Fannin Board of Education Announces Savings

BLUE RIDGE, GA – Fannin County’s Board of Education shared news of tremendous savings at their regular monthly meeting held on Thursday, October 12, 2017.

Since its implementation in 2005, the Energy Cap system has saved Fannin County Schools an approximate $5,408,511.

The Energy Cap software, which is used nationally, is a utility bill tracking and sustainability system. This software streamlines billing and accounting, as well as provides analysis reports. It then rates the school system’s buildings for energy efficiency.

Fannin County High School showed the largest cost avoidance since the system’s implementation with approximately $1,773,267 in projected savings.

This news was met with approval from all board members. Fannin County Superintendent Dr. Michael Gwatney pointed out, “As we make our facilities better and more appropriate for our kids, we’re able to save money in the operation of those facilities.”

West Fannin Elementary School’s (WFES) Principal Lucas Roof presented the board with an update on the happenings of WFES. The school is seeing great success with its Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) program.

The STEM program was put into action by former principal Robert Ensley and STEM teacher Kim Patterson. The program has grown in the last four years, and WFES is hoping to become STEM certified by the state of Georgia this year.

A pre visit by the state is scheduled for November of this year. Roof stated about the STEM certification, “We feel like that it is something that is going to happen for us this year, and if that happens that is going to be big for our school.”

Fannin County High School Principal Erik Cioffi was also present with a request to revise policy in regards to early graduation.

Cioffi stated that with the current policy a student may be denied early graduation for “missing just one piece.”

The current policy contains nine requirements that students must meet to qualify for early graduation. Cioffi said that some students might fail to meet one of these requirements due to circumstance beyond their control.

He used the example that a student may face medical issues which would require the attendance rate to drop below 95%. He said, “that just didn’t make sense to us that that would prevent them from going.”

The change would add wording to the policy that states the Superintendent or designee could waive any of the criteria on a case-by-case basis.
This change in policy will be tabled for a thirty day period, after which board members will meet to vote on the approval or denial of the changes.

The Board of Education will hold its next Workshop and Meeting as regularly scheduled in the second week of November.

 

 

 

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that attracts more than 300,000 page views and 3.5 million impressions per month in Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYNTV attracts approximately 15,000 viewers per week and reaches between 15,000 to 60,000 per week on our Facebook page. For the most effective, least expensive local advertising, call 706-276-6397 or email us at advertise@FetchYourNews.com