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
Columbia County School District Teachers of the Year Finalists for 2026
Tiffany Tanner, Parkway Elementary School
Nancy Morris, Columbia Middle School
Jona Gaskin, Westmont Elementary School
Kirsten Matthis, Evans High School
Lauren O’Neil, Cedar Ridge Elementary School
TechNetAugusta Capture the Flag Competition
Greenbrier Middle School, 2nd Place
Wyatt Ahrens
Mason Rice
Tobias Shoemaker
Lakeside Middle School, 1st Place
Michael Bowman
Roberto Guillen
Isaiah Jinif
Dexter Oberlies
Columbia County School District Foundation
Georgia’s OWN Credit Union
Trustees
Adam Williams, President
Stan Shepherd, VP
Megan Moye, Secretary
Steve Baxter
Kristi Baker
Dave Brendza
Stephen King
Yvonne Meeks
Dean Smith
Nichole Spence
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
Project Update
Lakeside HS
Once roof is done, inside gets done
School moved into PAC
Gym-footings going in and they have to be large
Evans HS
Similar gyms but different on the outside
Roofs being placed so inside coming together over 3 months
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.
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