The Board of Education packed in several approvals to their regular meeting Thursday, February 11.

In addition to approvals of Financials and ESPLOST Expenditures, Dr. Wilkes also stated the Board was moving forward with a purchase for the school buses. After purchasing all the buses this year with air conditioning, Dr. Wilkes investigated the costs for adding air conditioning to the previous buses the board purchased. With offers initialing coming in high, the Board did receive an offer that would be equivalent in costs to the price the buses would have been if they had been bought with air conditioning in the first place. Dr. Wilkes does intend to move forward with this offer to upgrade the 5 buses the Board purchased last year.

The voting is completed and the Board has decided. The Calendars put up for consideration of the public were put before the Board of Education on Monday. Dr. Wilkes recommended the Board approve the public’s choice of calendar #5, and the vote came in unanimous in favor of that choice.

The Board moved on to approve Policies GCRA(1) Drug Screening for Bus Drivers, GCRH Classified Personnel Vacations, and the rescinding of GCRGA Classified Personnel Emergency and Legal Leave due to redundancy in another policy.

In the final minutes of the meeting, Jim Parmer was nominated and approved to become Gilmer County Schools Representative at the Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) Conference in Savannah this June and the site of the Agricultural Facility was formally approved after reception of the survey and testing, according to Dr. Wilkes, continue to prove the site to be the best location for the facility.