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Schools

Budget, SACS Inquiry Top School Board Agenda

SPLOST-funded additions, modifications or preliminary work at schools including Campbell high and Belmont Hills and King Springs elementary will also be discussed Wednesday morning.

Superintendent Fred Sanderson is scheduled to discuss the  the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) sent to the at this morning's Board of Education work session.

The meeting starts with public comments at 8:30 a.m. in the Central Office’s boardroom. You can watch the meeting live on Comcast Channel 24 or Charter Channel 97 or at the school system website.

Sanderson’s report to the board also will include an update on the state’s math curriculum and the Georgia School Boards Association/Georgia School Superintendents Association “Vision for Public Education,” plus a monthly budget update from Chief Financial Officer Mike Addison.

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The school district faces an April 28 deadline to respond to the SACS inquiry letter. Chairwoman Alison Bartlett, whose Post 7 includes , and elementary schools, will miss that meeting while she recovers at home March 30. 

Last week, she declined to comment on the allegations in the letter, and while it will be discussed Wednesday, the budget update and “an opportunity to ask questions” will be more important, said board member Lynnda Crowder-Eagle of Post 1. “The final budget will be presented to us in June.”

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Board member David Morgan, whose Post 3 covers , and high schools, said he has no idea what Addison’s budget presentation will hold. Last month Addison predicted a budget shortfall of $40 million to $50 million for next school year.

“We just have to wait and see what the numbers are and act accordingly,” Morgan said.

Morgan has seven items he plans to discuss at the meeting. Data regarding repeat course failures and whistleblower policies were supposed to be discussed at the board's February work session but were postponed because that meeting stretched over a 10-hour period. Morgan's items also include a continuation of the discussion of the district's strategic plan, the district’s charter school process, the Teacher of the Year policy, and the school board’s priorities and vision.

He also will discuss the Teach for America program. This segment will feature a presentation by Kwame Griffith, the executive director of Teach for America's metro Atlanta region.

“It could potentially be a great partnership where we can infuse more great teachers in our schools by partnering with Teach for America,” Morgan said.

Bartlett was scheduled to present items on weather procedures, standards for high school athletic facilities and the millage rate. Vice Chairman Scott Sweeney of Post 6, covering and high schools, will lead the meeting in Bartlett’s absence. Sweeney said late Tuesday that the board still will discuss weather procedures and the millage rate, but he wasn't sure about athletic facility standards.

Among the meeting’s five non-SPLOST agenda items are a recommendation to increase class size allotment ratios by one to three students for 2011-12 and the construction of stadium seating at Allatoona High for $400,000. The stadium funding would come from the Allatoona Buccaneer Touchdown Club Inc. and local school cell tower funds.

The board will also discuss 13 agenda items related to Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funding. Ten involve additions, modifications or preliminary work at schools including Campbell high and and elementary. 

The board also will discuss spending $609,680 on 300 digital video recorder camera units for school buses and adopting textbooks and other instructional resources for fine arts, health, physical education, social studies and high school mathematics of finance, with an estimated cost of $6 million to purchase those materials.

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