The Clarke County Board of Education members approved all projects on the agenda at the called held meeting on Monday. The school district will have a special purpose, local-option sales tax (SPLOST) referendum in November.
The board held a workshop prior to the meeting to discuss plans for SPLOST 4. At the workshop, board members were presented with more information about timelines and allocations of SPLOST 4 funding for each school. Officials showed photographs of SPLOST renovations at several schools to demonstrate the impact of SPLOST funding on all the major upgrades in the county.
The county is entering Phase 3 of SPLOST 4 planning, where feedback is expected from School SPLOST Committees—including principals, teachers, parents and community members—to further assess each school’s needs.
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Three new schools will be built between now and the 2013 school year, including a “Westside” elementary school and Easom Elementary in Southeast Clarke County. Funds allocated to each student would carry over to the new schools when the children began there, so current expectations from other elementary schools should not include those students. For example, Barnett Shoals Elementary and Whit Davis Elementary have expressed a need for more classrooms, but it’s unlikely that they will need as many after Easom is built, officials said.
The workshop ended with plans to schedule a longer workshop after the November vote to discuss timeline’s for each schools construction.
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Some final concerns from board members included confusion over why the special vote was called for November. The project leaders explained that SPLOST 3 ends June 30 and the county would lose 6 months of revenue if the board members don’t vote this year. Also, planners thought November would be a good time because there's more of a focus on education during the fall and they didn’t want the vote to be caught up with partisan politics.
At the called meeting, Superintendent Philip Lanoue presented a banner given to the county at the Title I conference. He talked about the county’s upcoming candidate status for the International Baccalaureate program. Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals represent the two IB candidate schools from the county.
All old business was tabled to make time to vote on New Business, including the SPLOST 4 referendum resolution. The other approved measures include:
- Funding for Architectural Design (Maxine P. Easom Elementary)
- Architectural Firm Selections (SPLOST)
- Uniform Shirt Bid 2011-2012 (School Nutrition)
- Small Wares Bid (School Nutrition)
- Transportation Contrat (A-CC Leisure Services)
- GA DOE Waiver Request FY2011 (65% Expenditure Rule) – 2 members voted against, motion passed
- Ombudsman Contract (Summer 2011)
- IP Telephony Upgrade (Phones)
- IP Telephony Upgrade (Services)
- Replacement SMART Boards
- Short-Term Bank Loan Approval
- New Computers for Early Reading First Ready Readers
- Wells Fargo Grant
- Approve Submission of U.S. Department of Education Investment in Innovation Grant Application
- Memorandum of Agreement with Athens Latino Center for Education and Services
- University Partnership Grant Application: Buffering Children from Toxic Stress
- Annual Consumables for Breakthrough to Literacy for Early Reading First
