BOE approves purchase of 8 buses

Sep. 28—MOULTRIE — More students might be able to use Colquitt County School District's transportation after the Board of Education approved the purchase of eight buses during Monday night's meeting.

"This year a.m routes, we're transporting 4,583 students [with a total of 2097 miles].The p.m. routes, we're transporting 4,544 students [with a total of 2703 miles]," Daniel Dalton, the CCSD transportation director, said during the work session.

The BOE has purchased 38 buses ranging in various models since 2018. Now, the district currently awaits eight buses to be delivered.

He explained, "Of those 38 [buses], four were 90 passenger Thomas buses [and] 34 were 72 passenger buses which is considered just a conventional bus now. 16 of those were Bluebirds and 18 of those were internationals."

The district is mainly in need of bus drivers.

"Right now, we are 16 drivers short. We're making due," Dalton said.

The transportation department has hired four bus drivers this school year. Four applicants are waiting to test for the appropriate license and six other applicants are in training.

The BOE approved the purchase with a vote 6-0. All board members were present during the regular session.

Other actions taken

The August 2022 Financials were approved after a presentation from CCSD Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Jones during the work session.

"Collections are coming in as budgeted and everything is in line with budget estimates," Jones said.

Colquitt County High School Principal Dan Chappuis and the BOE recognized Corey Exum, a biology teacher and the CCHS 2022 Teacher of the Year, during the Teacher Spotlight.

Chappius told the board the 2021 graduation rate was 85% and the projected graduation rate for this year is 88.5%. The new block schedule is expected to help improve the graduation rate to the 90% goal and give students more opportunity to earn credits.

CCHS is also considering creating a "college going culture" by participating with the College Advisory Corp through the University of Georgia. The advisor would supplement the counselors and provide one-on-one support for low-income and first-generation students.

"We really feel like this may be a worthwhile program to help our students and really get that college ready culture in our school," he said.

The program is in the planning stages and is not expected to start anytime soon.

"We'll have more information as we progress in the next couple of months about what it would take to get this," Chappius added.

They also recognized Wesley Rogers from Chick-Fil-A of Moultrie and Adam Giles from Impulse Divisions as Packer Business Partners for their contributions to CCHS and Odom Elementary School.

Odom Elementary School Principal Marlon Daniels recognized Stephanie Gibbs for her recent Georgia Milestone Assessment Scores during the Teacher Spotlight.

Daniels said Odom Elementary will begin offering after school tutoring for third-grade math in October after reviewing recent Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) scores. The Migrant after-school program will also work on math skills.

The board approved the naming of the Indoor Practice Facility at CCCHS to the Ray Goff and Virgil Seay Indoor Practice Facility and an extended list of future field trips for the following schools CCHS, Norman Park Elementary, Odom Elementary, Sunset Elementary, and Willie J Williams Middle Schools.

The next scheduled CCSD BOE meeting is Monday, Oct. 24. The work session starts at 5:30 p.m. followed by the regular session at 6:30 p.m.