Staff Reports
April 22, 2019 – Board Chairman Phillip Beard called the April meeting of the Buford Board of Education to order at 7 p.m. at the Buford City Schools Central Office. Following the Pledge of Allegiance was recognition of the BCSS Art Show winners presented by Ms. Carrie Tilson, BMS art teacher and Ms. Kim Barge, BHS art teacher. The agenda and the minutes from March were approved. As of March 31, the school system operating balance was $8,0741239.15. A revision was approved for Policy JBC(4) which is for Awarding Unit and Transferring Credit.
SPLOST V pay requests for the new Buford High School were approved to be payable to Charles Black Construction (three invoices) and Breaux & Associates. Purchases coming out of SPLOST V were approved to buy AED’s, Lockers, and art room equipment for the new BHS. Up next were M & O (Maintenance & Operations budget) items. A new HVAC unit was approved to be purchased for the BMS kitchen. Backstop padding for the BHS baseball field (will also use on softball field) were authorized to be purchased. A bid was approved to screen, clean, and refinish the gym floors at each school over the summer.
Five field trip requests and one fundraiser request were approved. BES, BHS FCCLA, and BHS wrestling had field trip requests and BHS gymnastics were approved to sell t-shirts as a fundraiser.
The principals were each called upon to update the Board on the things taking place at their respective school. Buford Elementary’s current enrollment is 717. They recently had a kindergarten registration night and Easter egg hunt. They will have a pet day and a field trip coming up soon. Buford Academy’s current enrollment is 1,531 and is currently taking the milestones. Buford Middle’s current enrollment is 1,172. They recently had a chorus production. The band will have a concert on May 7 at the Fine Arts Center. Buford High’s current enrollment is 1,440. They had a successful prom on April 20 at the Arena. This week is senior week with the annual Grad Bash coming on Friday and Saturday. Playoffs are in full swing for Spring sports.
The 2019-2020 Board meeting dates were approved which noted a few changes. The FY19 School Board training plan was approved and will be sent to the Georgia Department of Education. As teachers in each school start to pack up for the massive move over the summer, more items that are no longer being used are being added to the surplus inventory. In June, four-day work weeks were approved instead of the standard five-day week for twelve-month employees.
A hearing was conducted for the preliminary FY20 budget. The budget for the FY20 is projected to be $58,042,201.00 which is an increase of $6,149,396.00. A jump by 18.4% over FY19 includes teacher raises, costs associated with the new school resource officers, and installing a new roof and HVAC equipment at the old BHS/new BMS. A copy of the proposed budget is available on NorthGwinnettVoice.com.
Ms. Poole was pleased to share the results of English Language Proficiency testing that the school system’s non-English speaking students took last year. Buford rates above both the state and national average. Ms. Lacrecia Smith informed the board that Dr. Downs met with the council on March 27 to hear their ideas. The council asked that the parent survey that parents recently took include four new questions pertaining to the Diversity and Inclusion Council.
With nothing further to add from Dr. Downs, Chairman Beard went around the room to see if anyone had any business to be addressed. No one had anything to add to the night. The April Buford Board of Education meeting was adjourned followed by an executive session.
