Portal Elementary School students Ava and Emily McEthan led the board and attendees in the pledge of allegiance, after which the agenda was adopted as presented.
Board Member Comments
Board member Glennera Martin congratulated Statesboro High School Senior Eli Compton for his recognition as Region 8’s STAR student winner.
She also congratulated Ashleigh Wright for winning Teacher of the year at Southeast Bulloch High School as well as winning the Bulloch County Schools district’s teacher of the year award. Wright is now a top 10 finalist in the Georgia Teacher of the year competition. “We wish for her the very best,” said Martin.
Board member Donna Clifton said this is one of her favorite times of the year with the lottery drawings for available Pre-K spaces for young students. She says that anyone can donate and contribute to opening more of these spaces, and followed this by thanking Hayley Greene, the Bulloch County Schools Public Relations Director, for her hard work and the wonderful publicity recently.
Board member Heather Mims recognized the county-wide 8th grade collaborative band's travels to Six Flags this week, and asked that we pray for their safe travels.
Chairwoman Elizabeth Williams shared that middle school bands from four schools in the county came together for a performance on Thursday night and commended the efforts of the educators that made it possible.
She also says she attended the recent Centennial Celebration at Nevils Elementary School and enjoyed the festivities. She praised the recent Literacy Luau and encouraged attendees to view BCS Facebook posts for daily updates and information about upcoming events.
Public Participation
Kevin Waters is the father of both a Southeast Bulloch Middle School and Brooklet Elementary School student and spoke at the meeting asking for the renewal of the wrestling program at SEBHS, where he says both of his children will be attending one day. He says a boys and girls wrestling program at the high school would encourage excellent physical fitness and nutrition as required to play the sport. He says that wrestling training fosters character building as well. Waters has met previously with school representatives and is ready to help this process along further.
Dillon Finch followed up Waters’ commentary and noted his own success in wrestling programs throughout his school career, recognizing the hard work and life lessons that he learned in the sport. Finch says his young son’s successes in wrestling have inspired his own daughter to join the sport in the upcoming season and noted the growing scholarship opportunities for the sport that could be taken advantage of by future SEB students.
William Fry of the Statesboro Youth Council spoke on an issue of dress code. He says that this issue has collected 500 signatures on a petition and asks that it be addressed in the upcoming April meeting.
Superintendent's Report
- School Spotlight - Portal Elementary
Dr. Carolyn Vasilatos, principal of Portal Elementary School introduced the staff’s presentation.
Fourth grade math and science teacher Anna Carr spoke about her appreciation for PES and of her experience as a part of the school improvement team for the past year.
PES is in its 5th year of implementing the Jan Richardson Guided Reading program and Carr reports that it has been a great asset and has helped kids' skills grow.
Carr says that the master schedule has maximized instructional time and that they are seeing great success with the newly implemented GMAS practice time each day for third, fourth, and fifth grade.
Tosha Jones, who has been at PES for 24 years, reports that the school placed first in reading growth across the district.
She says teachers and students are rewarded for their hard work and meeting these goals with pizza parties and certificates of recognition.
Teacher Sally Mallard spoke about some of the initiatives at PES that are helping with skill review, including daily 15-minute GMAS practice in third, fourth, and fifth grade classes.
Additionally, students participate in a school wide “Word Wall” with special activities like “Wordy Wednesday” where students search for key vocabulary words.
She says that data has shown the students struggle most with vocabulary and essay style writing on the GMAS, and by practicing these skills before the day of the standardized test, the students are more prepared, rather than overwhelmed.
The students are now getting ready for the “GMAS Olympics” review in April.
Assistant Principal Mr. Kent Brannen said that PES is focused on how to maximize teacher skill improvement through PLC’s with guidance from instructional coaches.
Haley McEachin, a PES second grade teacher, says that student attendance is a huge focus this year and to encourage all students to come to school, they have started using mystery attendance reward days once a month, where all students that are in school that day get their name put into a drawing and are picked for prizes.
