Coweta School Board adopts new calendars, approves district lines

From Coweta County Schools Press Release

The Coweta County Board of Education adopted new school system calendars and approved district lines for next year’s opening of the new Blake Bass Middle School, during its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 10.

Tuesday’s meeting was presided over by Chairman Amy Dees. Citizens who wished to have access to the board’s meeting could watch the meeting live on YouTube, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at Coweta County School Board Meeting – 11/10/2020 (https://youtu.be/zksYsKNHX6I), or attend in-person.  To see the agenda and supporting documents for this meeting, go to the Coweta County School System’s EBoard Solutions site and select the 11/10/2020 meeting.

Among the action taken at the November meeting, the board:

• Approved district lines for the new Blake Bass Middle School, which will open in August 2021. The new district includes areas currently in the Madras, Lee and Arnall middle school districts. The Board approved the Option One redistricting map and the redistricting’s grandfathering procedure, both of which had been recommended by a District Line Working Committee formed last school year to examine potential redistricting options.  This committee developed two potential redistricting options for consideration.  Public comment on both options was solicited and provided to board members for review before Tuesday’s vote.
• Approved 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic calendars for the school system.  Stakeholder input was received regarding school calendar preferences for the upcoming two academic years. The survey included three calendar options, and questions regarding the length of traditional holidays for students. 86% of 2,182 respondents said they “Prefer” Calendar Option 1 (with the current full breaks in November, December and February), which is similar to current academic calendars followed by the school system, and majorities of respondents indicated support for keeping current a full Thanksgiving break, Christmas and New Year’s break, and February mid-Winter break.
• Approved Easement Agreements with Coweta County Water and Sewerage Authority for an easement along Pete Road and the lift station at Canongate Elementary School.
• Approved resolutions for Certificates of Completion for the recent HVAC projects at middle school gymnasiums.  The HVAC units were installed over the summer at East Coweta Middle School, Lee Middle School, Arnall Middle School, Madras Middle School and Smokey Road Middle School gyms.
• Approved a $63,491.30 bid submitted by DPM Networking, Inc., for replacement of video management servers at East Coweta High School.  Two of the servers used in East Coweta High School’s surveillance system crashed in October, leaving a significant percentage of the school’s security camera system inoperable.  The existing video management system is no longer supported by the original vendor. This situation was deemed an emergency purchase due to safety concerns that could result from not having working surveillance cameras in a high school setting.  The Superintendent approved an emergency purchase in compliance with board policy DJED and notified board members. Superintendent Horton asked for formal approval of the emergency purchase by the board, which approved the action unanimously. The proposal is attached and marked as Exhibit B.
• Heard a report from Assistant Superintendent for Finance Keith Chapman that the system has completed 33.33 percent of FY2021 and expended 32.37% of the budget. For the month of October, the system was under budget $618,174 and cumulatively under budget $1,104,700 for the year. Sales tax receipts were $2,465,817.71 for October which was above the monthly average of $2,367,286.75 for the last 12 months.  Receipts increased by $325,851.59 over October, 2019 receipts, and decreased $996,405.57 below September 2020 receipts.  Sales tax collections for the most recent 12 months were $28,407,440.99, 12.81% above the prior year.
• Recognized the Coweta County School System Special Education Department and Director Melissa Casablanca for the department’s recent Cross Functional Monitoring Visit.  The school system’s special education department and services were evaluated in three areas including fiscal monitoring, procedures and process and IEP compliance, and received 100% compliance in all areas.