Leah Ingram Eagle
SCBOE 10/15
Randy Reeves addresses the Shelby County Board of Education at the Oct. 15 meeting.
After a delayed start, staggered schedule and finally a return to a five day week, Shelby County Schools made it to the end of the first nine weeks on Oct. 9.
Dr. Lewis Brooks said he and his team are continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation and continue to be transparent with the community and let them know what’s going on.
During his superintendent’s report at the Oct. 15 Shelby County Board of Education meeting, Brooks thanked Cindy Warner (Public Relations) and Treasa Daly (Nurse Supervisor) for their work on the COVID dashboard.
“They have posted information the last three weeks and I appreciate their efforts,” be said.
Brooks also recognized Sarah Elizabeth Shelton of Columbiana Middle School for receiving the Alabama Association for Gifted Children Student of the Year for the state of Alabama saying, “she represents the best of Shelby County Schools.”
October is Family Literacy Month and Federal Programs Supervisor Mary Cooper said in her instructional report Shelby County Schools have recently launched a page on the website featuring family resources for early literacy.
There are five sections that include phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension and additional links with information for parents and students.
Cooper also discussed the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, also known as HIPPY, an evidence-based home instruction program promoting school readiness, early literacy and parent involvement.
The goal of the program is to help children become ready for kindergarten by promoting school readiness, early literacy and parent involvement. The target age is typically students ages 2-4. For more information about the Shelby County Schools HIPPY USA program, call 205-789-5038
John Gwin, assistant superintendent of finance, said he is almost done closing out the fiscal year and gave some highlights from the budget. The SCBOE had an unreserved general fund balance for September of $27,652,793.76 which he said was ending the year in good shape.
The total cash was $32,297,702.97 which is $4.3 million more than what last year. Gwin also said the system gained about $2 million reserve in local funds.
“Budget wise for the general fund, we beat expenditures on our budget by about $10.7 million. We had budgeted $201 million and spent $190 million,” he said.
The total expenditures for the whole year totaled $252,507,171, or about a quarter of a billion dollars.
“We were able to lower long term debt by $10.7 million, purchase 16 new buses, added $4.6 million in capital improvements to buildings across the county and spent about $2.6 million in purchasing new computer hardware.”
In the architect and construction report, Facility and Maintenance Coordinator Randy Reeves said things were progressing well with the new lab at Chelsea High School and the students should be in the space soon.
The two projects at Vincent Middle/High School for new restrooms in the gymnasium should be complete in December.
The board also approved:
- Renewal of bid for technology recycling/reuse pick up
- Approving personnel actions
- Approving bus subs and aides
The next SCBOE meeting will be Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. at the Shelby County Board of Education in Columbiana.
