monroe we invited Mr um his nickname Pig I can't think of his full name but he he he was
036not able to attend both meetings we had a student I'm I'm sorry who a former a former mayor yeah that's what I meant that's what I meant I can't think of his name a former mayor was on the committee but he was unable to attend both he accepted the invitation and he said that he would be there but apparently something happened he was did not participate a student wow board member another um Community member who is also president of the Garden City Homestead committee as well as miss ball aliver and that's that's fantastic reason and the principles of of the school Miss um Dr that was the next question thank you so we will vote on this at our next meeting yes all right yes sir so the facility renaming action will come back in
037your May agenda for official vote item 6 point correction I need correction former mayor of Port Wentworth I see at Garden City who was not who was not able to attend but he was the former mayor Mr Jones last name Jones actually officiates some of our football games as well Jones Jones there go uh next on your agenda is your annual gsba legislative positions uh you'll recall that your legislative delegate Miss Grabowski had announced to the board a month ago about reviewing these particular positions for any feedback for changes uh none were received so the item as it is written is now in front of the board for official action and adoption and thus be it resolved that the gsba 2024 legislative positions now be officially approved as supported by the board of public education
038is yes I move uh to approve it but I also have a question okay it's been moved in second um uh yes thank you so on page six there is a um gsba supports restoration of funding for the high school non-vocational lab program that's just it's really kind of vague is that just like biolog 2 D4 is that just like regular biology Labs if you're not training to be a biologist or you know versus fire science lab or cosmet lab I'm not okay okay thank you anyone else okay I I I I I have a a question based on on page two um on 1 C2 the position on vouchers since HB 233 is already passed why are we still well I think we can still be opposed to something even though it passed the
039legisl I mean we also there are also other um items in here that aren't necessarily consistent with State legislation so this is the position of the Georgia School Board Association which may or may not be consistent with the way in which state legisl is written and passed okay and it tends to be perennial so the positions for gsba tend to go past just one um one session it's a kind of a statement of philosophy okay all right anyone else I'll support it but I know that we've done a good job together at narrowing this down I this is this isn't really a position statement it's like a Manifesto um Martin Luther yeah might have nailed might have nailed as many things in in whittenberg to to that church so I haven't counted but I'm about
040to now CU just popped but I mean it's just it's a little lengthy so miss Grabowski if when you talk I know that you probably have but if they could maybe try I don't I don't see how we could ever get a lobbyist to be like and here's your 500 talking points let's let's pick some and let's really work on them collectively rather than a position on everything so yeah happy to bring that up and have that conversation um at our meeting in June and see if we can get any traction on that um we also have um strong representation on the State gsba Board through our District representative so that might also be a way to start is just some conversations so I'll be happy to reach out to her and see what G
041sba's position might be on maybe not quite such a broad approach but a little bit more focused I suspect that part of it is not knowing what might be coming forward this kind of covers all bases but certainly given that we had gone through the practice of trying to narrow our Focus will share that experience and I think the success that we had in taking that approach anyone else okay um in that case uh we'll call a question all in favor thank you that's four four five five okay all opposed and any extension thank you all right um we're getting into the consent agenda but we have we have a question on one of the items do we need to pull that so I understand recommendation from uh board member Smith is to pull item
0427.30 from consent sent for discussion before adoption this is the school nutrition program audit which has been previously adopted by the audit committee and the board now functionally will need to officially adopt this report as official okay so do we need to hear from Mrs Smith then Mr uh Reverend Smith is making a motion to pull that item and have it appear on the main agenda is that correct okay I second move moved and seconded all in favor okay uh then let's have the discussion on the your question on that audit report uh thank you my my question or my comment or concern is uh centered around the uh the lunch prices uh there is a proposed increase uh coming is that correct that is not in the audit report this is what I'm bringing
043up I wanted to bring up so point of clarification is the motion to discuss the audit approval of the school Nutri ntion audit or is it the lunch price recommendation for adult meal cost they two separate agenda items the lunch price the lunch increase oh that's 7.29 okay so that would be item 7.29 okay so will you make that you have to make a motion to put the other we got to put the other thing back on first sorry for the inconvenience I would like to put I would like for us to uh put the audit back into the agenda into the cassid agenda uh can I get a motion okay amen amen okay all in favor okay okay all in favor all right all right now all right continue I would like to uh
044pull uh 7.29 uh the uh adult meal price adjustment may I second been moved in second it can a discussion good all in favor okay we're good okay now with that being said Thank you Mr President uh item uh Point item 7.29 talks about the adult meal price adjustment uh I have a concern or question about this um first my question is is this coming com from us or is this coming from the state um where where is this increase coming from not mistaken it's it's a recommendation from the uh School food service director we only we only approved removing it from the consent we have not now okay so will you present 7.29 it's not on the floor it's just been so as we have item 7.29 which has now been officially moved to