Teachers get weekly recognition with the best attendance class of the week, and get to have the golden alarm clock and a poster to put on the door to show their achievement.
On Fridays, special education students bring their Coffee Cart to classrooms and practice life skills, greeting teachers and filling coffee orders.
Sarah Earls is a first grade teacher on her fifth year at PES. She commended the tight-knit community that she says makes the school such a great environment.
She says that the older high school and middle school athletes are involved with the younger students, and families and local workers give their time to the school and participate in events like farm day.
Earls said that the Turpentine and Fall Fest helped students connect with the community and that the city hall helps the school get involved with community engagement events like the toy drive.
Superintendent Charles Wilson thanked them for the presentation that represents the great work they are doing and congratulated them for sticking with the guided reading program with great efficacy.
Williams recognized and commended them for utilizing and getting trained with Solution Tree PLC, as she recalled it being a great tool in her time as an educator.
Martin congratulated the school for its first place ranking in reading.
- XCEL Partnership Update
Bethany Gilliam, the Career Technical & Agricultural Education program director for BCS spoke about the partnership with the non-profit Xcel mentorship being utilized by the schools.
Statesboro High School CTAE construction teacher Joshua Hall recalled how his initial apprehension with the introduction of Xcel into his classroom has been replaced with gratitude for the soft skills, job training and opportunity it has brought his students. Hall says he originally was worried about the structure of this program, but says Xcel has a curriculum, and is guided by goal setting, financial stewardship and communication skills
He says that the founder of the program is an inspiring mentor of youth across the region. “They love young people and try to point them in the right direction,” said Hall.
The Xcel mobile lab trailer is utilized by students to learn trade skills, and the kids get to participate in engaging and competitive drills.
Recently Statesboro High School students took first place at a welding competition in Pooler, Georgia. Hall says that for some students, finding success outside of academics is very important to their motivation in school.
The partnership started with a single day a week of Xcel involvement in two classrooms at Statesboro High School and Portal Middle High School. At the beginning of this year it was expanded to two days a week and introduced at SEBHS and the Transitions Learning Center. The Xcel director goes on-site once a week at each location, visiting designated classes providing rotating, hands-on employability and trade skills training, with the teachers' involvement and assistance.
Gilliam says that the next steps are to continue to increase the number of days of the program until they reach five full days of Xcel involvement a week. Currently the two day a week program costs about $80,000 a year.
Dawn Tysinger, executive director of student wellness and support, reports that one of the TLC teachers took some young men to a showcase, where representatives from Daniel Defense approached the teacher. They said that the young men were just the kinds of folks they wanted to hire because of the way they carried themselves; shaking hands and showing respect. Tysinger says this is a direct impact of the Xcel program skill curriculum.
- Georgia School Board Appreciation Week
Wilson thanked the board members and stated there is more recognition to come at the end of the month.
Consent Agenda - UNANIMOUS APPROVAL
- Board Minutes
- February 8, 2024 Regular Session
- February 22, 2024 Work Session
- Board Member Payroll for February 2024
- Financial Report for January 2024
New Business for Approval
- Statesboro High School Weight Room Remodel / Refresh APPROVED 8-0
Wilson recommends approval more than $243,000 for overhaul of equipment and flooring - Advantage Sports & Fitness remodel the weight and fitness room
- Langston Chapel Middle School, Southeast Bulloch Middle, and William James Middle Gym Floor Repair APPROVED 8-0
Wilson recommended replacement with Impact Sports at a cost of more than $276,000.
The board entered Executive Session to discuss the personnel recommendations and real estate property business. They returned to the Open Session and voted on the matters below
Personnel Recommendations
- Personnel Recommendations for March 14 2024 APPROVED
- Personnel Recommendations for Fiscal Year 2025 APPROVED
Williams adjourned the meeting at 8:15 P.M.
Access the live stream of the meeting here.