New chair voted in for school board
The Polk County Board of Education has a new chair for the 2019 year as members came together for a combined session for January.
Board member Bernard Morgan, who just started a new term after he ran unopposed in 2018 to retain his seat, was voted unanimously to take over as the school board chair for the year.
He’ll take over for board member Tommy Sanders, who has held the post for the past two years.
Joining Morgan in a leadership position is new Vice Chair Kristy Gober, who was also voted unanimously by the board to take over the position. It was previously held by Morgan.
“I’m sitting in this hot seat now,” Morgan joked as he took the gavel over on Jan. 8. “Tommy’s kept it warm for a few years.”
A nomination for J.P. Foster to take over as school board chair was put forth initially, but he withdrew his name from consideration over health issues he plans to take care of this year, which he said would take attention away from the job of being the chair.
Board members also covered a number of procedural items during their January combined session, which included keeping their board attorney in place as they’ll continue to be represented by McRae, Smith, Peek, Harman and Monroe for the 2019 year.
One of the first orders of business for the board was approval of a calendar for their meetings for the coming year, with dates set for February 5 and Feb. 12, March 5 and March 12, a combined session for Spring Break on April 9, May 7 and May 14, June 4 and June 11, a combined session on July 9 for the Independence Day holiday, August 6 and 13, September 3 and 10, October 1 combined for the fall break, November 5 and 12, and December 3 to accommodate the holiday break.
The board also chose to stick with SunTrust Bank for their money market and payroll accounts, Southcrest Bank for their SPLOST and Bond Sales accounts, and the Georgia Fund I to cover investments.
Board members heard the November financial report, and the Polk School District was more than 40 percent through the year before the holiday break with $10.1 million in the bank, and more than $400,000 in SPLOST proceeds for the month.
Additionally, they had more than $4.1 million in the bank for the previous SPLOST account to pay back previous bond sales, and $15 million set aside from the 2017 sale of bonds to cover current construction.
Another $2 million is set aside for the current SPLOST to make principal and interest payments on bond sales.
In one final piece of business before going into executive session for personnel discussions and a later vote on that topic, the board also gave their permission for two field trips, and approved Memorandums of Understanding with the cities of Cedartown and Rockmart over middle and high school resource officers.
Long serving officers in the middle and high schools from the Cedartown and Rockmart Police Departments will continue on in their posts with the new operating agreements that Superintendent Laurie Atkins reported had already been approved by both cities. They serve in conjunction with the Polk School District Police formed in 2018.
The Jan. 8 combined session also marked the start of terms for two new members. Vicki Mayes and Britt Madden Jr. were welcomed by the rest of the school board to their new posts as the meeting began.
Officials took time out to honor the January 2019 M.E.R.I.T. winner. The Polk School District gave the award this month to School Resource Officer Joy Smith at Van Wert Elementary School in Rockmart.
Smith was nominated by her peers for the award, which includes recognition from the district and a gift basket from Floyd Medical Center, who sponsors the program.