045the board matters section we do have an action item for the board of public education the school nutrition program adult meal price adjustment which would begin for school year 2024 2025 has been previously provided to the board of public education and has been posted publicly on board docs the request is coming from the school nutrition program and is recommending an adult meal increase to meet 2024 2025 paid lunch Equity guidelines and to ensure a fiscally responsible program there is a source citation which references item 2.21 0.6 and 220.6 pricing of adult meals and the national school lunch and School breakfast programs the increases for the meals are being proposed for the adult meal prices only again there are no changes to the student meal prices this is only for the adult meal price schedule breakfast
046would be $3 lunch would be $5.50 the adult only specific menu would range from $6 to $7 which is dependent on the selections of the food item that you choose thus be it resol D upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the meal price schedule for the school nutrition program beginning school year 2425 school year okay um Miss Hall uh we're talking here no mainly to me about our teachers and staff guys we do we need to move a motion first before okay second so moved and seconded now discussion oh what was the motion what's the motion to talk about no we we already moved to talk about oh oh okay now it's the discussion okay uh as far as in thinking about this and remembering my days at Thunderbolt school this
047is mainly a price adjustment for teachers faculty and staff and going to five six7 a day for lunch seems exorbitant to me now we haven't heard from the Nutrition department about their costs or maybe Mr Jackson can tell us if there is some great need for this or or why you know or was this just an arbitrary decision to raise it or have the price of cabbage and corn gone up what what what is the basis for this need I would ask that um you give us time to get the information from the school nutrition director we can have her um provide some information to support her recommendation so could we pull this yeah I think it should be t no let's let's table move to table second the mve in all in favor of
048tabling yes till the next meeting okay uh all of post okay oh you don't want a table oh sorry I thought you said oh you said all oppos I'm sorry I thought you said let's try this oppose I vote that we table it this has been a wonderful exercise okay all right okay it's been moved and seconded to table this discussion till the next meeting all in favor voting again of tabling please raise your hand again we're t Okay Okay clean yes all opposed to tabling thank you all right and back to you Mr hediger to consent agenda that's what I meant that's right back to the consent agenda for the board's approval of the consent AG I'm sorry Mr haiger Mr Smith M Mr Smith they see you the brought brought I promise when
049we talk about it next month it will be the first to speak there you go okay all right all right okay having tabled that item from the consent agenda the board still has the remaining items that are in consent for their recommended adoption all in favor of approving the consent agenda I'm sorry I make a motion to approve please please it's been moved in second okay any discussion on the rest on okay all in favor of accepting the consent agenda all opposed all abstaining thank you no yes yes sir Mr Jackson the next item we have is under goal one approval of the RFP 21- 53 behavior analyst service providers speech language Pathologists and or academic tutorial Services annual contract on August 11th 2021 the board approved the initial contract Award of RFP 21-5 behavior
050analyst service providers speech language Pathologists and or academic tutorial Services annual contract to read personal tutorial tutoring services in Savanah Georgia for tutoring services on an as needed basis staff is requesting that the annual amount for the tutoring Services component of the contract be increased from the original estimate amount of 250,000 to 700 ,000 students receive on average six to eight hours of individual tutorial Services each month the district's IEP teams and families have found success and imense value with the tutorial services and helping the students with recovery from continued learning loss experienced during the pandemic this recommended action is specific to tutoring services provided by re's personal tutoring Services thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the request to increase the annual award amount on RFP 2153
051Behavioral Analyst service providers speech language Pathologists Andor academic tutorial Services annual contract to the firm of re personal tutoring services on and and as needed basis to a total cost of $700,000 been moved seconded any discussion yes Mr Johnson um quick question are we increasing this by almost half a million dollars because we're using it more than we thought or because they because the cost have gone up or a combination of both so we're using it more than we thought and if you'll knowe we also use this to pay for speech services uh where we have a number of providers that were identified in the sum as well so we're needing to expand that sum now because it's a total of all of those services and it is widely used among our students with disabilities
052thank you Mr Kowski I certainly support the expansion of this and being able to meet the needs of our students are these um services that if we had more teachers we would be able to fulfill in-house or these specialized services that we typically contract out so for Al use speech again for example we do not have the requisite number of speech teachers needed so Pro possibly this would be much lower of course but we are finding uh due to the pandemic this is also a supplemental service that has really benefited Us in terms of working with the learning loss uh of our students with disabilities but definitely if we able to fill some of those speech language pathologist positions you would not see this cost coming forward well and i' I've heard um support for
