Pickens BOE eyes safety and an August 3 first day of school

Preparing for the first day of school on August 3 while respecting health measures is the focus of the Pickens County Board of Education and the administration. The system plans to follow the guidelines set forth by the Georgia Department of Public Health which has three classifications for schools that will be based on the number of COVID-19 cases and population.

As of Thursday night, Pickens had 59 total cases including four deaths. This equates to 175.96 cases per 100,000 residents or 0.176-percent.

The DPH will determine if a county has low to no spread, minimal or moderate spread, or substantial spread.

Click here to see the DPH's full Path to Recovery for Georgia's K-12 Schools.

Superintendent Rick Townsend said Pickens County schools will be ready for whatever designation they are given. Low to no spread includes establishing protocols for sick students and staff, disinfecting surfaces, and encouraging good hygiene. Minimal to moderate spread includes implementing enhanced social distancing measures. Substantial spread means closing schools. See a complete explanation here.

Townsend said he and the staff understand that expecting kindergartners to wear masks isn’t a realistic option and masks won’t be required.

“Safety is important and learning is important,” said Townsend. “Everything we are doing now is to prepare us for August 3^rd.”

To help the system be ready, an Educational Task Force has been assembled, consisting of two people from each department to get a comprehensive and uniform plan in place. To see who is on the task force, visit here.

To hear Townsend’s complete statements, watch our video here.

Patrick Shea, Chief Technical Officer, updated the board on the search for a learning management system to improve virtual learning with hopes to have it running by the opening day of school.

How is the system planning to handle budget shortfalls caused by the pandemic? Find out here.

“We’re deep in reviews and are down to two finalists who are strong contenders,” Shea said, adding he hoped to bring a recommendation to the board in July so they can have it in place prior to the August 3^rd opening day.

In other board news, the board:

• Heard a budget update from Amy Smith, Chief Financial Officer. The system had 87-percent of the budgeted revenue in May and expenditures were at 78.9-percent. Smith also told the board there was no debt in the school system.
• Approved a spending resolution for July. This is done when a budget is not passed and allows the school system to spend 1/12^th of the previous years budget on monthly expenditures. Like other schools in the state, Pickens County has not received information from the state and federal levels about how their budgets will be affected by the pandemic. If the school board can’t pass a budget in time for August, the board will have to approve another spending resolution.
• Approved amending the fiscal budget for 2020 by transferring $8.639 million from the general fund to the capital projects fund.
• Approved the contract service agreement between the system and ABM for the 2020-2021 school year. ABM provides cleaning and sanitation services. The board agreed to rebid the contract for the 2021-2022 school year.
• Approved a contract with Star 360 which would assess the instructional levels and students for benchmark progress. The cost of the contract was $46, 859.28.
• Approved to move six buses to surplus.