Updates, recognition theme of Monday’s meeting

Floyd County School’s meet for third regular meeting

The Floyd County Schools Board of Education settled into its new schedule of meeting on the third Monday of the month Monday night with officials giving recognition and updates to the community.

During the 5 p.m. caucus in Superintendent Jeff Wilson’s office, the head of the school system gave a brief update on the tuberculosis case at Model Elementary and Johnson Elementary that was announced in late February.

“We haven’t been made aware of folks getting TB from that incident,” Wilson said.

He restated the update in the regular board meeting and added he and the system would not hide anything from the public. “We’re not gonna hide anything we know,” he said.

An update was given by David Van Hook, director of facilities, who informed the board of the progress made on the Armuchee High School gymnasium thanks to a lack of rain. Van Hook also gave suggestions on how to save construction costs with the Pepperell Middle School construction project which will begin later this year.

The board voted to table the facility use policy which would have received its second reading Monday night. Discussions on who should and would be allowed to use school facilities for a fee were discussed in caucus Monday night with the board ultimately deciding to table the policy until they could come up with a revised version.

“We have some things we would like to tweak after our discussion tonight,” Wilson said.

The competitive interscholastic activities policy passed its first reading which would reinforce the state policy that prohibits a school to hold a student back for athletic purposes.

“Everybody in this room knows that does happen, not at our schools, but it does happen,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t really legal before but now they have made it very clear.”

The policy is mandatory statewide, he said, and it will hurt other school systems. The new policy also affirms that school principals are over athletics.

Other items approved Monday were the minutes from last month’s board meeting, the financial records from January and changes in personnel which included 12 retiring teachers and other staff including Armuchee High School Assistant Principal Dan Tibbets. Also approved by the board was the selling of surplus buses the system could no longer use and to allow the superintendent to draft a proposal for Mountain Education to bring before the board at a later date.

In the academic spotlight Monday night were nine county students who were not only recognized during the board meeting but also set up a civic engagement fair at the central office media center.

Students like Coosa senior Lillian Chestnut had poster boards on how they engaged in the community. For two years Chestnut worked with the Public Animal Welfare Services to help increase adoptions. She worked with the organizations social media and even adopted one of the dogs herself. After high school Chestnut wants to become a graphic designer and already has tried her hand at some. Some may recognize her artwork which was featured on the cover of the November Taste and Toast issue of V3 magazine.

Chestnut and the eight other students who were able to attend the meeting Monday night received certificates from the board members and will also receive the Georgia Department of Education’s Civic Engagement Seal on their diplomas.

The board gave Wes Conley of Armuchee High School a certificate of congratulations for winning the state wrestling tournament in the 113 pound weight bracket. Model Middle School’s Sara Grace Abernathy, a sixth grader, was rec- ognized for winning the 2019 Floyd County Schools Gifted Oratorical Contest and recited her speech on optimism versus reality for the board. Following Abernathy was Johnson Elementary who was the school of the night and was presented by Principal Tanya Welchel.