053the benefit that this program is providing so certainly um support the allocation of additional funding towards it parents a lot of great feedback about re tutorial thank you any other discussion there being none um all in favor okay that's unanimous thank you good afternoon everyone good afternoon after um our financial reports for the month of February um 2024 the district continues to be in very strong financial standings um at this time we go over our fund 100 as we normally do we we are in at 67% of our fiscal year at this time um our local property taxes we've collected about 66% of the budget um compared to last year we are 3% higher than last year um and at this point we feel that we will we will probably reach our um budgeted amount
054for our property taxes our total general fund actual revenues for for the year we're at 66% of that also um compared to 63% last year for our expenditures our actual expenditures for teachers we're at 53% um of our current budget which is lower than 67% this same time last year our um support salaries were at 47.7% um the range on that expected between 60 and 67% so we are pretty low um in that category at this point our total expenditures thus far this year we're at 52.6% of our current budget compared to 53% last year the only other fund that we will highlight is our school nutrition F 600 um at this time School nutrition is showing a profit this year um year to date of 100 almost $175,000 um for fy4 you can see
055we had budgeted um that we would transfer from fund 100 $3.1 million to um to supplement the expenditures in school nutrition but um we've only done half of that so far far this year um we will only make any additional transfers if we need from our general fund um but bear in mind that as we get to May and December excuse me may and and June we expect the revenue to go down and expenses will probably stay about the same so there will possibly be some transfers to finish out the year to supplement the school nutrition program um at this time we we have no other um concerns in our other funds unless you have some questions yes Dr Austin's BR thank you Nathaniel um I just was curious about a new fund I'm I'm
056assuming it's a grant can you just give us like a a few words on what project prevent is account 452 fund 452 I'm sorry yeah fund 452 page 15 project prevent we haven't used any of it yet it's brand new I just I didn't know if it was something with our campus police or so that is a grant that we received project prevent I think we mentioned it before we have received a grant that includes HJ gadston Duran Meyers Beach sorry I had to think about the sites they so it's a Federal grant um and it's a uh joint venture between campus police and academic Affairs Miss magu Kim Maguire our director of School counseling will be our grant manager those schools will have dedicated social workers for each of those sites that are focused
057on supporting them in their neighborhoods as well as there will be Community Navigators that will be hired I believe we begin with two and those Community Navigators are in those communi consistently working with those families and they will also be working with some of our other partners that provide wraparound Services ensuring that those services are being pushed back into the schools to those families okay thanks so much I appreciate it any else thank you car on I believe the next agenda item is the bail schedule modification yes just want to make sure yes sir beginning school year 2024 and 2025 and in support of the board's effort to maximize resource efficiency and school capacity concerns a long range facility plan phase one was adopted for implementation beginning in school year 2024 through 2025 that included
058the opening of new schools including the expansion of palas Elementary to a K8 School the movement of Coastal Georgia comprehensive academic students and the opening of the 6 through 12 multiamp the following bail time modifications are proposed to accommodate new school figurations and the bail times are listed below in the chart thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the recommended B schedule beginning in the school year 2024 through 25 yes okay um someone move to approve M and seconded uh discussion yes Dr H yes I think it's wise to change Mercers bail time from 8:15 so that they can start at the same time as gr's high school and hopefully that will help with Transportation as well as being efficient when you have families that attend both middle
059and high school absolutely yes sir I'm going to say what I say every time we talk about bell times uh I think high schools should start later I think Elementary should start earlier I think we've got it backwards but that said uh that hasn't been a majority popular position since I've been making the statement for 10 years um I will support this nevertheless because it's needed for Logistics and for our facilities plan but just wanted to make that comment annually yes Mr Johnson I'm G to ditto what um Mr casmar said however I'm not going to support it just because of the data um suggest that we should be flipping um so but yeah we need to look at when the kids actually should learn best and when that's when they should be in school
060all right Dr Hoskins Brown I'll jump in on this um [Laughter] no I mean I I don't I don't argue that I have a teenager and I do try to wake him up and it is a terrible thing um so I I'm not I'm not opposed to it at all I'm I just want to bring up since we are having this conversation that we tried to flip it um and we did a pilot program where we had high schools go in later and it did not work in our community because of all the other things that abut the education process and um we ended that pilot program because of the some of the safety concerns that we that were brought to us when we were running the program in the winter and it was getting
