Fannin County Board of Education Changes Bid Procedures

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“It will be the end of an era in transportation,” Benny Long, Fannin County Schools Transportation Director said while discussing new buses at the Fannin County Board of Education Meeting on September 10.

According to Long, the majority of students will now be in air-conditioned buses and all video cameras will be digitally taped instead of using video tape recording. Mr. Long asked for the purchase of a 71 passenger school bus that cost $87,777. Eighty-eight percent of the bus will be paid for using state “Bonds for Buses” funding. The rest will be paid using Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) money. This bus will be added to the 4 busses already bought for this school year.

The Board also looked at the financial report. Three percent of anticipated revenues for the fiscal year have been collected and 8% of expenditures budgeted have been spent. Superintendent Mark Henson said July was the 2nd highest collection of Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST )at $448,758.96.

According to Henson, “The highest was when things were humming really well.”

The Board approved to allow the Gideons to distribute New Testaments to 5th graders in October and Scoliosis Screenings for children aged 10 to 15 to be completed by the Fannin County Health Department. The School Board also agreed to let the Fannin County Health Department use Fannin County Schools’ facilities in case of a public health disaster.

Among the other items approved was an application to be recognized as a Distinguished Board by the Georgia School Boards Association and homeless student procedures. These procedures will ensure that a student attends school if they are homeless or unaccompanied. It also makes it easier for homeless students to withdraw if they move in with a relative who does not live near their current school.

Lastly, the Board approved of submitting the proposed changes to the bid policy out for public review. The changes will remove the costly and time consuming state bid procedure of a 28 day window and advertisements for bids over $50,000, but less than $100,000. Bids shall be needed for any purchase over $50,000, but they won’t have to go through the state bid procedure. The change also exempts programs and/or licenses for computer programs.

According to Technology Director, Dr. Michael Gwatney, “When this [policy] was initially introduced, it was not unusual to buy software programs that we would host on a server here with us, but the trend has moved away from that to….. [programs] that would be considered software purchases, purchasing through the cloud…We may not purchase software hosted here, we purchase the license, which is in effect the same.”

The Board saw a report from School Governance Teams, which have recently taken on the responsibility of approving local items for schools, such as small fundraiser requests, local field trip requests, and some budget matters.

Two new kindergarten teachers were among the employees hired at the meeting to reduce class sizes. Also among new hires is an Extension and Americorps Community Service Specialist, who will work with the 4-H program and Americorps to assist with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiatives within the Fannin County School District. The list of people who joined Fannin County Schools and who resigned can be found below.

Fannin September

In closing the meeting, Henson mentioned two events coming up. First, Henson spoke about the upcoming REACH Signing at Fannin County Middle School. REACH is a scholarship program for middle school students who are high achieving, but may not have the financial or moral support necessary to go to college. The REACH program follows 5 students through high school to help support the students through high school to help kids in the transition from high school to college.

Also, Henson mentioned the upcoming Teacher of the Year Banquet, where the following will be recognized and one will be named the system’s teacher of the year.

Blue Ridge Elementary-Barbara King

East Fannin Elementary-Jill Lambert

West Fannin Elementary-Joan Jantti

Fannin County Middle School-Ashley Herendon

Fannin County High School-Scott Barnstead

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