February 9, 2009 - 7 P.M.                   

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mr. Anderson, Chairman.

 

Invocation was led by Mr. Worsham.

Pledge to Flag was led by Mr. Elsberry

 

All Board members were present, with the exception of Mr. Massey and Mrs. Johnson along with Superintendent, Dr. Pullen.

 

Mr. Anderson asks if there were any additions to the Superintendent’s Recommended Agenda for February 9, 2009 School Board Meeting. Dr. Pullen stated additions E-6, Additions to G-1 and H-3.

 

Mr. Anderson asks for a motion to approve all items of the Agenda. Mr. Elsberry made a motion to approve with a second by Mr. Money and the vote was unanimous.

 

A motion was made by Mr. Money to approve Minutes of Previous Meetings with a second by Mr. Elsberry and the vote was unanimous.

1.      Work Session -     January 5, 2009

2.      Regular Session - January12, 2009                       

 

Public Participation - None

           

1. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of Financial Statement for December 31, 2008.

2. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of School Sales Projects.

3. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of American Cancer Society use of Chattooga High Football Field for the Relay for Life on May 15, 2009.

4. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of Trion Heights Baptist Church sponsored Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University use of Room 5025 at Leroy Massey Elementary School from February 12 thru May 14 with no meeting on April 9 from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.

 A motion was made to approve by Mr. Money with a second by Mr. Elsberry and the vote was unanimous.

1. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of Field Trips.

2. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of guidelines for Gifted referrals.

3. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of K-8 Language Arts/Reading Textbook Adoption Committee for 2009-2010. The committee consists of staff and a parent from each school.

4. ***Presented at last Board meeting - Board Consideration of Recommendation for approval on update on progress of the Academy and possibly Charter School Option.

5. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of the Night School Program at Chattooga High School in conjunction with Northwest Georgia Technical College.

6. **Added to Agenda - Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for approval of a trip to Jacksonville, FL for 2 CHS seniors. They will be awarded $500.00 Scholarships for competing in the Tulsa Welding School competition. Mr. Jeff Owings, Metal Technology Instructor, will be accompanying them. Confirmation was received February 5 and the competition is February 13, 2009.

 

A motion was made to approve on consensus items #1, #2, #3 & #6 by Mr. Money with a second by Mr. Elsberry and the vote was unanimous.

 

A motion was made to approve items #1, #2, #3 and #6 by Mr. Elsberry with a second by Mr. Money and the vote was unanimous.

 

Item #4 was taken off due to the presentation at last Board meeting. Information only. A proposal will be brought to the Board at a later date for action.

 

Item #5 – Mr. Elsberry asks for discussion and update on the Night School program.  Dr. Pullen stated that it is his understanding that we are looking at what kind of agreement we had with Northwestern. Mr. Dean worked out an agreement several years ago for them to use the facilities. He observed the program last week, and there were 14 students there. Some were from Chattooga County. This is one of the finest programs he has seen where these Adults are going to school tuition free and are provided with a tool pouch that has a photo cell welding helmet, a chipper hammer, gloves and all hand tools they need. They are provided free of charge and will get to take them with them when they graduate. Northwestern Tech brought 2 Welders unboxed, opened the boxes and hooked them up. If the program ends they will leave them at the High School. They are furnishing all of the materials and probably some that we are using during the day. This is a win, win situation for everyone. Mr. Elsberry asks if this program is for adults only and Dr. Pullen said yes that the students have to meet the requirements for Northwestern Tech. Hopefully this will help get some of our adult’s better paying jobs.

 

A motion was made to approve item #5 by Mr. Elsberry with a second by Mr. Money and

the vote was unanimous.

 

 

            A motion was made by Mr. Money to go into Executive Session, Personnel items, at 7:10 p.m. with a second by Mr. Elsberry and the vote was unanimous.

            The Board returned to Regular Session at 7:55 p.m. with no action taken.

1. Board Consideration of Superintendents Recommendations for approval of Certified & Classified Personnel

Certified Transfers 2009-2010– Brian Beasley, Principal SES; Jennie Starr, Asst. Principal SMS

      Certified Resignations – Richard Chamlee CHS; Corinne W.Beauchamp, ESOL Teacher CHS; Sandra Black, Retirement LMES; Melanie Eubanks, Retirement Spec. Ed. SMS; Charles Robert Hammon, PE Teacher CHS; Elsie E. “Honey” Housch, Retirement SES Kindergarten; Barbara McCutchins, Retirement LMES Media Specialist; Megan Nix, SMS; Alan Perry, Retirement CHS Language Arts; ** Tyler Driskell, CHS

      Certified Recommendations 2009-2010 – Denver Pate CHS PE; Shane Reid CHS Social Science; **H. Scott Jackson, CHS 9^th Science

      Classified Recommendation – Annie Martin Special Ed Caregiver; Darrell Wheat, Full Time Sub Bus Driver; **Joy Mosley, Full Time Sub Bus Driver.

** Classified Transfers – **Misty Blackwell, Central Office, Finance Director; **Erica Gilliam, Central Office, Acctg. Cker & Capital Projects Coordinator

Classified Resignations Food Service – Jeannette Clayton, Retirement LES Food Service Manager; Pat Rash, Retirement SMS Food Service Worker; Custodian – Timothy Jernigan, LMES

      Substitute Recommendations – Sub Teachers- Autumn Nicole Hunt, Emily Spears, ** Patricia Howard; **Sub Teacher & Sub Food Service - Candi Cook; **Substitute Teacher Certified – Christy Tudor

            2. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for High School Principal Salary and Supplement for 2009-2010.