061dark at 5:30 and young people were out um during that time so philosophically and you know in terms of how my household goes I would love to have my teenager go to school later um but it would require not just us changing our times and US changing Transportation but it would have to change how all the extracurriculars do what they do um and we didn't see any mass movement to changing extracurriculars with those schools when we did the pilot program and that was the opportunity for the community to show that they wanted that was for them to reorganize their extracurriculars and we didn't see that buyin um so I would love to see as we bring this forward again because it is going to keep coming up because it is a it's a credible idea
062if more people buy into it they will show us through their responses of how those other activities are going to be able to fit in for that well-rounded student M Kowski so I'll join the party um I I think that we have talked a lot about transportation and recognize that will be a high priority for next year and I think that's also an ideal opportunity to evaluate our Bell schedule since particularly last year so many of our belt changes were driven by Transportation I think probably some here too um we recognize that those two are very closely related so if we're going to be doing a big picture look at Transportation let's go ahead and do a big picture look at the bell schedule this time um I don't think it's realistic to make that
063we can't flip that switch automatically without having those other pieces of the puzzle solved so while I agree in theory that it would be great to get our little ones there early and our big ones there later um we we also have to make sure that we have the uh processes and and implementation in place before we can flip that switch so um I do have one detailed question I noticed that our Alternative Learning Centers correlate with the school in which they are placed but I'm looking at the Learning Academy at Jenkins is the same as same time as Jenkins but the Learning Academy at is of Hope which is one of the ones that's proposed to change is off by 15 minutes is that intentional so yes that was done intentionally academic Affairs and
064transportation sat in a room and went through all the bell times together and because of the way that the buses will actually roll into the campus we built in that 15minute window I figured it probably was I just wanted to verify thank you anyone else okay and uh for the record I uh agreed that our bell times are should be flipped uh I I think there's been quite a few studies that have been done on a high schooler's brain and a Elementary kid's brain and and um but no we can't do it right now but I would like to have that discussion again in the future okay uh there being no more discussion all in favor of the new bill times okay all opposed thank you the next item 9.03 e PL four facilities construction
065Department internal project management budget transfer the capital projects Department request the following budget transfers within the East PL 4 project management budget to align with project management staff actual expenditures Capital project staff manages and monitors eastl funded projects you can see the transfer Below in the chart thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the budget transfer as noted yes UHS um I will U make the motion but I also have a comment okay once there's a second moved and seconded your comment thank you um can we get a little more information just about why we're not in alignment this this is a transfer to align actual spending like did we just under estimate did we add duties like how did we get um to need this I'm going
066to try to give you some information to Bill H to goes here to assist me but when we set up the initial budget we set up part of the operations budget to have contracted services and part of it to have internal staff since the beginning of E4 we leaned more toward the internal internal staff instead of the having external Pro contractor services so we just need to adjust to really pay for the internal staff that we have working so we just need to budget adjust the budget from what we initially started out with because we're using more of our own people I understand thank you any other discussion there being none all in favor thank you 9.04 Groves athletic fields and Fieldhouse construction practice tur practice field Turf installation magnite Construction GMP change order number
067two on September 6th 2023 the board approved the award of RFP c237 construction manager at risk for the Groves athletic fields and Fieldhouse construction to magnite construction with a with an GMP of 29,900 29,95 1,769 a $750,000 change order approved on March 6 2024 increased the GMP to 3,717 n6 when the Grove Mercer multicampus facility was bid and awarded the field was specified as natural grass since then artificial turf practice fields have been added to all high schools to align this practice field with all the other high school practice fields artificial turf needs to be installed in Li of natural grass the 6 12 building contractor was instructed not to install the grass field and a credit was provided Mike Knik construction who is the contractor for the athletic fields has proposed an increase to
068the GMP of 1,1 26,500 to install artificial turf on the practice field and add this field to the scope of work the cost includes additional field grading storm drainage con concrete curb Stone field Synthetic Turf General conditions and the CMR fee staff recommends this proposal in order to keep the construction coordination coordination and schedule of all the athletic fields under a single contractor staff has also reviewed the proposal and re and confirms the proposed cost for the artificial turf is comparable to the cost of all the other High School fields and recommends board approval of the GMP change order number two for the Groves athletic fields and Fieldhouse construction and the superintendent supports this recommendation thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved GMP change order number two in
069the amount of 1,1 31,8 28,29 thank you second uh discussion yes Mr Kowski what is the typical lifespan of these turf fields as far as how long do we have an estimate of I'm looking at our construction folks 10 years 10 years longer okay or or longer with regular maintenance too well let's make sure we're maintaining them and getting more than 10 years out of it because I know M where Mr catchar is on on advocating for these but um that's a lot of money okay yeah so Miss Hall then Mr casmar well I think he's going to speak to what um I just want to say going forward we're going to be looking at our baseball and softball fields and I will be advocating for artificial turf at that time um I want to
