The Bulloch County Board of Education met on Thursday, January 11, 2024 for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. One of the first order of business was to elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman for 2024.
Superintendent Charles Wilson then oversaw the election of Elizabeth Williams of District 2 as Chair and Heather Mims of District 7 as Vice Chair.
The board then gave special recognition to the Southeast Bulloch High School Female Flag Football Team for being the number one ranked team in the nation for fall flag football.
"They have set standards that are hard to beat," said Head Coach Marci Cochran.
Other notable achievements of the SEBHS Flag Football Team include:
- 62 - 0 winning streak for throughout program history.
- 11 players were invited on an all expense paid trip to the Detroit Lions' first NFL "Women in Football" game.
- They have played at the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium.
- Three girls from the program are signed to play at the college level.
- 23-0 wins this season.
- 41 total shut out in program history.
- Three time back-to-back State Champions.
Superintendent Wilson congratulated and praised the team for their accomplishments
During the Board Member comments, "Go jackets," was said by board woman Donna Cliffton and Vice Chairman Elizabeth Williams. Williams also recognized improvements in test scores among the schools of Bulloch County, namely Langston Chapel Middle School.
The Superintendent's Report included the following two presentations on Portal Middle High and Targeted Support Improvements.
Portal Middle High School
Portal Middle High School Assistant Principal Justin Chester spoke about an initiative established at PMHS called the P-Town Process. It was created to foster an environment in which students learn and practice how to be respectful, responsible and resilient today and in the future. The school is using positive incentives like school store points and student behavior awards to improve multiple areas of student engagement.
Four year graduation rates have risen from 90.38% to 92.86%.
- PMHS added "Robotify" and "Career Exploration" as middle school connection classes.
- Panther Pride extracurriculars include Jr. BETA, FFA, TSA, FCA, FBLA, and FCCLA.
- TSA students made coasters for all of the board members that were handed out during the meeting.
- PMHS was also recognized for their win at the 2023 football region championship for the first time ever.
Some identified areas of improvement for PMHS include:
- Attendance - 28% of students missed 10 or more days of school. Support teams have been developed to improve the attendance.
- Meeting social and emotional needs of students. Provide outside counseling services is one solution they have implemented
- Student engagement - Advisement and small group instruction is being utilized to improve engagement.
- Professional learning communities. Solutions include collaboration with SHS and SEBHS to make improvements.
The presentation also included recognition of the progress on track construction and improvements made to football stadium. View the full presentation here.
Superintendent Wilson thanked the school staff for their dedication to the students.
Board member Stuart Tedders of district three asked how well the student engagement incentives are working.
Dr. Julie Blackmar, principal of PMHS, says there have been improvements but they have not reached their goals.
Targeted School Improvement (TSI) Schools Update
Sandra Kerby, the director of assessment and accountability, is working with Langston Chapel Elementary and Middle school which were identified last year as TSI schools, to provide data about milestone scores, attendance, grades and other criteria.
Student and educator needs have been identified and improvement plans have been created, with monthly progress checks.
Langston middle graduated off list this year. Principal Willie Robinson, Ed.D. said district support was most important for exiting the list, as well as deconstructive learning/teacher clarity work that helps educators teach students to the correct standards.
Kelly Spence, executive director of curriculum and instruction stated that the district partnered with school improvement specialist to provide Leadership capacity Development with two instructional coaches aiding teachers planning, assessing standards and developing common assessments. Such programs include READ180 for reading deficit children
Langston Chapel Elementary and Stilson Elementary are still requiring district support due to low content mastery. Entrance and exit criteria for the TSI list is run every three years so removal from the list is possible in 2026. View the full presentation about Bulloch County's GaDoE support schools here.
APPROVED - Consent Agenda
- Board Minutes: December 7, 2023 Work Session; December 14, 2023, Regular Session
- Board Member Payroll for December 2023
- Financial Report for November 2023
The following Board Meeting Dates for 2024 were approved:
- Thursday, January 11, 2024 - Organizational Meeting
- Thursday, January 25, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, February 8, 2024 - Regular Session
- Thursday, February 22, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, March 14, 2024 -Regular Session
- Thursday, March 28, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, April 11, 2024 - Regular Session
- Thursday, April 25, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, May 9, 2024 - Regular Session
- No work session in may due to graduation
- *Thursday, June 06, 2024 - Regular Session (First Thursday)
- Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, July 11, 2024 - Regular Session
- Thursday, July 25, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, August 8, 2024 - Regular Session
- Thursday, August 22, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, September 12, 2024 - Regular Session
- Thursday, September 26, 2024 - Work Session
- Thursday, October 10, 2024 - Regular Session
- Thursday, October 24, 2024 - Work Session
- *Thursday, November 7, 2024 - Regular Session (First Thursday)
- *Thursday, November 21, 2024 - Work Session
- (Third Thursday) Thursday, December 12, 2024 - Regular Session
- No Work Session in December
- Thursday, January 9, 2025 - 2025 - Organizational Meeting
New Business
APPROVED - 1. Annual request for Board of Education to serve as fiscal agent for Family Connection Partnership
The BOE has served as the fiscal agent for the Family Connection Initiative, under the Bulloch County Commission on Human Services, Inc., for the past 27 years and will continue to serve in this capacity for the fiscal year of 2025. Through collaboration among BCHS partners, Bulloch county children, families and the community have benefited from efforts generating over $30 million, supporting targeted areas of need. The goal of BCHS is to provide an array of academic and developmental support opportunities for students to ensure that all Bulloch County students complete high school.
APPROVED - 2. School Food Services Freezer Bid
Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Brad Boykin, recommended the board approve Hubbard Hudson Construction to complete the freezer project at the Auxiliary Warehouse for the sum of $548,000.
APPROVED - 3. Amendment to Mandatory Addendum for New Southeast Bulloch High School
Boykin also requested approval for the Amendment to the Mandatory Addendum for the Architect contract for the New Southeast Bulloch High School, which updates paragraph six of the board approved contract with the now determined values that are required for GSFIC fun reimbursement of the project.
APPROVED - 4. Paying remaining support of Centegix Renewal
Boykin requested renewal of the Centegix Crisis Alert Platform along with software licensing and hardware warranty through June 2026 for an annual renewal cost of $88,000 per year, for a total of $264,000. To date $104,000 has been paid and the remaining balance of $160,000 shall be due by February 2024.
Executive Session
The board moved to executive section to discuss separations and replacement of faculty and staff within in Bulloch County Schools. After a brief executive session the board returned to approve all personnel recommendations as listed below.
