Board of Education celebrates tenured employees, clean audit

PERRY, Ga. — The Houston County Board of Education held its most recent meeting this past Tuesday. The meeting started by recognizing the employees of the Houston County School District who have reached the 30, 40, and 45 years of service milestones.

Most notably, the Board celebrated Ronnie Collier, Sr., who works in maintenance, for his 40 years of service and Nutrina Whitehurst of Hilltop Elementary for her 45 years of service. 

“On behalf of the entire Board of Education, I would like to thank each of you for your commitment, dedication, and your selfless service over the years to our school system,” Board Chair Helen Hughes said. 

After this, the Board then recognized the five schools that were in attendance such as Huntington Middle, Centerville Elementary, Houston County WIN Academy, Langston Road Primary, and Quail Run Elementary. The principals of each school brought over their Teachers of the Year and a few of their star students. 

“Thank you to each of our guests. We always look forward to hearing from our principals, teachers, and students. You are truly inspiring and we are so proud of each and every one of you,” Hughes said. 

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Scott then called up the representatives of Maudlin and Jenkins as they presented the audit for fiscal year 2023. Hope Pendergrass of Maudlin and Jenkins spoke on the audit. 

“It was a clean audit. I just want to congratulate the business office staff as well as the Board and Dr. Scott for your leadership in regards to the audit. We had no findings, which is something that is very rare,” Pendergrass said. 

The FFA State and National Winners from Perry High School and SkillsUSA state winner Rabun Perdue of Veterans High School were acknowledged for their accomplishments.

After the agenda was adopted and the minutes were approved, Board Member Lori Johnson had comments to share.

“On behalf of my fellow board members, I know that they would join me and say a big heartfelt thank you for the thoughts of gratitude and appreciation,” Johnson said.

The meeting then went on to the Superintendent’s Report. 

Scott first highlighted the Teacher Recruitment Fair held on Feb. 24 at Veterans High School. It had over 325 applicants in attendance. 

The Houston County Bus Safety Poster Contest winners were also announced. Mason Smith and Isabella Perez Sanchez of Miller Elementary, Ella Jordan of Perry Middle School, and Nora Schuber of Bonaire Middle school were the respected winners.

Dawn Knapek of Perry High School was recently named as Georgia’s Gifted Teacher of the Year. 

“We are so proud that she is being recognized statewide for the fantastic work that she does with her students each and every day,” Scott said. 

Perry High School boys wrestling was recognized for winning the region 2-4A championship. Houston County girls wrestling also won their region 6A championship. 

Congratulations were made to the county basketball champions, which included the 7th-grade girls of Warner Robins Middle, 7th-grade boys of Thomson Middle, 8th-grade girls of Perry Middle, and 8th-grade boys of Bonaire Middle. 

The Georgia Department of Education recently announced the 2024 Advanced Placement Honor Schools. Houston County High, Perry High, Veterans High, Northside High, and Warner Robins High were the recipients. 

Scott then ended the report with a list of many events coming this month, including Social Workers’ Month. Last week was National School Social Work Week, and the social workers in attendance were recognized. 

“Also in March we celebrate Exceptional Children’s Month, Gifted Education Month, Music in our Schools Month, Youth Art Month, and National Agriculture Day. Our district is proud of the phenomenal staff who work in each of these areas. They are all critical to our students’ success,” Scott said. 

March 29 is a student holiday and site collaboration day before Spring Break begins April 1-5. 

This past week was Georgia School Board Appreciation Week.

“I’m so grateful to each one of our Board Members that are dedicated. We are so blessed in Houston County to live in a community that loves and supports public education,” Scott said. 

After a brief intermission, the meeting focused on the business side of the agenda. It started with the approval of the January 2024 financial report. 

The March 2024 purchasing report was also approved. The total financial impact is $384,922.17. $211,402.17 would be used for local capital outlay, and $173,520.00 would be used for school nutrition funds. 

Then, the board was requested to declare a school bus surplus salvage as it had been involved in an accident; this was approved unanimously.

The board also approved the Certificate of Completion of multiple capital outlay projects for payment and completion of interior renovations to Parkwood Elementary, Shirley Hills Elementary, and Miller Elementary. 

The meeting then ended with the approval of the revision of fiscal year 2023 capital outlay applications and the agreement to use Paulk Landscaping, Inc. for Bonaire Primary landscaping upgrades. 

For a complete look at the March 12 meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97wNRgWYU2o

The agenda may be found at https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/SB_MeetingListing.aspx?S=4089

The next Houston County Board of Education meeting will be held on April 16 at 1 pm. at 1100 Main St. in Perry. 

HHJ News