CCBoE Regular Session 02.11.2025 Notes
School Board Votes on HB581
(Conversations are paraphrased and just notes. Nothing is transcribed)
Call To Order
Invocation - Congregation Children of Israel Rabbi Oppenheimer
Pledge of Allegiance - Evans Elementary School 4H Presidents
Approval of Agenda: Yay 5, No 0
Special Recognitions
Georgia CyberPatriot State Championship - Evans HS 2nd Place
GHSA 5A Coach of the Year 2024 - Lakeside HS Scott Hibbitt
Board Comments and Acknowledgements:
Dekle: Thanks to 4Hers. Thanks to Rabbi Oppenheimer. Thanks to Mr. Alalof for being here tonight. Congratulations to Evans HS CyberPatriots. Evans was here last year too, right? Thank you for your dedication. Coach Hibbitt - Thank you for your leadership and congratulations.
Allen: Thank you 4Hers and CyberPatriots. Thanks to everyone for all of your hard work and dedication. I also wanted to thank Dr. Carroll for the information about the implementation of the Science of Reading. Attended the CTAE competition. It was wonderful to see and watch all of the students working hard in a variety of fields. District performances at AU were wonderful as well - teachers, parents and everyone coming together to support our students.
Teasley: Thank you everyone. The Columbia County Youth Leadership is here too - let’s have you stand up. I’m glad your here learning more about Columbia County. I want to echo Ms. Allen about the CTAE showcase. Students were working to improve their futures. We are grateful and blessed for the staff and hard working students that make all of that happen.
Kent: Thank you to Rabbi Oppenheimer. Thank you to Coach Hibbits. You’re a gifted leader and I’m sure you’ll go far. I love having the 4Hers come out and I really appreciate the attendance of everyone coming out tonight.
Learning Resources For Pre-K
Funded by State Resources
Receiving additional funding from State for this program
Based on feedback from classrooms (12 across 6 schools), they needed updated resource because the current one is 10 years old
Committee was formed to review different resources/curriculum
8 State-Approved reviewed by 4 weren’t acceptable because they were being discontinued
Narrowed it down 2 but decided on 1 based on alignment to GA Early Learning Standards
Frog Street - new PreK Learning Resource
$53K across 12 classrooms (State funded)
Review samples available in the lobby for 12 days
feedback to committee
Allen: Are there going to be multiple copies available and how will the feedback form be collected?
Bosch: 1 copy in the lobby. There will be forms online. We can work with parents to review
Allen: How was this narrowed down? What was the criteria?
Bosch: Policy IEOF is the criteria used. This is the Resource that meets the standards and is age-appropriate.
Board Norms & Protocols
GA School Board Association recommends that boards approve norms and protocols on a regular basis
Discussed during training meeting
All in favor: Yay 5, No 0
HB581
Held 3 public hearings
Teasley: Motion to opt-out of HB581. Baker 2nd.
Allen: Thank you for the public participation. Everyone had more of an understanding through the discussion. The residents voted 70% in favor of this. Confident what voters voted for and the board can still create something similar locally if opt-out.
Kent: I recognize the spirit of the law. It was confusing and poorly write though. I would encourage us to come up with our own version at the local level. We should have a more local solution.
Baker: Thank you for everyone who reached out to me. People were pretty split that reached out to me. Most people didn’t know that it locks us in for 50 years. It’s a hard decision for everyone.
Teasley: The law also gives us the opportunity to opt-out. If we opt-in, it’s a 50 year commitment and we would eliminate our control during that time.
Allen: I want to echo Mr. Kent that I challenge our board to honor the intent of the voters.
Dekle: The reality is the school district is without an option for a sales tax, so the school district would be faced with financial pain. It doesn’t lower the cost of doing business. Most of our costs are set by the State. It would also shift to non-homestead properties, increasing millage to cover expenses. It wouldn’t benefit some homeowners in the long run. I’m hoping to do something this year to give some relief to local property owners.
Vote to opt-out of HB581: Yay 3 (Dekle, Teasley, Baker) No 2 (Kent, Allen)
Building Program
N Columbia ES: Roofing membrane over classrooms installed, window installation, brickwork started outside and in lunchroom
Lakeside HS: Left side building (band, fine arts). Right side (Cafeteria, media center). New temp entrance. Classrooms - open over summer, then remove trailers to work on back of school. Parent drop-off is improving and going better.
Evans HS: Left (Auditorium), Right (Lobby, gym). Gym/locker rooms, drive through in the back will be used when done. Parking lot open in the front. Less parking in the back right now.
Baseball field - storm damage. Batting cages replaced and repair buildings.
Allen: Is the insurance covering the damage?
Casado: Not all of it because we’re making additional improvements. We’re looking into some FEMA grants as well.
Allen: 80%?
Casado: I’ll need to look that up but I can get that to you.
Baker: What is the lifespan of the schools?
Flynt: Newer buildings are 50-75 years. Older buildings are less than 50.
Bid Results:
Approve Bid for Norvell for $183,600: Yay 5, No 0
Approve bid for High-Speed Duplicating Machines from Simplified OS: Yay 5, No 0
Allen: How does this compare to previous contracts
Casado: It is an increase from .004 cents to now .00470 per copy. These are the best prices offered. DSI had a big jump in the per copy.
Allen: Does this include maintenance?
Casado: Yes, it includes supplies and maintenance. It doesn’t include paper though.
Flynt: These are high-speed machines so it’s cheaper per copy then traditional copy machines. We have separate bids for regular copy machines.
Superintendent Reports
Celebrated School Counseling Week February 3-7
CTAE Workforce Showcase 2/7
Permissive Transfer
2/24-3/21 PreK Lottery Sign-up. Drawing will be on 3/28 and announced on each school’s website.
Dates
Student Teacher Achievement Recognition Banquet, 2/13
Early Dismissal/School Professional Learning Day, 2/14
Presidents’ Day Holiday, 2/17
PreK Registration, 2/24-3/21
CCSD Foundation Top Golf Event, 3/3
CC Career and College Expo, 3/6
End of 3rd 9 Weeks, 3/11
Early Dismissal/Parent Conferences, 3/14
School Board Appreciation Week, 3/17-3/21
Report Cards, 3/18
Special Olympics, 3/21
Special Olympics Inclement Weather Day, 3/24
Teaching as a Profession (TAP) Talks, 3/26
PreK Drawing, 3/28
Public Participation:
Janet Duggan: Appreciates the discussions of the pros and cons of HB581 and that it was a hard decision. There is a take away that 72% of voters wanted to lower their property taxes. She hopes the board takes this as an opportunity to honor the will of the voters through the budget and millage rate. The double digit increases in the past 2 years were not acceptable. She encourages the board to look at that during the budget process. When there were increases in the revenue, she has concerns that large amounts were moved to the building budget. She tried to get feedback on how much of the operating budget was moved to the building project but didn’t really get anything back.
Executive session:
Personnel: Approve - Yay 5, No 0
Legal
Real Estate
Adjourn: Yay 5, No 0