By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
While approval of the FY2025 operating budget was the major business conducted at the Escambia County Board of Education’s September 26 meeting (see separate story, this edition), board members and a state lawmaker combined to provide some good news for four Atmore-area schools.
Six BOE members — District 1’s Kevin Hoomes was unable to attend — quickly and unanimously gave the green light to a $61 million financing proposal that had already been presented twice that day, prior to the formal BOE meeting.
Public budget hearings were held in Atmore that morning, and in Brewton that afternoon. Only board members, school administrators and other local education officials attended the Atmore session. The budget issue was one of 18 Action Items and a Consent Item the board dealt with at the meeting.
The first bit of good news for local schools came when State Senator Greg Albritton of Atmore presented Superintendent of Education Dr. Michele Collier with a $22,000 check for each of the county system’s high schools (Escambia County High, Flomaton High and W.S. Neal High).
Albritton, who makes the discretionary appropriations every year in varying amounts, then surprised school officials with a $150,000 check to help with the Huxford Elementary gym and classroom expansion project.
Board members approved nearly $2 million in spending measures as new Chief Schools Financial Officer Avery Ford, who has been on the job only a month, and his staff prepared to close out the books on FY2024 and reopen them for FY2025.
Among the spending items receiving board approval were the use of leftover federal money to purchase audio enhancement systems for classrooms at Escambia County Middle (ECMS), Escambia County High (ECHS), Rachel Patterson Elementary (RPES) and Huxford Elementary (HES). Flomaton Elementary (FES) will also get the enhancements, which basically project the teacher’s or student’s voice to make them clearly heard throughout the classroom.
The total cost of the packages for ECMS, ECHS and RPES will be $327,872.21 and will be paid from the Title I School Improvement Carryover. The systems for HES and FES will cost a total of $110,155.09 and will be paid for with Title V Rural Carryover funds. All the systems are to be purchased from Howard Technology.
In other business conducted during the meeting, the board:
*Approved the purchase for a total of $1,455,624 of eight regular 71-passenger Class C buses ($143,492 each) and two 37-passenger special needs Class C buses with wheelchair lifts ($153,844 each). The busses will be paid for through a combination of FY2024 A&T funds, fleet renewal allowances and state funding.
*Approved a trip for a group of W.S. Neal High School FFA members to attend the FFA National Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., October 21-26.
*Approved a 2024-2025 salary schedule that includes a 2-percent raise for employees (state-mandated), a “slight increase” in the minimum state pay rate for teachers with 0-3 years of experience, and the inclusion of the part-time teacher pay rate of $211.11 per day.
*Selected BOE President Loumeek White as the local representative, and Board Vice President Cindy Jackson as the alternate, to the 2024 Alabama Association of School Boards (AASB) Delegate Assembly.
*Approved a capital plan for FY 2025.
*Approved salary adjustments for the superintendent and the chief schools financial officer, based on the state’s 2-percent raise.
*Approved the purchase of eight regular, 71-passenger Class C buses ($143,492 each) and two 37-passenger special needs Class C buses with wheelchair lifts ($153,844 each). The cost will be paid from a combination of Advancement and Technology (A&T) funds, fleet renewal money and state funding.
*Approved renewal of NextGen Financial Solution, NextGen Document Services and NextGen Hosting for November 2024-October 2025 from Harris School Solutions. The recurring cost will be paid from local funds.
*Approved the expenditure of $19,850 for a district-wide compensation study to be done by LeanFrog.
*Awarded a $320,000 bid to Double AA Construction Company for emergency roof replacement at Flomaton High School. The money will come from A&T funds.
*Renewed Rhithm wellness screening platform from Securly in the amount of $25,851. The cost will be paid from federal Title IV funds.
*Approved a 3-year renewal of enVision math series for grades 6-8 from Publishers’ Warehouse. The measure, amended from July, will cost $102,147.50 and will be paid for from Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.
*Learned from Dr. Collier that all the system’s available ESSER funds had been spent by September 30, so none had to be returned to federal education officials.
*Renewed Discovery Education Experience streaming for $40,000. The renewal will be paid from federal Title I funds.
*Approved the FY2025 Homeless, EL, Foster Care and Consolidated plans, each of which is federally funded.
*Named Ann Peach, a member of the Brewton City School System’s board, as the county BOE’s choice for AASB District 1 Board Director.
After an executive session of more than an hour, the board voted to:
*Purchase about 2 acres of land adjacent to Huxford Elementary.
*Sell 8 acres of land adjacent to the site on Alabama 113 where the new Flomaton Elementary School will be built.
*Approved the expulsion of an ECHS student for up to a calendar year for violation of the Student Code of Conduct. As is policy, the student will be allowed to receive educational services through the system’s Virtual School.
Personnel
The following personnel recommendations by Dr. Collier were approved by the Board.
