County schools explore elementary rezoning, E-SPLOST voting finalized

Feb. 8—VALDOSTA — Lowndes County Schools is exploring options for rezoning elementary schools.

In the last board work session, Superintendent Dr. J. Shawn Haralson presented options to rezone students from Dewar Elementary School to Pine Grove Elementary School or Moulton Branch Elementary School.

At a board meeting Monday, Haralson said the best options would be option A — 38 students and option B — 44 students with a total of 88 students sent to Pine Grove.

"We would be able to alleviate some pressure at Dewar Elementary School, creating the availability for kids to have the resources they need to be successful," Haralson said. "Also, this will allow us to fill up Pine Grove Elementary School numbers with availability for growth later on."

In addition, options C and D were discussed to rezone children from Dewar to Moulton Branch.

Haralson said the options would also align siblings in upper grades at either school, which would allow parents to pick their children up from PGES and Pine Grove Middle School or MBS and Lowndes Middle School.

Melanie Johnson, Dewar principal, said the school is at capacity but accommodating students with additional homerooms and portable classrooms.

Al Swilley, PGES principal, said, "We are more than happy to accommodate our sister-school and our teachers would welcome students with open arms."

Board members Mike Davis and Fred Wetherington suggested the district review all school populations before making a final decision.

Wetherington said the second school of concern is Westside Elementary School.

Haralson said, "The large scope of the opportunity that we are looking for is the growth in each area which will determine what we put in place to keep us from having to go back down the road after that."

The board agreed to allow Haralson to view the current rezoning map and system-wide population before presenting an official recommendation for options A/B and options C/D.

Sandra Wilcher, assistant superintendent of student services, presented an update on the E-SPLOST referendum. She said the referendum was filed prior to the holidays to the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County Board of Elections.

Wilcher listed items on the education special purpose local option sales tax referendum: — Replacement and construction of schools, specifically elementary and middle schools. — Additions to classrooms. — Replacing heating ventilation air-conditioning, general repairs to school buildings and properties. — School safety. — Upgrade instructional and administrative technology — infrastructure providing computing devices and software, purchasing textbooks and other learning instruments. — Vocational, physical education and athletic equipment. — School bus maintenance.

She said early voting will begin Feb. 27 for three weeks. Regular voting will begin March 21.

Lowndes County Schools has begun the process of developing a strategic plan with Georgia Leadership Associates.

David Carpenter and Linda Horne, GLA representatives, presented information to the board to prepare the process for strategic planning.

Carpenter said currently the school system has a "Super Team" of nearly 60 stakeholders — administrators, teachers, parents and community members to work on developing a "comprehensive strategic plan."

Horne said they will meet with the committees several times throughout the process to develop a progress report for the board on March 13 and the draft will be complete by May 5 for approval by the superintendent.

The board will review the final strategic plan on May 8.

The board unanimously consented to an additional chiller for Westside Elementary School.

The board recognized February S.A.F.E (Safety Awareness For Everyone) award winners. Robert Wingfield, Clytaville Elementary School custodian, and Sandra Wright, Lowndes County Schools nutrition.

The next board meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 20, at Lowndes County Board of Education, 1592 Norman Drive.