Following the Pledge of Allegiance led by Harlem High School’s Junior ROTC Cadets, Columbia County Board of Education celebrated extraordinary students, some construction completion and announced bid results.
The Board of Education opened this month’s regular session, on Aug. 8, by congratulating Lakeside High School senior Barrett Loftis for being awarded an individual medal by the Georgia High School Association for his performance at the 6A State Golf Tournament in May.
“Barrett’s dedication and perseverance has helped lead his team to remarkable success this season. This exceptional talent and competitiveness has been instrumental in securing tournament championships,” said Assistant Superintendent Steven Cummings. “His remarkable accomplishment demonstrates his ability to perform under pressure and contribute to the collective success of his team.”
Board Chairman David Dekle said he had witnessed Loftis refining his golf skills, and was “heartwarmed” to see student engagement lead to impressive focus and victorious execution.
Before continuing, board members Kristi Baker and Judy Teasley expressed their respects on the recent passing of previous District 2 representative Mildred Blackburn – who served on the Board of Education for 12 years and on various state committees. Honoring her death with flowers at the regular session, Baker said Blackburn will be dearly missed as she was beloved and appreciated by so many faculty and community members.
“As Mrs. Baker mentioned, she was a very unique individual and she was also a school teacher,” said Teasley. “She had ‘God Bless America’ sung at her funeral, so she would’ve appreciated the ROTC’s being here today in leading the Pledge.”
Superintendent Dr. Steven Flynt then moved on to discuss the progress of the county’s 10-year building plan by announcing the completion and partial occupation of classroom extensions in Euchee Creek Elementary, Columbia Middle School and Harlem Middle School.
“We’re really excited to be able to open those additions on time and have students occupying those, especially with those areas where we have the largest growth in the county,” he said. “That will allow us to be able to deal with the growth over the next couple of years.”
Columbia Middle received 11 more classrooms, Harlem Middle with 14, and Euchee Creek Elementary was given 12.
To current traffic issues as a result of county construction and school drop-off lanes, Flynt asked families for patience while the district continues to work with the local Sheriff’s Department to improve traffic flow.
“This time of year we’re always looking to level out our bus routes, and parents are learning how to get in and out of school for those who are car riders; our walkers are learning how to get across the crosswalks,” he said. “Typically that takes a couple of weeks to level out and we’ve already seen great improvement just in the first four days of school, so we’re looking to see that continue improving.”
Due to severe weather conditions over the past few weeks, Flynt said construction was facing some minor delays and setbacks, but that Westmont was still expected to open in 2024.
“Obviously, we’ve had a good bit of rain that we’ve seen and that does make things difficult, so there are a few delays,” he said.
At 6 p.m., the regular board session was paused for a special meeting to allow public input on the tax digest millage rate before the board officials voted on the matter.
After several participants voiced their concerns regarding taxes and school budgets, the board voted to ultimately decrease the millage rate before concluding the meeting to resume the regular session’s agenda.
READ MORE: Columbia County Board of Education approves lowering of millage rate
Flynt then summarized an upcoming bid for roof replacement at Blue Ridge Elementary School, which will open on Aug. 25, and another bid for developments at Cedar Ridge Elementary on Aug. 22. The results of these bids will be discussed at the next board meeting for final decision.
He also reviewed last month’s bid results regarding the replacement of five Ford F-250 school service trucks for previous ones that “aged and beyond repair” for a total of $349,635, and another for school parking lot improvements at Euchee Creek, Stevens Creek Elementary School and Riverside Elementary School to a local Grovetown company, known as Gearig Civilworks, for a total of $967,328.50.
At Flynt’s recommendation, both contracts were approved and parking lot construction will be decided upon at a later date to avoid interrupting normal hours of operation for the different schools. Chief Financial Officer Alex Casado said these repairs would most likely be set to occur during school holiday breaks to ensure the least amount of disruption.
A final contract was also awarded to McDonald Construction, the same company constructing Westmont Elementary, at a total of over $26 million for the building of a new North Columbia Elementary School.
Compared to Wesmont budget of $25 million and Greenbrier High School’s $15 million, the board acknowledged the higher price of establishing North Columbia as a result of inflation and ongoing after effects of the pandemic.
“We do have some challenges there and we don’t believe those [prices] are going to go down; we’re just hoping they’re not going to continue to rise,” said Flynt. “Hopefully, these [rises] will slow down, because we have a lot of building going on.”
Celebrating a successful first week back, Flynt shared how many students and teachers were seen with smiling faces at their respective schools, and that he was anticipating another great academic year.
“As you know, last Thursday was our first day of school,” he said. “The learning is already underway and we’re very thrilled to be able to see our staff truly engage with students in meaningful instruction across all levels. We’ve already had great feedback from our students and their families about not only the cleanliness of our buildings, but also the positive energy and excitement of getting back to school.”
To end the meeting, the board reminded attendees of the upcoming early release day for parent conferences on Sept. 1, and that school progress reports would be released on Sept. 5 following the Labor Day holiday.
The county’s Board of Education will meet again on Tuesday, Aug. 22, for a work session at 5:30 p.m. at 4781 Hereford Farm Road.
