CCBoE 02.24.2026 Working Meeting Notes

Call to Order 5:30 pm

Invocation: Harlem Baptist Church Children & Youth Pastor Evan Powell

Pledge of Allegiance by Greenbrier and Parkway Elementary Schools 4H Presidents

Approval of Agenda: Yay 5, No 0

Approval of Consent Items: Yay 5, No 0

1. 2/10/2026 Regular Session Meeting Minutes

2. January Financials

3. Budget Amendment

4. Fundraisers

5. Employee Travel

6. Program/Camp/Employee Participation REquests

7. Lease/Use Facilities

Discussion Topics and Presentations

College and Career Ready Performance Index and Acadmic Update, Associate Superintdent Dr. Kristen Carroll and Steven Cummings

1. Columbia County’s overall CCRPI score dropped by 0.1 points from 2024 to 2025, holding steady while the CSRA RESA region declined by 2.7 points.

   1. Elementary schools scored above state and regional averages but 3.4-point decrease, due to a drop in the Closing Gaps component.

   2. Middle schools showed significant growth with an 8.8-point increase, outpacing a 3.5-point state average rise.

   3. High schools experienced a 1.9-point decline, also primarily driven by Closing Gaps challenges.

2. Content Mastery and Progress

   1. Content Mastery scores rose in elementary and middle schools, with middle schools increasing by 5.2 points - gains across core subjects, especially science.

   2. High schools’ Content Mastery declined by 2.3 points, prompting focused improvement efforts.

   3. Progress scores improved across all levels; high schools showed a notable rise of 6.6 points in 2025, continuing a two-year growth trend.

   4. English Language Arts and Math growth metrics use Student Growth Percentiles to fairly measure student progress compared to peers.

3. Closing Gaps

   1. Targeted 3% improvement but if large improvement one year, it’s still another 3% the next year. One subgroup can really sway the score.

   2. Elementary schools’ Closing Gaps score dropped from 100 to 70.4 points, driven by subgroup performance shifts despite increased efforts in ELA.

   3. Middle schools improved substantially to a perfect 100 points in Closing Gaps, indicating strong subgroup progress.

   4. High schools’ Closing Gaps score fell below the state average, affected by declines in American Literature, Algebra, and U.S. History subgroups. Some gains were noted in Biology subgroups in 2025.

4. Readiness and Graduation Rate Trends

   1. Elementary and middle schools performed above state averages in readiness indicators such as on-grade-level reading, attendance, and beyond-the-core course passing.

   2. High schools improved readiness by 1.6 points with better reading levels, pathway completion, and college/career readiness scores.

   3. Columbia County’s graduation rate steadily increased, reaching 93.5%, remaining above the state average.

   Attendance discussion with Penny Jackson: Data shows that students missing 5-15 days really has an impact on ability of student to achieve at high levels. While they have looked at students missing over 15 days, looking more at 5-15 range because that is a larger number and still has big impact. Looking at ways to lessen that.

Staff Reports

1. CTAE and Academic Pathway Update, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Brian Campbell and Director of CTAE Brooks Smith

   1. Broad CTAE Program Reach and Pathway Variety

      1. Columbia County offers at least one pathway in 13 of 14 career clusters recognized statewide - 155 unique pathways.

      2. Agriculture programs embed elements of energy and natural resources pathways, covering all clusters practically.

      3. Programs offer career preparation with multiple pathway options.

   2. Rising Student Engagement and Work-Based Learning

      1. Student enrollment in CTAE pathways grown since 2019.

      2. Work-based learning increased , supported by partnerships with local businesses and community orgs

   3. High School CTAE Pathway Access and Expansion

      1. Each high school offers CTAE pathways; ie, Greenbrier added Financial Services and Agriculture.

      2. Grovetown HS offers pathways including Cosmetology; Harlem HS includes welding and electrical embedded in agriculture.

      3. Lakeside HS added Audio, Visual, Film & add Culinary Arts next year.

   4. Middle School Interest Surveys Inform Planning

      1. Surveys of 6th-8th graders show Health Science as the top interest, followed by Engineering, aligning student interest with workforce demand.

      2. Survey data guides decisions on adding or expanding pathways at specific high schools, such as potential Engineering at Greenbrier.

2. ACE Curriculum Hub Enhancements

   1. Next Generation Standards Integration

      1. Curriculum specialists embedding Next Gen standards into ACE Case guides, aiming for first semester completion by fall. Examples include science standards on matter changes and digital footprint concepts integrated with teacher resources.

   2. Resource Review and Expansion

      1. ACE Case instructional guides are undergoing thorough review to meet teacher needs and incorporate teacher-submitted resources.

      2. CTAE and Fine Arts curriculum resources are newly added to ACE Case, giving instructional specialists and teachers centralized access.

      3. Fine Arts Curriculum Support

         1. Fine Arts teachers now access updated ACE Case resources, with scope and sequence guides and curricular focus documents available.

