CCBoE 09.09.2025 Regular Meeting Notes

Call To Order: 5:30PM

Invocation: West Acres Baptist Church Senior Pastor Malone Morris

Pledge of Allegiance: Cedar Ridge Elementary School 4H Presidents

Approval of Agenda: Yes 5, No 0

Special Recognitions

1. Columbia County School District Teachers of the Year Finalists for 2026

   1. Tiffany Tanner, Parkway Elementary School

   2. Nancy Morris, Columbia Middle School

   3. Jona Gaskin, Westmont Elementary School

   4. Kirsten Matthis, Evans High School

   5. Lauren O’Neil, Cedar Ridge Elementary School

2. TechNetAugusta Capture the Flag Competition

   1. Greenbrier Middle School, 2nd Place

      1. Wyatt Ahrens

      2. Mason Rice

      3. Tobias Shoemaker

   2. Lakeside Middle School, 1st Place

      1. Michael Bowman

      2. Roberto Guillen

      3. Isaiah Jinif

      4. Dexter Oberlies

3. Columbia County School District Foundation

   1. Georgia’s OWN Credit Union

   2. Trustees

      1. Adam Williams, President

      2. Stan Shepherd, VP

      3. Megan Moye, Secretary

      4. Steve Baxter

      5. Kristi Baker

      6. Dave Brendza

      7. Stephen King

      8. Yvonne Meeks

      9. Dean Smith

      10. Nichole Spence

      11. Staci Tallent

Custodial Supplement: Approve: Yes 5, No 0

$171,000 rewarded for school year for $1000 supplemental, to be split into 2 payments. Doesn’t include FICA.

Building Program

1. Project Update

   1. Lakeside HS

      1. Once roof is done, inside gets done

      2. School moved into PAC

      3. Gym-footings going in and they have to be large

   2. Evans HS

      1. Similar gyms but different on the outside

      2. Roofs being placed so inside coming together over 3 months

      3. Batting cages in progress

      Allen: Was any of this paid for by $190 million SPLOST?

      Flynt: No….

      Baker: LHS traffic tends to be an issue. Are they coming in from Blue Ridge?

      Flynt: Coming in from King Taylor, back side. It’s gone well this year. I know in other years, it’s been an issue but it has gone well this year.

      Jackson: The schools have staggered dismissal. The County opened Panther Crossing and added striping on Blue Ridge Drive. Traffic is moving smoothly.

      Allen: For Harlem HS, there was a question from my town hall. How many classrooms does it have?

      Flynt: I’m not sure. The addition 2 years ago added 26. More instructional units will be added after the renovations.

      Allen: The $190 million bonds approved. Other scenarios have payments until 2045. Some have a 10 year payment schedule. Some are 20 year…. There are repayment schedules at 7 years, 13 years. 20 years adds overhead and interest. I’m interested in other terms.

      Dekle: You have been given info and we’ve already voted on that.

      Allen: Selling bonds won’t be final until December though….

      Dekle: There’s no motion on the table to discuss bonds.

2. Bid Results: Yay 5, No 0

Allen: Which funding item is this?

Casado: LHS funding line

Instructional Materials: Dr. Flynt wanted to address this since the district has been receiving a lot of feedback from stakeholders

• Practices - what we have in place. Procedures have been updated recently, in the past couple of years.

• Process required by State Law

• Ms. Gregg

  • IF OP5: Instructional Materials Section

  • IF OP9: Covers media center materials

    • School level media center committees and district level media center committees. Required members of the committees

    • Parents & Permanent Guardians can challenge materials

    • District can review as needed. They could review materials based on a social media post and anyone can notify the district. Reviews are at the district’s discretion.

    Allen: Mr. Fletcher (BoE attorney), this is an appeals process. The appeals clause, I’m not sure the district has discretion to review. The addition was added 2 years ago.

    Fletcher: I’m not sure since I haven’t looked at it and I don’t have it in front of me.

    Allen: School has ability to review materials at any point?

    Dekle: No, the district does. I would like to listen to what Ms. Gregg is trying to tell us.

    Allen: started speaking

    Dekle: *gavel* let Ms. Gregg finish, please.

    Gregg: Parents of students and/or the the District can review the material. At both the school and district level, parents hold the majority on both committees. The district can initiate a review at anytime.

    Allen: Under OP9, a community member may ask for a challenge but has no right under procedure.

    Gregg: All policies/procedures are written for parents to challenge but there are due diligence requirements from the district to review materials.

School Based Speech-Language Pathologist Week: 9/9-9/13

Public Participation (12 speakers)

• Cambry Wood: Not in attendance

• Priscilla Bence

• Gregory Rogers

• Marlena Bergeron

• Cara Parker

• Megan Chamberlain

• Karin Parham

• Janet Duggan

• Emily Harrison

• Ayman Fadel

• Mary Beth Gaudette

• Kaitlin Giddens

Executive Session: Not required - Approve: Yay 5, No 0

• Personnel sheet: Approve: Yay 5, No 0

Adjourn: Yay 4, No 1 (Katie Allen, opposed and mentioned board items)

Work Session Board Meeting: September 23, 2025