BOE questions qualifications for teachers, administrators
CALHOUN — The Gordon County Board of Education had questions and received few answers on Friday during a called board meeting where notifying the Board of large sums of money spent, school safety and the lowering of professional qualifications within the system were discussed.
The meeting began with Board member Charlie Walraven asking about additional expenses that were not approved by the Board concerning the Ashworth Middle School baseball field.
“I want to get clarification on this, the Ashworth Middle School baseball field. We approved $149,000 (for the building of the new field). We spend over $300,000 without anything else coming before the Board,’ said Walraven. “I’m firmly convinced that if it (the additional money) had been brought before the Board, it would have been approved.”
School Superintendent Susan Remillard told Walraven there needed to be consistency in the requests that were presented to the Board.
“You have to understand, last year, you said ‘Go ahead and paint the buildings,’ so one time you can do it and it’s OK, the next time you do it and it’s not,” said Remillard of needing requests to approve expenditures from the Board. “Just like you told us to cut those trees down (at Red Bud Elementary); I feel like now we should wait until you approve that because it will be over $10,000.”
Walraven told the group he’d like to see anything project with more than a $10,000 price tag bid out. “I can’t speak for the whole Board, but I’d like to see that.”
The board also discussed the District Improvement Plan, and the lowering of the standards of teachers and administrators in the school system.
During the fall of 2017 the district waived certification for all areas except for federally funded programs — special education, ESOL and gifted — and only required a bachelor’s degree. This lowering of standards also included those seeking administration positions.
“Is there a policy which says we must have a minimum Master’s (degree) unless it’s not available?” asked Walraven. “If we can exceed the minimums of the State; lots of times, the minimum is not the best.”