June Board of Education Recap

There were many items on June’s Chattooga County Board of Education meeting agenda. Here are some of the highlights:

The Board’s consideration of Chairman, John Agnew’s recommendation to appoint
a replacement to the District #01 vacant Board of Education Seat.

-Mr. Hayes made a motion to recommend Eddie Elsberry to fill the vacant Board seat, with a second by Mr. Ballard. Dr. Houston made a motion to recommend Kenneth Busbin Sr. but there was no second. The vote for Eddie Elsberry was unanimous.

Elsberry has spent the last 19 years with Berry College where he is currently the Director of Environmental Compliance & Sustainability and the Director of Agricultural Operations.
He served two terms on Chattooga County Board of Education, from 2004-2012, serving as vice-chair 2010-2012.

Elsberry will take his seat July 1 after being sworn in.

Financial Management

The Board approved the Superintendent’s recommendation to approve the
Temporary Spending Resolution for July and August 2019.
-Motion to approve was made by Mr. Hayes with a second by Dr. Houston and the vote was
unanimous.

Reading Program

The Board discussed the Superintendent’s recommendation to approve Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt (HMH Into Reading 2020) for K-5 students/teachers.

At the January 17 meeting, Julia Houston made a motion that the Board consider finding and adopting a different reading program for the 2019-2020 school year. John Agnew made a second motion. Sam Ballard, John Agnew, Julia Houston and Brad Hayes all voted in favor, with John Turner abstaining from the vote.

Following the Board’s instructions, Interim Superintendent Jared Hosmer appointed a special committee, based on recommendations from principals, to procure a curriculum for reading that fell under Houston’s suggestions. Mr. Hosmer discussed those findings.

“The new Reading Program total cost would be $248,320.54. That is a one time cost and the program is purchased for six years,” Mr. Hosmer explained.

“We were directed to find a new reading program for kindergarten through 5th grade at the January Board meeting. The District put together a Reading Adoption Committee to research current programs that are being used in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Multiple programs were studied by the group and by consensus, HMH was chosen as the best fit for Chattooga County. The District currently uses a Balanced Literacy Approach  to teaching Language Arts. We use Guided Reading (A to Z materials), Saxon Phonics, and Lucy Caulkins Writing. The District has been using a Balanced Literacy Approach for many years. Each year we spend an estimated $12,738 on A to Z materials, $15,657 on Saxon Phonics materials, and we own the Lucy Caulkins material. This, however, is not all the money we spend on Language Arts each year,” said Interim Superintendent Hosmer.

Board member Ballard asked Lisa Davis, “Do you feel this is an improvement, Lisa, over…?” to which Davis replied, “It’s basically what we already do as far as ‘balanced literacy’…”

A motion to approve the new reading program was made by Dr. Houston with a second coming from Mr. Agnew. The ensuing vote saw Mr. Agnew and Dr. Houston voting for the motion to adopt, at which time Agnew felt that the vote would be split, assuming Mr. Ballard and Mr. Hayes would be voting against the motion. Ultimately, the new reading program was not approved.

AllOnGeorgia reached out to Houston asking why she had made the initial recommendation in January for a new reading program and what she did to learn more about the reading program currently utilized by the school system over the ensuing months. An inquiry was also made as to whether she spoke to teachers or went into classrooms to observe current teaching curriculum or methodology. Houston failed to respond.

Personnel Changes Approved: 

Certified Transfers
–Jeff Martin; From Principal at Chattooga High School to Federal Programs Director
at the Central Office; Replacing Mike Martin; Beginning 07/01/19.
–Emily Mobbs; From CTAE Director at Chattooga High School to Principal at
Chattooga High School; Replacing Jeff Martin; Beginning 07/01/19.
–Nancy Edwards; From Assistant Principal at Chattooga High School to CTAE
Director/Assistant Principal at Chattooga High School; Replacing Emily Mobbs;
Beginning 07/01/19.
–Jennifer Reese; From System Success Team to Assistant Principal at Chattooga High
School; Replacing Nancy Edwards; Beginning 07/01/19.
–Robert Beach; From Math teacher at Menlo Elementary, Lyerly Elementary and
Summerville Middle Schools to Academic Coach at Chattooga County Education
Center; Replacing Michelle Helie; Beginning 07/01/19.

Certified Resignation
–Laura Gamble; Teacher at Leroy Massey Elementary School; Retirement; Effective
11/01/19.
–Melissa Colbert; Teacher at Lyerly Elementary School; Retirement; Effective
07/26/19.

Certified Recommendations
–Judith Hodges; Teacher at Leroy Massey Elementary School; Replacing Laura
Gamble; Beginning 07/29/19.
–Montana Hunter; Social Studies Teacher at Summerville Middle School; Replacing
Victoria Garnto; Beginning 07/29/19.
–Andy Stivers; Teacher at Leroy Massey Elementary School; Replacing Kristen
Causey; Beginning 07/29/19.

Classified Transfer
–Jessica Cabe; From School Food Service Worker at Lyerly Elementary School to
School Food Service Manager at same location; Beginning 07/29/19.

Classified Resignations
–Josh James; Maintenance Worker; Central Office; Personal reasons; Effective
06/21/19.
–Cheryl Black; Bus Driver; Retirement; Effective 05/31/19.

Classified Recommendations
–Shanda Johnson; School Food Service Assistant at Leroy Massey Elementary
School; Replacing Doris Flippo; Beginning FY’20.
–Kimberly Justice; WIOA Assistant at Chattooga High School; New Grant Allotment;
Beginning FY’20.

Substitutes
–Derrick Eckroat; Substitute Medical Personnel (School Nurse or EMT); Effective
07/29/19.
–Kristy Flowers; Substitute School Food Service Worker; Effective 07/29/19.
–Grace Floyd; Substitute School Food Service Worker/Summer Feeding Program;
Effective 06/04/19.
–Sophia Floyd; Substitute School Food Service Worker/Summer Feeding Program;
Effective 06/04/19.
-Motion to approve all of the personnel changes was made by Mr. Ballard with a second by Dr. Houston and the vote was unanimous.

Success Team: 

The system briefly considered moving the Success Team members into specific schools earlier in June. However, according to Hosmer, “…we have now decided to keep the Success Team as it is and give them a more defined schedule for FY20.”

Success Team District Level

Lisa Davis– English Language Arts

Angela Culbert– Science

Robert Beach– Math

To be covered by one of the School Level Coaches–  Social Studies

School Level

Martha Templeton

Meagan Ray

Watch the meeting here: