Floyd BOE looks at budget, projects and teachers of year
The Floyd County Board of Education met for their final 2018 meeting Tuesday night with updates on current projects, next year’s and recognition of the system’s teachers of the year.
With the calendar year ending, board members focused some on planning for the 20192020 school year’s budget. The vast majority of the school systems funding comes from state or local property tax. Unfortunately, since student numbers have declined, revenue dollars from the state will also decline, said Greg Studdard, executive director of finance for FCS. He projected a loss of about a million dollars in revenue while expenses will stay the same. This means board members will have to look at how to raise that money back or if they need to cut something.
“We are going to look where our savings were,” Superintendent Jeff Wilson said.
Wilson added this is something the board will look carefully at in the budget as they plan next year’s budget at upcoming retreats and future board meetings.
Rainy weather has delayed full completion on a handful of projects underway across the system, Deputy Superintendent April Childers said. Pepperell Primary’s drainage project and Armuchee High School’s new gym are over 90 percent complete with workers waiting on dry ground to completely finish the projects. Meanwhile abatement has been completed on the Midway building, and the board is working with the county to set a date for demolition.
The board also voted Tuesday to use the current Pepperell Middle School site for the construction of the new middle school which will begin in summer 2019.
Board members also recognized 19 teacher of the year recipients for outstanding performance at their various schools. Zach Mendence was recognized as Pepperell Elementary School’s Teacher of the Year, Floyd County Schools’ Elementary Teacher of the Year and Floyd County Schools’ 2019 System Teacher of the Year. The recipients were handed their certificates by their district board member while a brief video played giving background to the teachers’ work.
Also recognized at Tuesday night’s board meeting was Abbi Shetter, a dual-enrollment senior from Pepperell High School who has completed all graduation requirements through the Floyd Transitional Academy. Shetter will walk with her fellow Pepperell High students in May, but in the meantime will continue her 12 hours of course work with Georgia Highlands earning college credit along the way.
The final things discussed at the board meeting were updates to the tobacco policy and dress code. Vape pens and Juul pods, both types of nicotine devices, have been added to the tobacco policy at FCS, banning them from campuses and using them will have the same punishments as other tobacco products. An update to the dress code policy was also added, banning hats sporting profanity as well as shorts with holes in them.