SCBOE set to adopt roll-back millage rate during tomorrow’s meeting

By Jessica Waters

The Stephens County Board of Education will meet tomorrow, July 18, for the July regular meeting.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the school administration building, 191 Big A School Road in Toccoa. The meeting is open to the public.

Included on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is the Board’s adoption of the roll-back millage rate of 14.76 mills.

Board members will also hear a presentation of the June financial and ESPLOST reports. The June reports are the final reports of FY2023, which ran from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

Also on the July 18 agenda are approval of the monthly field trip and fundraiser reports, both of which were reviewed, without comment, at the July 13 BOE work session.

Also on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting is approval of food and vendor bid awards and approval of school meal prices for the upcoming school year.

According to School Nutrition Director Kim Caudell, who answered Board member questions about meal pricing during the July 13 work session, school meal prices will remain the same as last year’s prices, with a single exception.

For the upcoming 2023-2024 school year, the Georgia Department of Education will cover the $.30 breakfast and $.40 lunch prices that are normally charged to households for students approved as Reduced Eligible, allowing students who qualify for reduced-price meals to eat for free.

Board members will also vote on approval of the expenditure for retrofitting the county’s Special Education buses with air conditioning. Donation of a bus that has been declared as surplus to the Sheriff’s Office for training purposes will also be considered.

Other items on the agenda include approval of the “Leader In Me” program in Stephens County Schools. According to information distributed by Franklin Covey, the company behind the educational leadership program, “Leader in Me” is a character education program based upon the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Leaders.

The company’s website states, “This program provides direct instruction to students on how they can use the habits to help develop individual skills, skills to collaborate with their peers and skills to work through peer conflict.”

Discussion of updates to several official school policies, including employee leave and absences, public participation in board meetings, graduation requirements, and others, are also on the agenda.