Giles County School Board approves budget amendments, grants and policy updates and honors teachers

The Giles County School Board met at Pulaski Elementary School in May and approved a series of budget amendments and policy changes while recognizing teacher leaders and employees of the year.

Board members voted to approve a consolidated set of budget amendments described by financial staff as a fiscal-year cleanup that reallocates about $750,000 (Fund 01/1941) for capital and instructional needs. The package included an estimated $186,149 for paving and asphalt work at Pulaski Elementary, Giles County High School and Southside Elementary (contingent on piggybacking with the city contract and Wright Paving), a state-bid maintenance truck at $59,489, approximately $460,000 for math textbooks and an additional $50,000 for science materials (a combined figure of about $510,000), restroom renovations and some classroom flooring work (roughly $120,000), security camera upgrades ($35,000), an estimated $250,000 set aside for new light poles at Richland High School’s football field and $73,512 for central office server and switch replacements. The board approved the consolidated amendments by voice vote.

The board also accepted school nutrition grant awards discussed earlier in the meeting, including an $80,000 award for a food line at Bridgeport Middle School and a separate grant for supply-chain-related needs (the transcript captured the figure as $102,413.82). The board approved previously accepted school nutrition bids (vendors discussed in packets included national suppliers such as Tyson) and voted to accept the grants and related budget amendment items.

On personnel and policy matters, the board moved Policy 5.602 (staff time schedules) to first reading as a consolidated model policy and voted to delete Policy 5.604 (overtime pay for support personnel) as duplicative. The board also approved adopting a TSBA-recommended approach for Policy 6.4031 (head lice), which clarified that bed bugs are handled separately from head-lice procedures. The board approved Policy 4.6 (grading system) on its second reading after amendments and approved Policy 4.602 on class ranking and honor-roll recognition.

During the meeting the board recognized a large cohort of teacher leaders (the district said there are 53 teacher leaders this year supported with differentiated pay, Title and CTE funds) and named teachers of the year and other school-level honorees across the district. Individual classroom teachers and program leaders were introduced by name throughout the recognition segment.

An item on the agenda approved unanimously was an overnight student field trip to the International Leadership Conference scheduled for June 19–25 in Dallas, Texas, with Miss Lloyd Kelly listed as a chaperone and required background checks noted.

Board members used the discussion to preview next steps in the budget calendar: a budget-only work session on May 16 and a regular work session on May 18 to finalize details and a special called session to approve the final budget for submission to the County Commission. A board speaker noted that, if state TISA funding and other assumptions hold, certified teacher pay increases in the range of about 14–19% are possible, but stressed that such increases remain contingent on state funding, further financial-management analysis and final board approvals.

The meeting concluded with routine business and adjournment. The board recorded motions and voice votes for each of the items described above.