Gordon BOE Sees Increase in Student Attendance

GORDON COUNTY, Ga. – The BOE board met Monday, September 13th at 7:00pm and the first item on the agenda was the superintendent report. Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Fraker started by discussing attendance. October will be high attendance month and the school system plans to have more of a focus on attendance awareness in the upcoming month. The slogan for the month of October will be “Attend today, achieve tomorrow”.

Fraker went on to discuss an uphill trend for enrollment in the schools. The county saw a drop in enrollment in 2020, but as of now there is slow progression, and the enrollment number is currently 6457.

The report also touched on the expanding of safety law enforcement in the county schools. The superintendent announced that the “Anonymous Alert System” is now available. The alert system is an app for parents, teachers, students, and community members to alert of a safety issue in the schools or nearby areas.

Effects of inflation were next in the report. Stating that inflation will be affecting this year’s budget due to the increasing of custodial products.

Basic school supplies such as paper were also affected. Fraker says, “We have learned there is going to be a limit on how much paper we can order”. Fraker also went on to say, “you will be seeing us going more paperless as we move forward.”

Next on the agenda was new business. The new business included two department reports. The first report was the monthly financials and was given by Mendy Goble. The second report was a presentation given by Southern A and E Architects regarding upcoming projects.

The board then went into executive session and when they returned the board heard the superintendent recommendations for review and approval.

The first recommendation was the 1st reading of a new policy regarding booster clubs. As of now the booster clubs do not have any rules or regulation in place and the policy would be put in place to develop those written policies and procedures to establish booster clubs in the county school system. The policy would give permission to establish policies and procedures for those booster organizations to provide more structure. The policy will not go up for approval until the October meeting.

Next was the Tallatoona Head Start Program. The program is meant to support students with special needs. This program is one that is renewed each year. The superintendent recommended the approval with MOU for Tallatoona Head Start Program. Motion was approved.

Perkins 5 Program Improvement Grant Funds of CTAE Federal Funding was also presented. These funds are to be spent on technology for the CTAE program, travel and training for the teachers in those programs and upgrades to equipment, items and resources that they are needed for the program. Fraker recommended approval for the proposed budget and grants in the amount of $58, 881. The motion was approved.

The superintendent then recommended the approval of contract teachers for the Learning Loss Plan. The plan is required to be put into place with relief funds and would allow schools to hire teachers to help students needing extra help in certain subjects. The plan would be funded by the American Rescue Plan Act and Title 1 funds. The board approved the motion.

The board will meet again on October 3, 2022 at 7:00pm.