070thank you Dr Watts for advocating for our baseball field that we will have ready at Savannah high in January that will have grass but hopefully in E5 we'll be looking at uh artificial turf um Mr Grabowski I ha from what I've read it's supposed to be safer and better um but you're right without the maintenance is probably all for North so getting that maintenance put in uh that package put alongside the installation of the turf is probably very important but I do hear that it's a safer is that correct Mr Cash more that it's I am not an expert on tur oh okay actually I mean there's pros and cons there's pros and cons yeah for the so there's pros and cons to Turf just like grass right like the reason we ultimately one of
071the reasons we ultimately decided to replace the grass at New Hampstead was if you went out there it was uneven it had rocks there were divots um you know so if grass is wellmaintained that's one thing but if the grass isn't wellmaintained it's another so how you maintain your surface matters as much as what the surface is I know in our design guidelines we spec more than the cheapest stuff we can buy um you know particularly because of our environment um the initial discussions when we first started doing Turf included heat dissipation um more cushioning than normal but the bigger picture is this when I first got on the board I think in a three-year span I voted three or four times to replace natural grass fields at schools for hundreds of thousands of dollars
072because we couldn't maintain them and so we finally moved to a place where we're putting in artificial turf part of the contract includes I don't know what's in this one but typically it includes the manufacturer coming down and doing yearly maintenance or helping with maintenance or we follow the guidelines on maintenance um so that's built into the thing as well and the last time we did the math it's a lot cheaper to buy the artificial turf and maintain it over decade than putting grass replace it two or three times cuz we don't invest the 30 grand we need to put pesticide and herbicide and all that so that's kind of the the thought process long term I'm actually mildly upset that we're even voting on this i' I'd like to know how grass was even
073specked to begin with but that's a different discussion I'm glad we're doing this now um and can't wait to vote Yes Dr Hoskins bro I'd like to propose an amendment to the motion to add the approval of 9.05 the East Clause 4 grow practice field artificial turf conversion budget transfer and 9.06 the Groves athletic fields and Fieldhouse construction uh multicampus building modifications you want to combine them yes I'm I'm offering amendment to yes okay second now we vote on the amendment yes uh um okay great okay all right all all in favor of the amendment yes that's your unanimous okay all right now let's vote on the combined motion on the combined motion all in favor what any further discuss any further discussion yes Dr Hall as we're combining them I'd like to add um
074where says signage modification if you notice when we renamed the complex we did not put a grade level on there because it may change years to come because it started out as K12 now it's 612 so we didn't put a grade level on the on there to prevent sign exchange later on down the line in the event that it becomes a K12 school again or maybe just High School in itself so good thinking yeah okay all right okay all right all in favor all [Music] right to item 9.07 907 yes Bloomdale Bloomdale elementary school replacement TQ Constructors Incorporated change order number one on November 1st 2023 the board approved the GMP Award of RFP c2305 construction manager at risk CMR for bloomindale elementary school replacement to TQ Constructors Incorporated in the amount of 54,4 660
075pels capable of producing up to 3861 Kow total solar power which is estimated to provide 24% of the building's daily energy consumption the total cost of this system of the system is $894,000 Staff recommends board approval of GMP change order number one for the blue medell elementary school replacement and the superintendent supports this recommendation thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve change order number one to TQ Constructors Incorporated in the amount of 347 increasing the guaranteed maximum price to $55,200 28 for the construction of the Bloomingdale Elementary School replacement removed and seconded discussion yes always happy to support this um do we have included in this system an interior dashboard that the students will be able to see the amount of energy being produced to be able to
076integrate it into curriculum Etc that's good question can we get one we we're looking to that yes ma'am I think it's and i' I've said this every time and I'll continue to say it right um if we don't take advantage of the educational opportunities of this type of Technology we are missing a huge boat and it is I mean this is the way that the world is heading and we need to educate our students in real life real time with every chance we get so exactly where we don't have those um techn in place on our buildings that already have solar panels I'd love for us to look for an opportunity to be able to retrofit those um I spoke with Miss Taylor about the ones that are coming to stem and we had some
077conversations about how this will be integrated into the stem C curriculum so look forward to seeing how we can um advance that across all our schools yes ma'am myself and the superintendent we'll make sure that that team works on that yes Brown and then yeah I fully support what Miss Grabowski has said and in fact that used to be part of our um contract requirements is that um folks who were building uh with us and for us had significant educational components in their construction project so if that in some way has fallen out of our Contracting process it would be good to see how it could reappear uh yes maam Mr Johnson um real quick if you know because we are seem to be going to the solar panels a lot with with the new