The following abbreviations are used:
Escambia County Board of Education – ECBOE
A.C. Moore Primary School – ACMPS
K-5 Alternative School – K-5AS
Huxford Elementary School – HES
Rachel Patterson Elementary School – RPES
Escambia County Middle School – ECMS
Escambia County High School – ECHS
Flomaton Elementary School – FES
Flomaton High School – FHS
Pollard McCall Junior High School – PMJHS
W.S. Neal Elementary School – WSNES
W.S. Neal Middle School – WSNMS
W.S. Neal High School – WSNHS
Turtle Point Science Center – TPSC
Escambia County Alternative School – ECAS
Escambia Career Readiness Center – ECRC
Atmore Bus Shop – ABS
Brewton Bus Shop – BBS
Academic Recovery Response Plan Summer Program – ARRPSP
Child Nutrition Program Summer Feeding – CNPSF
Resignation
1. Susanne Boutwell, CNP director, ECBOE, effective Oct.15, 2024
2. Amber Dunaway, principal, ACMPS, effective Dec. 12, 2024
3. Kimberly Burris, secretary / bookkeeper, ACMPS, effective Sept. 27, 2024
4. Joseph DiFilippo, ELA teacher, ECHS, effective Sept. 20, 2024
5. April Grahnam, teacher, PMJHS, effective Sept. 30, 2024
6. Colton Brown, custodian, TPSC, effective Sept. 30, 2024
Employment
1. Renarta Lee, teacher aide, ECMS, effective Sept. 30, 2024, replacing Quentin Riley
2. Kristin Lambeth, special education aide, FES, effective Sept. 30, 2024
3. Ashley Thomas, special education aide, FHS, effective Sept. 27, 2024
4. Melanie Booker, instructional teacher aide, HES, effective Sept. 27, 2024, replacing Karen Coker
5. Brandy Lambeth, special education aide, PMJHS, effective Sept. 18, 2024, replacing HT Fountain
6. Autumn Emmons, 6-hour lunchroom worker, WSNES, effective Oct. 1, 2024, replacing Haley Hadley
Employment change
1. Tiffany Rydzowski, from 6-hour lunchroom worker, FES, to 7-hour lunchroom worker, FES, effective Oct. 1, 2024, replacing Devony Bowden
2. Julie Carnley, from bus driver, BBS, to custodian, WSNMS, effective Sept. 27, 2024, replacing Stacey Thomas
Transfer
1. Ashley Gafford, ELA teacher, from WSNMS (amended), to FHA, effective Aug. 1, 2024, new unit
Rehire
1. Aundrea Beasley, instructional aide (amended,) PMJHS, effective Sept. 10, 2024
2. Sharon Rose, bus driver, ABS, effective Aug. 1, 2024
Summer employment
1. Approval to extend summer employment of summer maintenance / groundskeeper student workers through September 1, 2024 (paid at $10 per hour)
2. Approval of off contract summer employment of the following teachers effective June 1,
2024 (paid at $22.50 per hour)
* Alison Britt, FHS
* Sarah Fountain, PMJHS
* Ashley Gafford, WSNMS
* Jessica Green, FHS
* Candace Hendricks, ACO
* Torie Trentham, ACO
* Farah McGill, FHS
* Casey Phillips, WSNMS
* Heather White, PMJHS
2024 – 2025 TEAMS teachers
(TEAMS – Teacher Excellence & Accountability for Mathematics & Science)
All effective dates August 1, 2024
1. Adams, Marcia, ECMS, math*
2. Andrews, Karen, FHS, math
3. Bell, Philip Curt, FHS, math
4. Cook, Logan, WSNMS, science
5. Davidson, Wendy, FHS, science
6. Davis, Cynthia, FHS, math
7. Gonzalez, Murraylee, ECMS, science*
8. Haney, Jeffrey, FHS, math
9. Hodge, Daniel, WSNHS, math
10. Nevels, Kimberly, WSNHS, science (new TEAMS teacher)
11. Newton, Julie Johnson, FHS, math
12. Parker, Tyler, PMJHS, math
13. Phillips, Casee, WSNMS, math
14. Roberts, Michael Brock, WSNHS, science
15. Robinson, Samuel Scott, FHS, science
16. Rollin, Memory, FHS, science
17. Sanford, Jude, ECMS, math*
18. Sims, Abigail, WSNHS, math
19. Turner, Shannon Yuhasz, FHS, science
20. Whatley, Barbara Birge, ECHS, science
21. Wheeler, Anna, ECMS, math*
22. Wright, Talia, ECHS, science
* Hard to staff school – $5,000 supplement
After school employment
1. James Smith, after school program bus monitor, ECMS, effective Sept. 3, 2024
2. Kenyon Moody, after school program bus monitor, ECMS, effective Sept. 23, 2024