Board of Education invests more federal bucks in technology

The Grady County Board of Education is continuing to invest in technology to be better prepared in the event of a school closure and shift to all-virtual learning.

On Tuesday night, the board approved School Superintendent Dr. Kermit Gilliard’s recommendation to purchase an additional 150 laptop carts, which would mean that all teachers would have a laptop cart in their classrooms, even the athletic field house at Cairo High School, for students to be able to charge their laptops when not in use.

“We will be using some of our CARES Act funding to purchase these additional carts,” Dr. Gilliard said.

The low bid received was $123,900 for the 150 carts from Howard Technologies. The system advertised the request for bids on the state procurement website and received a total of 13 bids ranging from the low bid up to $237,600.

Board Vice Chairman Derrick Majors, who presided in the absence of Chairwoman Teresa Gee Hardy, asked about any issues with downtime for virtual classes in the last several days.

Dr. Gilliard reported that an issue with CNS Internet had caused some outages last week. The vice chairman also said he had been told students who were using personal Chrome book computers were having difficulty logging in to online classes.

Dr. Gilliard and Assistant Superintendent Janet Walden explained that the issues were related to the school system’s firewall system.

“Our workaround is to ask those students to check out school issued computers,” Walden said.

Dr. Gilliard thanked the board Tuesday night for approving the employment of instructional technologists Michael Singletary and Amy Starr. “These two ladies are spending a lot of time with parents, grandparents and students helping them navigate everything involved in virtual learning,” Dr. Gilliard said.

Additionally, assistant superintendent Walden said the duo work with teachers one-on-one to help them become comfortable with the new technology.

“We wouldn’t have made it without them, I don’t think,” Dr. Gilliard added.

Vice Chairman Majors expressed his pleasure in the system being able to purchase so much new technology with federal funding.

“It puts us more on a level playing field with other systems across the state. There are other gains we can make, but we are way further in the right direction. This is the way the world is moving,” he said.

In other business, Tuesday night, the board:

‰Approved the purchase of two new 72-passenger school buses. The system earns nearly enough money from the state to purchase one bus, the balance is covered with local funds and 100 percent of the second bus is paid out of local funds.

‰Agreed with the superintendent to delay construction of a new gym at Shiver Elementary School on the advice of state Department of Education facilities officials. According to the superintendent, the system can phase out an existing structure at Shiver and earn approximately $500,000 in state funds which can then be used for the new gym, which is estimated to cost approximately $800,000. Board member Jeff Worsham asked how would the building be used if phased out. Dr. Gilliard said the building currently is used primarily for storage and it would continue to be used for storage. Gilliard will bring forward a resolution to phase out the building at the January board meeting.

‰Approved accounts payable for the month totaling $667,877.32.

‰Approved the hiring of the following personnel: Chad Griffin – computer support specialist; Lynne Sullivan – pre-k paraprofessional at Southside Elementary School; Ciera Tucker – special education parapro at Cairo High School; Takia Harris – parapro at Eastside Elementary School; and Rebecca Posey – bookkeeper at Whigham Elementary School.

‰Approved the retirement of Dewitt Miller – maintenance worker.

‰Accepted the resignations of the following: Laura Phillips – bookkeeper at Whigham Elementary School; Kenya Douglas – parapro at Washington Middle School; John Powell – maintenance worker; Chasity True – pre-k parapro at Shiver Elementary School; Pam Roberts – benefits coordinator; and Shanquera Troutman – bus driver.