078building with new builds when um because trees are not going to be in the way or whatnot um can we also see what an estimated save estimated savings on energy we're going to be having with these buildings while we with having these solar panels on there yes it is something that we have discussed I've had discussions with the team and even considering maybe looking at it as a kpi and our the way we monitor our Energy Efficiency as a district so it is a a live discussion right now okay because I think that'll be Al that's because I think that should be part of the discussion of how we're um yes we're spend yes we're adding on here almost $900,000 but at the long in long term you know how much are we going to
079be saving annually and so when are we going to recoup it and start being able to give tax basically taxpayers their money back yes Mr cmar one of the metrics we've we historically got was uh energy cost per square foot at each School haven't seen that in a while I don't know if we're still getting that but that's an easy metric that we could start looking at again on a yearly basis okay anyone discussion there being none all in favor all right that's thank you the next item is 9.08 East PL 4 Bloomdale elementary school budget transfer the capital projects request the following budget transfer within East PL 4 the current budget is $57,200 th000 this $6.8 million transfer from unallocated will increase the amount of the required 64 million to meet all costs the
080transfer is noted in the chart below thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the budget transfer as noted moved and seconded uh any discussion there being none all in favor thank you very much 9.09 is seeking approval for annual contract for C Cal equipment bid 2441 the purchasing department received eight bids in response to bid 2441 custodial equipment annual contract the vendors awards are listed by line item to the Lord's responsible and responsible bidder as detailed in the chart in the agenda item the estimated annual cost for the initial contract award is custodio annual custodio equipment annual contract to New Wave management Brady Brady Industries Georgia LLC Imperial Bag and paper company LLC doing business as paper Chemical Company paper chemical Supply Company America's first maintenance hasin Doo
081chemical and Supply Southeastern paper group and pan line paper company for a custodial equipment on an as needed basis for an initial one-year period with the option for to renew for two additional one-year terms for an estimated total of $752,000 14410 it's been moved and seconded uh discussion M Hall are those local companies I I'm sorry I don't have my um folder open to that Mr Jackson um some of them are I didn't bring my notes with me but some of them are I can get you the the um followup with the notes and assure that the board members have them well I believe I believe at least half of them are local all right thank you yes do okay I'm sorry Dr Howard hall and then Dr Dr how when I see equipment I
082think of things like um buffers and things that's not consumable but according to this all of these items are consumables paper and wax and things like that yes ma'am we use a variety of vendors so we pretty much spread the love so instead of equipment will it be supplies if it's not if it's all consumable or that just the way you all categorize it's just way we Cate categorize it some of it may be small equipment um but most of it's really consumable supplies someone is standing up he might want to um speak I I just wanted to add that um the based upon the list of of vendors that we had on there it is for some small equipment things like buffers floor scrubbers and vacuum cleaners um obviously we try to get those
083things fixed and and return to service if not we replace them and then also it lists the the names of vendors for our consumables as well so thank you and and yes ma'am I believe that the majority of those and I like Mr Jackson I'll go back and get uh clarification but the majority of these vendors are local vendors that's good to hear also is training involved if there's some new piece of equipment that I as a custodian need to use is training by the company involved in all of this yes ma'am absolutely as a matter of fact we make that part of our our contractual deal with them that if if we're buying a new piece of equipment from them that they come in and and only give us training recurring training and then
084also have maintenance contracts with them as well thank you Dr Brown thank you I just have a well just a clarification on the bottom of the the document it the estimated annual cost for the initial contract is the 752 th000 but then at the end of the of the resolution you have that this be approved for an initial one-year period with the option to renew for two additional one-year terms for an estimated total of 75 to um 750 so it it that needs perom or annually after it all right yes okay thank yes ma'am Miss K I'm sorry Dr Howard Hall then miss Kowski just quickly also I know that I remember um what I want mention that protecting of the feet with the wax and different chemicals are the custodians responsible for purchas purchasing
085those boots that they need when cleaning floors or is this a part of supplies that we offer I'm I'm sorry ma'am I didn't I missed the first part of that question boots I know that I knew of an incident some years ago in a custodian had gotten burns on their feet for cleaning the floors using the chemicals wearing the wrong Boot and I just wondering whether not you all cover um the expenses for special boots if needed when waxing floors are using certain I I'll go back and get confirmation of that but I believe that's part of our uniform U pieces that we provide yes ma'am okay I'm sorry just give oh I'm sorry I'm Mr James May I'm the executive director of Maintenance and operations okay Miss Keli sorry lots of questions about custodial
086supplies but but one thing that um two questions do we involve our custodians in the actual products that we are purchasing based on what works well in their experience yes ma'am absolutely uh and then I have three custodial supervisors that are uh incredibly well-versed um in in the chemicals that we use and part of the discussion that we have um with vendors either existing vendors or new vendors is that we're constantly looking for you know Innovations and obviously you know more environmentally safe things that that we can use things that are not the less toxic uh not only for our custodians but for our super our students and and um so those are always things that we're constantly looking for we constantly have those conversations and as part of recurring training that we have with