         2. Plans include ongoing development of instructional guides and materials for all Fine Arts departments.

3. Black History Month, Associate Superintendent Steve Cummings

   1. Black History is embedded in K12 curriculum throughout year but highlighted in Februrary

   2. Many schools had assemblies with displays, music & art presentations

   3. Euchee Creek - display with historical figures

   4. Decorated classrooms & buildings

   5. Musicians

Board Norms and Protocols. Approve: Yay 5, No 0

Building Program Bid Result. Approve: Yay 3, No 1 (Kent), Abstain 1 (Allen, due to lack of information)

Kent: I have a concern, just on principal, that as much as I love all of these beautiful buildings we’re building for the district, I’d like it to be spread out a little bit more, I just have a concern about spending more on these building projects.

Allen: This is almost $700,000 and this is the first I’ve seen of this. All I’ve seen is this spreadsheet. It wasn’t on the SPLOST list, which is why we have to approve it tonight. I would like some additional information, and I’m not trying to micromanage, but is the expectation really that we would approve it based on this spreadsheet?

Flynt: This is something that we have been discussing for a number of years. We have three buildings that have most of our warehouse operations. And even that isn’t all of the materials. It’s cumbersome and when we discussed this with the board a couple of years ago, we put that on the list and have been waiting for a time when we could do that. This is a good time. We’re hoping that once we get this built, when we get through the summertime, prior to moving the distribution operation to one location, that would allow us to do that probably right after the beginning of school or as we move into first semester… Better time because a lot of our operations work happens over summer. Some of the discussion that was going on… That is a large area of a warehouse. One of the concerns is that we do need personnel over there. So by consolidating all of our operations into one location, all of the manpower would be in that location. We do have a lot of storage over there right now, and so it’s not really manned by anybody that is over that, even though we keep it locked up. There’s a lot more than that, but it would be, in our estimation, an excellent use of dollars just because it’s going to help us with inventory of items that we’re buying as they come into the district. We’ll have a better handle on when that gets distributed to the Schools and then inventory control once all that information is in the schools and then surplused out over time. A lot of that is a lot of work for our folks for the next couple of years. It’s gonna take us a little bit of work to get that to happen at the highest level. But right now it’s at a difficult stage because we’re in multiple places and even though we’ve got good people trying to keep up with it, it’s very hard to do.

Baker: Is one of the places the Columbia Road area?

Flynt: Yep. And as you’ll know a couple of years ago we kind of cut a hole in the old gym out there because we needed a little more climate control space. The new warehouse already has the areas where trucks can back up to use the loading docks and things like that. So it’s going to help with processing material and purchases where right now we’re just getting them down and manhandling them into the areas. Right now we are taking some items into different departments because we don’t have enough room in there. Some things get ordered and delivered to people different spots. The idea is for it to be a general distribution warehouse where all items will go through a full inventory control at the warehouse and then be redistributed that way. Not only would we have a very good handle on the coming and goings of all of our equipment, but you know, one person will be handling it instead of multiple departments.

Dekle: Just a little background Board members. Even before you came here many years ago we made a decision to purchase student support center. And yeah, it was an old unused ball bearing factory. We had close to 300,000 square feet of unused space. Our idea of centralizing our old warehouse system and if we went out and purchased land and built a whole new standard warehouse it would cost millions and millions of dollars. Arguably, we’ve already made an important investment and this is just the next step, which frankly has been much better.

Allen: What is the funding source for this?

Casado: We would use unallocated eSplost dollars that have not been assigned to a project yet. And we have more than enough to make that happen within eSplost currently.

Allen: I’m not familiar with this type of spreadsheet. When it says withdrawn, but then it says yes by all the documents, does that mean that the company withdrew it?

Flynt: Yeah, and it depends how that happens. But in this situation, part of the area on the bid, it didn’t encompass all the needs. And so we give the company the opportunity to either update it or withdraw.

Allen: I’m certainly open to supporting some of these projects in the future. I just feel like I don’t have a whole lot of information. If there’s project documents that go with something like this that kind of explains it, that would be really helpful for me to have.

Superintendent Reports:

• PreK Registration 2/23-3/20

• Columbia County Student Art Show

  • March 3-30

  • Opening Reception, March 3

• End of Third Nine Weeks, March 10

• School Board Appreciation Week, March 9-13

• Columbia County College and Career Expo, March 12

• Early Dismissal/Parent Conferences, March 13

• Student Holiday/District Professional Learning Day, March 16

• Columbia County School District Foundation Top Golf Event, March 16

• Report Cards, March 18

• Special Olympics, March 27

• PreK Drawing, March 30

• Spring Break April 6-13

• Rising 6th Grade Student and Parent Night, April 16

• Progress Reports, April 21

• Arts of the Plaza, April 25

Personnel Recommendations: Approve Yay 5, No 0

Adjourn: 6:53 pm

Next Meeting Regular Session: March 10, 2026