Katie Hightower
On Feb. 26, the Jackson County Board of Education held its monthly work session and board meeting. In the work session, topics discussed included revising the Schneider agreement, the transportation and maintenance departments, grants, replacing Skyline’s school building, the possible closure of Flat Rock School and principal contracts.
Craig Robbins, Assistant Superintendent of Jackson County Schools, said that a revision was needed with the Schneider agreement which included adjusting language in the contract, the terms of the contract and upgrading the operating system to control the HVAC system.
Robbins then gave the board an update on the maintenance and transportation departments. He said the departments recently completed the annual state inspection of buses and they had zero major deficiencies. He said it was a trend the department has held for the past five years. Robbins also said that less than 10% major deficiencies was considered excellent by the state.
“I want recognize those guys: Landon Wallingsford and his crew, Cody Knight, Tim Carter, Chris Hamby and I appreciate the excellent work they do every day,” Robbins said. “This is not something they do one time of year so we can pass state inspections. This is a reflection of everything that’s done throughout the course of the year.”
Robbins said the transportation department was in the process of writing a proposal to upgrade the radio equipment for the buses to a digital system which would expand the coverage for communication.
Robbins then went over the capital project updates. He said the next big project will be the replacement of Section High School’s Roof. He said it was currently in the bid phase and he hoped to get started in the late spring or early summer. He said the North Jackson press box renovation should be finished in the next couple of weeks. Robbins then said the North Sand Mountain’s Baseball field lighting upgrades should begin installation within days. He said the robotics expansion for Kevin Dukes Career and Innovation Academy was being prepared for final submittal for approval. Robbins then updated the board on a FEMA grant for new storm shelters for the high schools. He said the grant was on hold and it was unknown when the hold will be lifted.
Robbins updated the board on an air purifier project for classrooms across the district. It was paid for by a grant from UAB. He said the air purifiers paired with the new HVAC units and roofs will improve air quality to all of the buildings.
The board then was updated by Coordinators, Ashley Lee and Ashley Paschal on grants that were awarded to Jackson County Schools that improved learning for the system. JCS received over $274,000 from Google which helped purchase 3D printers and scanners, Raspberry Pis, Sphere coding robots, coding drones and obstacle courses, fine arts/music enhancements, NJHS STEM Club and the school’s first Anatomage table. JCS received a $50,000 literacy grant from ARI which helped purchase ABii Robots for all of JCS’s first grade classrooms to provide tutoring assistance, a $300,000 grant from Boeing for the robot lab and $225,000 from the College and Career Readiness Grant which helped the school system purchase another Anatomage table and pay for the fall ACT administration.
The coordinators then spoke about JACO’s art and literature magazine, Our Time. The magazine was created as a way for students to share their writing and art, to encourage creativity and recognize students. Published students received certificates, pins and a copy of the magazine sponsored by Mr. Steve Livingston. This year’s publication had over 135 submissions.
Lee and Paschal then shared several projects and programs for teachers to not only improve their work experience but to provide a better educational environment for students as well.
The board then reviewed the need for a new school building at Skyline. Superintendent, Jason Davidson, said Skyline’s building “well surpassed its lifespan” and needed to be replaced. He said would like to work with the town to preserve what they could and he wanted the board’s permission to meet with architects to use their creativity to come up with some conceptual ideas for the project. Davidson said he estimated a window of three to four years to complete the project which would have to be done in phases to minimize disruption to students.
The board then addressed the state of Flat Rock School. Flat Rock School was built in 1914 and had renovations in 1977 and 2000. The building has 32,393 square feet of area on 18.04 acres of land. In the past five years, most of the grades had student enrollment in the single digits. The total budget for Flat Rock’s school was $1,676,308.40 for 62 ADM which cost $27,037.23 per student. The average CNP expenditures were $17,731.63.
Challenges Flat Rock faced included combined classes in lower elementary grades, teachers in charge of over five subjects plus physical education, non-existent grade-level planning and team meetings, no summer camps due to low ADM and difficulty receiving funds for a math coach. Students did not have a counselor, athletic programs or extracurricular activities. The special education program had one full SPED teacher for 14 students.
JCS Attorney, John Porter, said that the board would have to go to the state to get the state to deed the property to Jackson County School Board in order to sell the property. Davidson then discussed possibly subdividing the property. Davidson said they were looking to place Flat Rock’s staff at other schools and to move the kids to North Sand Mountain School, Rosalie and Pisgah School.
Flat Rock’s principal, Shawn Phillips has one year left on his contract. He said that Flat Rock’s staff deserved an opportunity to continue working and had a great work ethic. Phillips said he did not think the staff would be shocked with a decision to close the school.
In the board meeting the board passed the financial statements for Dec. 2024 and Jan. 2025. The Dec. payroll expenditures were $4,812,082.39 and the non-payroll expenditures were $1,750,994.38. The Jan. payroll expenditures were $4,590,637.08 and the non-payroll expenditures were $2,026,900.03.
The board approved the expenditure of $52,000 to Porter Roofing Contractors, Inc. for roof repairs at Section High School, the job descriptions for a behavior specialist and a special education program specialist, the revised Schneider agreement and to pay coordinators a one time stipend in the amount of $15k for summer 2025.
The board then approved the personnel changes which included coaching assignments.
The board also saw a presentation to discuss Jackson County Schools’ compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act.