087our custodians you read my mind on my second question because some of these chemicals are so noxious that they I mean the smells are incredibly strong and especially for our students and faculty and staff that have chemical sensitivities the voccs that come out of some of these chemicals I mean that's a real impact on human health so I hope that we are very proactive in avoiding those chemicals and and looking at Alternatives um that do you know make sure that we are not introducing those harmful components into the air that our building occupants are breathing yes ma'am absolutely and and just to let you know and give you confidence that is that is a never ending uh surch that that's ongoing thank you okay Mr Johnson you never thought you could so many questions about
088this what did you um so I actually want to do a follow-up question for Miss gabar not only are we you know looking and make sure that we're talking with the custodians and make sure that they about what we currently have but are we also looking at manufacturers within new buildings to make sure we're not using chemicals that would harm the new materials that we just spend you know multiple millions of dollars on the the yes the simple answer to your question is yes and I'll give you an example um uh obviously we're putting in terazzo uh you know floorings and and a lot of our new schools and stuff like that and and it's simply the best care for those is warm soapy water and a scrubber and that's it so I mean that
089we are OB we we constantly battle with that and make sure that folks you know know how to uh clean and and sustain uh our materials and same thing with uh installations I I know that we have um very detailed conversations uh about everything from the flooring to carpeting to what we put on the walls with our even with our our Architects and we go into design guidelines and things like that we talk about what we're putting in the buildings absolutely one of the the biggest things that we talk about especially with our custodians and our with our maintenance Crews is how to best care for those things thank you right all right there being no more discussion all in favor good thank you Mr B for that teachable moment we appreciate that item 9.10
090East plot 4 HVAC Renovations budget transfer the capital projects Department request the following budget transfer within the East PL 4 budget the transfer of funds from the e for unallocated account we provide funding for hbac renovation projects we're moving $20 million from the unallocated account to the HV AC replacement and Renovations for multiple locations thus be it resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approve the budget transfer as needed uh uh this been moved and seconded uh discussion all right no uh they're being they're being all in favor oh okay okay all right thank you and I believe the last item on the go 49.1 the upgrade of wireless access points to process the entire agenda item and the rest of agenda items were submitted to the board and posted on board
091docs the division of Technology wishes to utilize the state of Georgia contract to upgrade identified District wireless access points because the current devices are no longer supported due to age the procurement of the necessary equipment will be conducted through process Information Systems utilizing the Statewide contract s swcd 2012 501 d006 technology recommends the purchase of equipment to upgrade identified wireless access points throughout the districts for an estimated amount of 2,937 29385 um the account line we actually using for this purchase is coming out of ARP funds thus being resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent that the board approved the purchase of equipment to upgrade identify wireless access points through the district from process Information Systems using the Statewide contract s swcp d 2012 501 d006 for an estimated amount of 2 million 385 moved
092seconded discussion there being none all in favor thank you okay okay so uh we are now at uh we'll hear from the people uh we have two people who have signed up and are here so uh first Mr Rick Rooney good afternoon president Moss board members Dr Watts last week I received my 2024 property tax statement from the county my tax bill listed on there was over $88,000 it's a lot of money uh we moved here a few years ago from California people often think we move because California has high taxes it wasn't actually the case I don't mind paying high taxes I just want to make sure I get my money's worth and good things are being done with the money California unfortunately has both high taxes and foolish ways of spending it so
093I'm happy to be here in Savannah but when I look at my current school taxes I have concerns that maybe we have problems here as well uh historically the samanah chadam County district has had very mediocre academic results I think under the leadership of Dr Watts this is turning around and I expect in a few years we're going to have excellent academics but I'm concerned that we have the same problem in managing our money uh as I look at systems in the country government systems private systems where you you see mediocrity you see waste and inefficiency so my question is do we have that here our school district annual budget is sort of in the order of $500 million I've worked for several $500 million companies and they have extremely experienced financial management I'm not
094sure the financial management in our school district is up to that level which it would need to be then there's eots which is another 150 million or so a year and I come to these board meetings now it's been a year and a half almost in every board meeting there are change orders change orders change orders in my very small experience with construction change orders means poor planning poor management and more money so that worries me also so bottom line I'm concerned about how our taxes are being used you're headed into budget season now last year Mr Johnson you spoke about zero uh base budgeting and I think there was an agreement that you were going to use that this year hopefully you will because I'm sure there are many places where our spending is
