By Danny Federico Riverbend News
The Lafayette County School Board held a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 15, at 6 p.m. in the School Board Administration Building, located at 363 NE Crawford St., in Mayo. Those in attendance were: Superintendent Robbie Edwards; Darren Driver, District 1; Jeff Walker, District 2; Marion McCray, District 3; Chairman Amanda Hickman, District 4 and Taylor McGrew, District 5. The meeting opened up with the invocation, led by McGrew and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Once the meeting was opened, the board moved into the section outlined for recognitions and presentations. During this time, Director of Communications Jon Little, with the Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), presented a copy of a check to the board. This check represented what SVEC and its members have contributed to the teachers and classrooms within Lafayette County through their Operation Round Up program. "We're really happy with how things are going," Little said. Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative established their Operation Round Up program in January of 2019. Members who participate in the program automatically have their monthly electric bills rounded up to the next dollar, with the extra amount going into SVEC's Operation Round Up fund. These funds are then put toward grants which directly benefit students in local classrooms. The amount raised for Lafayette County students and teachers, represented in the presentation of the check copy, was over $44,000. To read more about Operation Round Up or how SVEC members can participate, visit
svec-coop.com/contact/community/operation-round-up/.
Following Little's presentation, the agenda was adopted and the minutes from the Tuesday, May 18, meeting were approved. A motion was then made to collectively approve the consent items. These items included: the approval of a Northeast Florida Educational Consortium, along with its main contract and contract attachments for the 2021-22 school year; the approval of Florida Virtual School contracts for the 2021-22 school year; the approval of a proposal for exceptional student education Consultative Services through Resolutions in Special Education, Inc., for the 2021-22 school year; the approval of two Carl D. Perkins project applications and the approval of five students to participate in the dual enrollment program at North Florida College for the 2021-22 school year.
Next, the board approved item 4.01, which involved personnel items. Approved items in this section were: three instructional personnel recommendations, three adult education personnel recommendations, 30 non-instructional personnel recommendations, eight food service personnel recommendations, six custodian recommendations, four maintenance personnel recommendations, two transportation department personnel recommendations, nine bus driver recommendations and six district office staff recommendations. Also approved under this section was one request for family medical leave, one request for "Illness in the Line of Duty" leave and three resignation notices, which will go into effect on Wednesday, June 30.
Following the personnel items, the board moved on to approve item 4.02, an inter-district private school services agreement with the Columbia County School District for the 2021-22 school year; item 4.03, fundraisers to be put on by Lafayette Elementary School for the 2021-22 school year; item 4.04, approving Driver as the Florida School Boards Association Advocacy Committee Member and McGrew as the Alternative for the 2021-22 school year; item 4.05, which was the current salary schedule for Lafayette County teachers; item 4.06, involving revisions and changes to the district bookkeeper job description and item 4.08, which was simply removing items from active inventory.
Item 4.09 was the approval of the 2020-21 Annual School Health Report for Lafayette County. During this time, Melissa Pearson, the School Health Coordinator at Lafayette High School and Lafayette Elementary School's clinics, made a brief health report presentation. "Needless to say, this has been the most challenging year ever in school health," Pearson said. Vaccinations, percentage-wise, are really good in the 65 and up category. "In the 65 and up [category], we have probably, at least, I say 83 to 85 percent vaccinated," Pearson said. She went on to add the county's lowest category are youth and adults ranging from 12-years-old to around 50 or 55-years-old. The percentage of vaccinations within this category, Pearson said, was around 33 to 35 percent. When she was finished with her report, Superintendent Edwards took a moment to thank Pearson for everything she did during the school year, especially when it came to the effects of the coronavirus.
Once the annual health report was approved, the board approved the budget amendments before adjourning the meeting. The next Lafayette County School Board regular meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 20, at 6 p.m. in the School Board Administration Building, located at 363 NE Crawford St., in Mayo.