Houston County BOE holds first meeting of 2018

Houston County Board of Education General Counsel William R. Jerles Jr. called the first meeting of the Houston County Board of Education for 2018 to order Tuesday afternoon.

After a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance, the reorganization of the board was held.

Fred Wilson was nominated and unanimously elected to continue to serve as chairman for the calendar year of 2018, and Helen Hughes was unanimously elected to continue in her role of vice chair for the year. When both posts were filled, Wilson continued the meeting with an introduction of visitors.

Principals from Centerville Elementary, Lake Joy Elementary and Pearl Stephens Elementary and the assistant principal of Veterans High School all announced their teachers of the year and spoke briefly about the two students each of them brought to the meeting.

Wilson and Superintendent Mark Scott then introduced the Houston County High School FFA Dairy Team, which won first place in the State FFA Dairy Cattle Career Development Event. The event, held at Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College in Tifton Dec. 6, emphasizes skills in dairy heard management and cattle selection as well and providing experience in the evaluation of cattle. The Houston County High School team members included Alden Burke, Emily Hines, Grace Thomas and Emily Williams.

Before adopting the consent agenda, Wilson remarked that a figure stood out him when he reviewed it.

“One of the things that jumped out at me was school nutrition,” Wilson said. “It is absolutely amazing that there as 111 inspections conducted in our school nutrition…in our school cafeterias and things like that. And out of 111 inspections, 110 of them were perfect scores. That deserves a round of applause.”

During his report, Superintendent Mark Scott pointed out that the district’s academic bowl teams recently competed and won.

“Thirteen teams from Bibb, Peach, Jones and our district competed in this event,” Scott said. “Congratulations to Mossy Creek Middle School on winning region and advancing to state, and also congratulations to Huntingdon Middle for winning second place in that event.”

He also highlighted several upcoming events, such as a media center dedication ceremony and the Houston Regional Science Fair.

The BOE also heard the financial report. According to documents, The Houston County School System General Fund had total assets of more than $73.5 million as of Dec. 31, 2017, while the debt service fund had assets of nearly $7 million and the Capital Projects Fund assets were more than $37 million.

Personnel Reports were also given at the meeting. There are a total of 13 certified vacancies for the month of January: five elementary level, one middle grades level, and five high school level with two system wide. Classified vacancies total 40 for the month of January. Classified jobs include custodians, food service and maintenance positions.

In other business, the BOE:

•Unanimously adopted the agenda as presented;

•Unanimously approved minutes from the previous meeting;

•Unanimously approved the personnel reports as presented;

•Unanimously approved the 2018 Houston County BOE meetings calendar;

•Unanimously approved William R. Jerles Jr. of the law firm Daniel, Lawson, Tuggle and Jerles to remain general counsel for 2018;

•Unanimously approved the resolution for consolidated application, which allows the superintendent to act as an authorized representative for the BOE;

•Unanimously approved bank depositories and allow individual schools to choose which bank to use;

•Unanimously approved the lowest bid, from Atlantic Demolition Excavation and Grading, to demolish the Perry Primary Building at a cost of $177,000 to be paid from SPLOST funds; and

•Unanimously approved the City of Perry Stormwater Maintenance Agreement as presented.

The Board then took a 10-minute recess to allow members of the public and media to disperse before the Board went into executive session to discuss personnel matters before adjourning.

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