095inefficient and can be trimmed and be used for better things so all of that said I have a recommendation for where we can use spend some more money last month I had the opportunity to have a meeting at 208 Bull Street with some of the District staff going in that building I was shocked I don't know if you guys are go in there every day or every week but it is a mess it's in tatters it's disgraceful I would not take a job in a company that that was their District headquarters because to me that communicates management which in this case is you folks doesn't have the proper respect for employees now I I worked with four startup companies in California they weren't in garages We Didn't Start in garages but we had very simple
096offices but they are always clean well structured Pleasant to be in because it was important to us that our people had a uh functional Pleasant environment to work in because that's all we had was people Mr people are our assets you're over your time I'm sorry I'm sorry so I hope you will do something about 208 Bull Street tear it down build something new sell it fix it something but that's not a good environment for people to be working in thank you sir all right next we have uh Miss Louisa NASA NASA good afternoon um thank you for allowing me the time and the space to speak this afternoon uh my name is Louisa Nasco and I'm speaking on behalf of Migrant Equity Southeast um as an immigrant I experienced culture shock when I came
097to the United States for college uh transporting oneself from a familiar culture to an unknown can be a significant experience especially when there is a language barrier um my International colleagues and I were fortunate enough to have access to ESL resources I recognize the importance of having such resources as they are directly linked to having a successful academic life um I am here today to inquire about the international Welcome Center that was promised by sccpss last year um so last year in May we received the wonderful news that almost $1 million would be allocated to ESL students and that an international Welcome Center will be created it has been uh almost one year and we have yet to hear any news on uh when this Center is going to be built and uh how long
098is this going to take uh one in8 students in chadam County are ESL students and the creation of this Center will be a great leap towards a more Equitable School environment in Savannah uh we look forward to hearing news about the updates and the developments and we also would like to offer our help in aiding this to any capacity that we can um in another note I would also like to inquire about the situation at Garden City Elementary School regarding the ESL teachers being pulled from class to participate in gmas boot camps uh a parent of one of the students shared this information with us uh this doesn't seem fair to either the teachers or the students uh it's important that ESL students receive ample time and attention for their teachers to excel in testing
099and make progress in their uh educational Pursuits uh we hope that the school administration addresses this issue soon and ensures that ESL students uh at Garden City Elementary have dedicated time for their classes uh once again thank you for your time thank you very much sign up Friday or Monday I day straight fine come on we we yeah I mean we don't have any record of you signing up I don't know what happened with the erosion of parental rights in school systems across the country I decided to submit an open records request to Savannah chattam County Schools regarding the existence of a policy that ensures the notification appearance when a student asked to have his or her name changed or request to have his or her pronouns changed I received the following response from the
100assist uh assistant Bo School Board attorney about two months ago Dear Miss majaron there is no written policy or procedure specifically addressing parental notification in a matter when a child asked to have their name changed or requests to have their pronouns changed staff are directed that parents should be advised of such requests as a matter of course whatever that means unless there is special and material concern whatever that means that sharing the information would put the child in danger whatever that means the lack of policy is concerning the staff direction as the email calls it is not clear and is left up to how the individual teacher interprets his or her responsibility I respectfully request that Savannah chattam County schools adopt a clear policy around gender identity ideology that supports parental rights to direct the
101upbringing and education of their minor child per the US Constitution and the laws in the constitution of Georgia in the meantime for all parents listening please visit the website protect student health.com protect student health.com you'll find multiple legal optout forms that can be placed in your child's permanent record these forms include a legal form entitled parental notice concerning my child and issues related to gender identity ideology school it legally spells out everything from required notification about the child's gender identity issues to refusal of gender transitioning and gender instruction at school and it refuses the help of any school staff or School professional regarding gender concerns other forms included at this site are opt out for racially divisive Concepts and social emotional learning and opt out for human sexuality instruction since most instruction is opt out
102instead of opt in a parent must be proactive and opt out otherwise your child will be instructed to summarize I ask that Savannah chattam County create a policy around parental notification of gender or pronoun requests of their children in addition I ask that parents visit protect student health.com and fill out all of the optout forms thank you for your time and attention and again I'm sorry for any confusion because I did sign up thank you all right I will accept a motion to adjourn moved and seconded all in favor thank you very much have a great week guys