Rick Patrick, Greene Publishing, Inc.
In an organizational meeting before their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 22, the Madison County School Board selected a new Chairman for the board. Bart Alford, from District 5, was elected to be the new Chair. Susie Williamson, from District 1, was elected to be Vice-chair. The board also welcomed two new board members; Reginald Daniels from District 4, and Carol Gibson, from District 2. The board also voted to keep the same schedule of biweekly public meetings. Board members will examine the possibility of holding a workshop meeting once a month and holding a regular public meeting once a month, thus replacing one of the regular meetings with a workshop meeting. The board then adjourned to the regular meeting.
At the beginning of the regular biweekly meeting the board dispelled a rumor that the Greenville Elementary School had been considered for closing. There have been rumors around Greenville for several weeks that there had been discussion about closing the elementary school in Greenville. These rumors even led the Town Council of Greenville to adopt a resolution of support for the Greenville school. When asked directly about these rumors and plans for the Greenville school, the board was quick to dispel the rumors. “That [Greenville] is in my district and I have not heard anything about that. If there has been any discussion about [closing the Greenville school], I would certainly need to know about that,” said VeEtta Hagan, District 3 School Board member. Newly elected Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Karen Pickles reemphasized this statement. “There have been no discussions about [closing the Greenville school],” said Pickles.
In other public comments for the school board, a parent expressed concern over the way her son was being treated by a bus driver. The parent, whose student rides bus number three, said that the driver had been verbally abusive to her son. She informed the board that her son is a large child who is over six feet tall and weighs about 250 pounds and has difficulty sitting in a seat with two other students. The parent claimed that her son had been ridiculed by the bus driver because of that. She said that the driver had even been in the student's classroom. Hagan told the parent that this is not the first complaint that she had heard about this driver and that it was never appropriate for a bus driver to enter a student's classroom. Hagan assured the parent that the problem would be addressed. Hagan then asked Pickles to look into this matter.
The board then voted to accept the items on the consent agenda. These items included minutes from the previous meeting, the North Florida Career Pathways Agreement with both North Florida Community College and Riveroak, the 2016-2017 five year work plan, GED requests, and non-general fund staff trips.
The board then considered items for individual consideration. The board passed a staff trip out of the general fund. There were no out of county student trips requested. There were no attendance zone or district transfer requests. The social media policy review will be workshopped on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 6 p.m.
Next the board discussed the state championship football game. This game is scheduled to take place on Thursday, Dec. 8, at 1 p.m. Alford informed the board that if the Madison County High School football team plays in the state championship game the team will leave on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Alford expressed concern that students would be missing school due to an extra-curricular activity. There was some discussion of possibly canceling school for that day, but it was decided that school would take place and that it would be a normal work day. Alford asked and the board voted to accept that a letter be sent to the Florida High School Athletic Association asking that in the future; these games be scheduled in a way that would minimize time away from class.
The board also voted to suspend, without pay, Adrian Kinsey. Kinsey is a paraprofessional at Madison County Central School (MCCS) and has been on administrative leave since his arrest earlier this month. Kinsey will be suspended without pay until the conclusion of an investigation by the State Dept. of Education. The board was also informed that there was a student serving an internship at MCCS who was also being paid as a substitute teacher. This is in direct contradiction to the board's wishes and those wishes had been communicated to the previous Superintendent. The board had never approved the substitute teaching position for this student. Hagan said that this could put the student's internship in jeopardy.
Supt. Pickles told the board that funding from the state will be very tight next year. Chief Financial Officer for the district, Ray Griffin, said that there would be “no new money” from the state. Every effort will be made to avoid laying off personnel. Griffin said that each school will be examined in terms of student population and attendance in order to determine the funding that school generates. Pickles said that the district will have to be very careful on how it spends funds over the next year.
There being no more business, the meeting was adjourned. The next scheduled regular meeting will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. in the School Board Meeting Room located at 210 N.E. Duval Ave., in Madison.