BOE approves administrators and board chairs
News January 30, 2022EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. – The beginning of 2022 has the Gilmer Board of Education establishing the new year with annual approvals and nominations for board chairs and school administrators renewals.
A typical agenda item for January, the approval of chairs sets the officers for the entire year while administrator renewal must be approved before they can then submit their own personnel lists for approval.
Official nominations and approvals came for Ronald Watkins as Board Chairman and Doug Pritchett as Board Vice-Chair.
Alongside the approval on January’s personnel changes approved as a whole, administrative renewals were handled individually.
For administrators in the central office for the Board of Education, unanimous approvals came for Lottie Mitchell as Assistant Superintendent overseeing Curriculum, Lindy Patterson as Federal Programs Director & Title IX Coordinator, Jessica Chastain as Student Services Director, Trina Penland as Finance Director, John Call as Technology Director, Patricia Partin as School Nutrition Director, Samantha Amos as Transportation Director, Bob Sosebee as Maintenance Director, and Kim Cagle as Testing Coordinator.
Dana Berry was approved with three yes votes as Assistant Superintendent overseeing Operations. Board members Michael Parks and Joe Pflueger abstained from voting.
As for School Administrators, unanimous approval came for Nicole Pike as Principal of Clear Creek Middle School, Melinda Fonteboa as Principal of Ellijay Elementary School, Stephanie Burnette as Principal of Clear Creek Elementary School, and Charles Walker as Principal of Mountain View Elementary School.
Carla Foley was approved as principal of Gilmer High School with three votes. Board member Michael Parks abstained from voting. Board member Joe Pflueger voted against the approval.
BOE adopts personnel and legislative delegates
News March 2, 2021EAST 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.
Approvals from Board Officers to School Administrators in January’s BOE
Board of Education, News January 31, 2021EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. – January is typically a month of changes and approvals for administrators positions in Gilmer’s BOE and 2021 is no different with two newly elected Board Members casting their first votes looking at school administrators, meeting dates, and other higher level choices preparing them for the second semester of the school year as well as the entirety of their terms on the board.
This month saw a slight change in meetings as the board adjusted next January’s meeting dates to avoid Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Setting those dates a week later just as they were this month. With this minor change the final set meeting schedule for the Board was approved. However, that approval came with another requested change. The board has been meeting at 5:30 p.m. for over a year, but now, a request came to adjust the meetings back to 6 p.m. The BOE has met at 6 p.m. in the past, but adjusted meeting dates annually as board members needed.
This change is no different as Superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs said the change was requested “to better accommodate Board Members who commute out of town for work.” Unanimous approval finalized the change and officially set the dates for the coming year.
With the two newest board members, Joe Pflueger and Michael Parks, officially taking office, the board set about its annual nominations for Chairman and Vice Chairman. Ronald Watkins was nominated, and subsequently approved, as 2021’s Chairman. Doug Pritchett was then nominated and approved as Vice-Chairman.
Alongside their normal Personnel, the board approved each administrator for the district’s schools as well as administrative positions over the schools. According to Downs, approving the administration positions this month will allow those administrators to appoint and recommend staff for approval next month. Unanimous approvals came for the BOE administrations, and 4-0 votes came for the 5 principals of schools with nobody voting against. Board Member Joe Pflueger did abstain from voting on the 5 principals. He later told FYN that he simply abstained because he did not receive some requested evaluation paperwork on those principals. Because of that, he felt he did not have enough information for the vote.
There was another new position filled prior, but presented just after the Board Meeting. Hosted by the Gilmer Touchdown Club, a small reception was held after the meeting introducing Gilmer’s new Football Coach, Paul Standard.
According to Gilmer Schools, “Coach Standard comes to the Bobcats from St. Pius X in Atlanta, where he has served as head coach for the past 20-years, compiling a 174-72 record. Coach Standard has eight region championships, an eighteen year playoff record, and twelve Top 10 state rankings.”
Coach Standard said, “The kindness, the generosity, and the graciousness of this entire community from the first time that I met with the administration in early January to now has been unbelievable. The Gilmer and Ellijay community have opened their arms up to me and my family and I couldn’t be more excited and thankful.”
Officially approved as a teacher at Gilmer High School this week, Standard is now, formally, a part of the Bobcat Community.
Bids, Budgeting, and Personnel in May’s Board of Education
News May 25, 2020EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. – New bids for fuel and disposal were approved this month by the Gilmer Board of Education in preparation of the coming school year.
Presented during the work-session, the bids sheet shown each bid with the low bids highlighted, which were later approved as the awarded bids for the year. This saw Cherry Log Petroleum awarded with the bid of $9.95/gallon on Motor Oil and $9.96 for antifreeze. Petroleum Traders Corp won the bid for fuel at 0.0174 for Diesel and 0.0314 for ethanol free gasoline. Appalachian Propane won the propane bid at 0.774 per gallon. Scanna Energy won the Natural Gas bid for 12 months at 0.291 per therm. Advanced Disposal won dumpster service at $4,520.56 per month.
The Personnel approvals saw a minor dissent with Board Member Ronald Watkins abstaining from a couple of votes, he said he he didn’t want to vote against these people, but he wanted to see more priority and preference to local people over searching outside the county. He said, “I feel like we have got to take care of our own.” Watkins made special note on the current economy and the difficulty some may find in getting a job. Watkins said that while some may not interview as well, but if they have worked for us, and people vouch for them, then we know what we’re getting.
Pushing for more local preference, Watkins did vote yes on most of the personnel, it was only 2 people that he abstained from. He made sure to say that he wanted it known that he wasn’t against them and, therefore, would not vote no.
A final note, Gilmer may be looking for a spending resolution next month. Though progressing on schedule with the budgeting process during the last few months, the change comes from certain uncertainties in the county and warnings from the state about funding shortages. A comment was made during the meeting that the board may not get full details until July along with the funding. Because of these issues, the budgeting is taking a hit and the board could see major differences in the available funds. It was suggested outside of the meeting that the board may supplement some needs with fund balance, but the school system’s actual response will have to wait for final say from the state before they can make any real plans to cover or cut things.