            3. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for Administrative Renewals for 2009-2010.

            Certified Office Staff – Emily Bolton, Richard Clifton, Jared Hosmer, Phyllis Oliver, Christina Swansborough, Mitchell Williams, Debbie Garrett

            Director of the Academy – Dr. Sarah Miller

            Principals – Ila King SES Retiring; Judy England, LMES; Kevin Muskett, SMS; Morgan Nugent, CHS Resigning; Mike Martin, MES; Robbie Robison, LES

            Assistant Principals – Beth Hall, SES; James Lenderman, CHS; Beth Morgan, CHS; Barry Peppers, LMES

 

A motion was made to approve on consensus by Mr. Money with a second by Mr. Elsberry and the vote was unanimous.

A motion was made to approve by Mr. Elsberry with a second by Mr. Money and the vote was unanimous.

 

1. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation to have a Called Board of Education meeting on February 17, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. for the purpose of opening bids for the Menlo School HVAC project.

A motion was made by Mr. Money to approve item #1 with a second by Mr. Elsberry and the vote was unanimous.

2. Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation for proposed Reduction in Force for the 2009-2010 school year.

3. **Added to Agenda – Board Consideration of Superintendent’s Recommendation that his evaluation be done at the March 9, 2009 Regular Session meeting during Executive Session.

A motion was made by Mr. Elsberry to approve item #3 with a second by Mr. Money and the vote was unanimous.

 

Item #2 – Mr. Elsberry asks for discussion on the Recommendation for proposed Reduction in Force. This is very serious. The cuts at the State level is one reason for the RIF program. Our Student enrollment has dropped. He would like for Dr. Pullen to share some information so we could better understand.

 

Dr. Pullen stated that Board Policy GBKA talks about reduction in force and the reasons for reduction in force. Reason for reduction #1 is decrease in student enrollment and #3 is a loss of funding due to state funds or local funds. Looks as if we will be taking a $500,000 dollar hit from the state for the remainder of this school year. Next years budget from the state looks like a $1.2 million of what we have received in the past. We are looking at a major cut next year. The finance office pulled some numbers today – 87% of our expenditures are for salaries, 10% is for things like electricity, diesel fuel and things like that, and leaves 3% for discretionary items. Some of these discretionary items are essential and total $450,000 this year. With those kinds of numbers and the numbers we need to end up with we are definitely looking at a decrease in funding.

 

Also an analysis of our enrollment – Oct. 2006 – 2984 students – Oct, 2008 – 2822 students – loss of 162 student’s enrollment. Based on 25 students per teacher we should have lost 6 regular teachers in the last 2 years.

 

Special Education students – Oct 2006 – 509 special needs students – Oct. 2008 – 412 special needs students – loss of 97 special needs students. Teachers include all   Oct. 2006 – 227 teachers – Oct. 2008 – 226 teachers – loss of 1 teacher This includes all teachers, Special Needs teachers, Certified teachers, Career tech teachers, includes all our teachers. Based on all of these numbers and where we need to go we have developed a proposed plan which basically does away with Elementary Music teachers, which are totally funded by local funds now, Graduation Coach positions (2), Drama teacher at the Middle School, Elementary and Middle School certified staff by 11 positions, High School certified staff by 1 position. Some of these are due to the drop in enrollment and some we can take advantage of new class enrollment size enrollment cap that the state has put on due to the budget cut. The plan also calls for 3 Special Ed positions.

 

We are looking for retirements and places where we can move other people into positions and openings. Don’t think we are going to have to put that many people out of work that were not planning to retire or move on. Can’t give an exact number today. Hopefully that will be worked out by the time of staff recommendations at the next BOE meeting.

 

Mr. Elsberry stated that doing this now, even though it is never pleasant, teachers need to know before Contracts go out in case they need to apply to other school systems. Jobs are going to be tight. Dr. Pullen said legally we could have waited until we got our budget completed in June because you can have a reduction in force anytime you deem it necessary but I didn’t think it was fair to our people that we were going to have to let go to wait until after we developed a budget or wait until the job market dries up to cut them loose. We want to let them know within the next few weeks as we determine what those exact positions are. Mr. Elsberry asks if this could be a change in number. Dr. Pullen said if budget cuts get worse we might have to say we need another Reduction in Force. If budget #’s gets better or the Stimulus pkg. brings us some money that we can us on Personnel then we might not have to let as many go. Mr. Elsberry asks if this is based on the #’s we are anticipating now? Dr. Pullen said that it is what we are anticipating for next year. We are estimating between 5 & 10 position where the people will actually be unemployed that were not intending to do something else. We still have people coming by and say they are retiring. If we have more then that will be less people to have to say we are sorry we won’t have you back. This is not an easy task. Mr. Elsberry stated that is why he wanted to talk it through and put our numbers out and that is what we have done.

 

Dr. Pullen stated the only number given tonight that he can not provide documentation is estimated budget cut from the state and it is changing daily.

 

Mr. Anderson asks for any other questions and there were none.

 

A motion was made to approve item #2 by Mr. Elsberry with a second by Mr. Money and the vote was unanimous.

 

With no further business Mr. Elsberry made a motion to adjourn at 8:15 p.m. with a second by Mr. Massey and the vote was unanimous.

 

** Items added to Agenda

 

 

__________________________                               ___________________________

Dr. Dwight Pullen, Superintendent                            Mr. William Anderson, Chairman