Story by Donna Thornton donna@southerntorch.com
The DeKalb County Board of Education dealt with bids and personnel actions during its regular meeting Thursday, and heard an update on the legislative session during its work session.
AEA UniServ District 34 representative Jesse McDaniel told board members that the most important piece of legislation impacting schools in the current session is probably the Choose Act, a private school voucher program which he described as a way to use taxpayer funds to basically subsidize a private school education. It will affect all schools, even in areas where there are not a lot of private schools. AEA is working to put a cap on what that will cost the state budgets.
He encouraged board members to speak to their legislators about the legislation. If public schools are held accountable for the money they receive, he said, any school receiving state funds should be also.
“I feel like a key component of this needs to be accountability,” Superintendent Wayne Lyles said. “If they’re going to be receiving tax dollars for education purposes, let’s have the same accountability for those dollars as the ones we receive and have to be accountable for through the Literacy Act, the state school report card and our ACT scores.
McDaniel said the accountability in the legislation is still not “apples to apples.” While public schools are subject to a host of assessments, he said, the legislation would essentially let private schools choose what test they take. “It’s a lot more lenient on private school,” McDaniel said. “What we’re asking for is fairness.”
The board approved:
A bid of $51,105 from High Country Toyota for a 2024 Toyota Sienna for use by the Child Nutrition Program
A bid through state-approved Sourcewell for home and visitors’ side bleachers with press box at Valley Head
A bid for visitors’ side bleachers with press box at Geraldine
A bid for visitors’ side bleachers with press box at Collinsville
A visitors’ side press box for Fyffe High School
A bid through Sourcewell for three Bluebird Type C 54-passenger special needs diesel buses at a cost of $146,465 each
A bid through Sourcewell for nine Bluebird Type C 72- passenger gas buses at a cost of $133,944 each
Curt and Trey O’Daniel with Greenhill Engineering reported on projects.
The Ider softball project is behind schedule, because of 20 rain days in January. It is expected to be complete for school next year with a projected completion date in June.
Paving work in Crossville is waiting for spring break, to be done when there are no kids and traffic at school.
The board approved the following personnel actions:
On the job injury - Lee Dalton, assistant principal, Fyffe Special Services, 0 days
Leaves of absence:
Lori Miller, itinerant special education teacher, Sylvania High School, Feb. 1-May 24
Rachel Goolsby, English language arts teacher, Fyffe High School, March 4-May 23
Angela Beavers, CNP worker, Crossville Middle School, Feb. 3-March 22
Phillip Pointer, head custodian, Crossville Middle School, Dec. 4, 2023-March 6 (extended from Feb. 2)
Shannon Pruett, elementary teacher, Ider High School, March 26-May 7
Retirement: Larry Odom, bus driver, Crossville Middle/Crossville High, effective Feb. 29
Resignation: Jodie Barton, itinerant special education teacher, Crossville Middle School, effective Feb. 9
Transfers:
Tanner Nelson, from P.E. teacher at Collinsville High School to secondary teacher with head football coaching duties at Sylvania High School, effective Feb. 23
Jon Bruce Beam, from bus driver at Crossville Middle School to bus driver at Crossville Elementary School, effective Feb. 23
Placements (All placements are made pending a background review meeting suitability criteria, negative pre-employment drug screen, and appropriate certification.)
Certified:
David Chapman, P.E. teacher (leave from March 18-May 24, Crossville Elementary
Christopher Jones, Junior High Baseball coaching duties, Collinsville High School, effective Feb. 23
Support:
Arminda Olivera, itinerant ½ Crossville Elementary, ½ Crossville High assistant custodian, effective Feb. 23
Holly Hughes, bus driver, Ider High School, effective Feb. 1
Sara Culpepper, bus tech route (in addition to regular route), Ider High School, effective Feb. 5
Karmen Smith, vocational job rehabilitation job coach, effective Feb. 23
Cody Feltman, bus driver, Ider High School, effective Feb. 1
Volunteer coaches:
Geraldine High School, Brandon Wade, baseball
Sylvania High School, Joey Oliver, softball
In the superintendent’s report, Lyles congratulated the system’s Beta Chapters for their great showing at the state Beta competition, and Sylvania Girls, Ider Girls, Plainview Girls, Geraldine Boys and Plainview Boys for qualifying fro the AHSAA Northeast Regional Tournament.
Lyles noted that the school system will grant e-learning days when teams compete in state tournaments for early and mid-day games, and grant early dismissal for evening games to allow adequate time to travel to the game, while ensuring the breakfast and lunch are served.
The school system is held accountable by the Alabama State Department of Education for instructional time.
“We’ll do what we can to help our students support our teams,” Lyles said, following the same policies it has in the past.
Lyles told board members DeKalb County Schools were recognized in San Antonio, Texas as High Reliability Schools Level 1 Certified Schools. “We have 12 of the 56 schools in the state to earn this honor,” he said. “We are currently working towards HRS Level 2.”
The next regular board meeting will be March 21, with work session at 4:30 p.m., and meeting at 5 p.m.
