BOE adopts personnel and legislative delegates

EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. – After last months approvals for administration in the schools, the Board of Education returned to finalize school personnel for the coming 2021-22 school year during the BOE meeting near the end of February.

During the meeting the board individually voted for five staff members individually, each board member abstained from one vote on the five due to being a relative. After this, the board voted for each school individually for their staff as recommended by the school’s Principal including Clear Creek Elementary School, Ellijay Elementary School, Mountain View Elementary, Clear Creek Middle School, and Gilmer High School.

With no requests to pull any specific staff out for individual vote, the board approved the recommended staff renewals for each of the schools. Additionally, the Board approved the monthly staff changes including resignations, retirements, and new staff.

In preparation for the summer, the BOE approved amended training plans for the board to fulfill needs for its new members and also for existing members as well as appointing new state delegates. Increasing the hours of training for its existing members of previous years, the Gilmer BOE is attempting to achieve state recognition as a “distinguished board” which includes increased training. According to Superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs, the board was originally supposed to submit the training plans in September, but had to do so with current board members. Since its new members came on in January, the board is amending the submitted plans with the names of the new members.

The board elected Doug Pritchett as its legislative delegate and Michael Bramlett as the alternate for the Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) for the legislative session.

After discussion during their worksession, the board approved two policy changes including its Community Coaches policy.

The policy saw recommended changes from GSBA Legal Council and GHS’ Athletic Director to “provide clarity.” The changes to the policy included references to GHSA and their White Book alongside changes to hiring, background checks, and coaching principles.