GAINESVILLE – The Hall County Board of Education chatted congenially among themselves and with the small audience for nearly 30-minutes, filling time and waiting for the 6:30 p.m. conclusion of the third and final public hearing on the proposed FY 2018 budget and associated millage rate.
Policy and protocol necessitated the 30-minute wait, just in case someone wanting to comment on the budget and the millage rate was late arriving at the Monday evening board meeting. But that never happened and within minutes the budget was unanimously adopted, followed a moment later by a unanimous approval of the millage rate.
The approved budget for Fiscal Year 2018 totals $371.45-million (which includes a $266.15-million General Fund budget) and will be supported by a millage rate of 18.50-mils, down from the FY 2017 rate of 18.80-mils, but not a full-rollback rate to the 18.079 level.
Also receiving unanimous approval from the board, and also receiving no comment from the audience, was the redistricting plan to provide for a seventh middle and high school in the fast-growing southern portion of the Hall County.
That might sound like determining new school attendance zones is child’s play, but definitely not according to members of the school board.
Bill Thompson said determining school attendance dividing lines is an imperfect process: “There’s always going to be someone that feels like we haven’t taken everyone’s best interest at heart.
Brian Sloan said the redistricting process challenged him because, “at first look, to be honest, I was somewhat bothered by it (the proposed attendance zones), but as we studied it and got deeper into the process…now I am confident that this is the thing that we need to adopt.”
Board chairman Nath Morris described it as, “the most difficult time I’ve spent in sixteen years on the board…but as has been mentioned you can’t make everybody happy.””
Initial public meetings on the redistricting plan were met with hesitancy and parental concern, but by the time the vote was called Monday evening no one rose to address the board.
Morris added, “We’ve got to make sure we have efficient use of the facilities that we have. The unknown out there is the growth.”
Click here to see the redistricting map approved by the Board of Education.
ARMED PRESENCE AND CANINE SCHOOL VISITS TO BE A PART OF THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR.
Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield said, “Last year there was legislation passed and signed by the governor allowing school districts to allow employees that they designate to carry weapons. We would like to bring that policy forward tonight.”
At present only uniformed Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputies assigned to specific schools (known as School Resource Officers, or SROs) carry their department side arm in the schools, but this move by Schofield will allow a designated employee of the school district to carry a weapon on school property as well.
“It is for one employee and one employee only,” Schofield continues, “and that’s Andy Betancourt.”
Schofield said Betancourt has over 30-years of experience as an investigator with the Miami Police Department, and that he will travel between the county schools throughout the day.
“Based upon his prior training, based on his background and his…years with the Miami Police Department I am very pleased that he will be carrying a weapon in this building,” Schofield said.
In addition to beginning an armed presence in the school system, Hall County will acquire their own drug-sniffing dog.
Hall County Sheriff’s Office owned canines assigned to individual SROs have had a presence in county schools on occasion, but effective next school year the school system will purchase one of their own.
SRO Deputy Stan Watson has agreed with the school system to be responsible for the new dog. Watson will try to visit each of the schools in Hall County every day and allow the dog to “check out” student lockers and other common areas.
“I was a little dismayed that one of the Atlanta (media) reports suggested that the reason we got this dog is because we have some overwhelming drug problem,” Schofield told board members.
“Let me be clear, if you have one student that has a challenge with drugs…you’ve got a problem,” Schofield said with emphasis.
“We’ll do everything within our ability to insure parents that we are trying to keep all our schools drug-free.”
“Kids that are doing what they are supposed to…they’ve got nothing to worry about.”
