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Wilkes Board of Education salutes top band students, youth leaders The Wilkes County Board of Education, in its regular February meeting Tuesday night, saluted high achievers from the middle school band and the Youth Leadership Program, and considered joining with other Georgia school systems to press the state for adequate funding. The Board met with Vice Chairman Bob Guin presiding and members Kay Finnell and Steven Albertson in attendance. Chairman Ricky Callaway was out of town, and Board member Kelly Powell had a death in the family. Superintendent of Schools Joyce Williams opened the evening by recognizing two Washington-Wilkes Middle School students who have achieved regional acclaim by earning spots in the 10th District Honor Band. Eighth-grader Haley Colvin earned a place in the trumpet line, and eighth-grader John Pope earned the coveted first chair tenor saxophone position. "We've very, very proud of our future Tiger Band leaders," Williams said. Steve Albertson also pointed out the hard work of middle school band leader Jeff Thomas in the students' musical achievements. Members of Youth Leadership Wilkes made a presentation to the Board. Ashley Kearney spoke for the group, saying that the members were working to help the youth of Wilkes County see a positive future. The group has also been involved in community projects and initiatives. Each of the members present stepped forward and told the Board and the audience their names, their accomplishments in school, and their college plans. Speaking to the meeting in addition to Kearney were Trey Berry, Troy Colbert, Melacia Cullars, Michael Edwards, Christina Albertson, Akeimos Coleman, Thomas Booker, and Jasmine Jones. They were accompanied by Dorothy Jordan, program coordinator. Next to address the Board was Joseph G. Martin Jr., Executive Director of the Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia, who gave an informational briefing on the Consortium. The Consortium, he said, is a group of 52 school systems throughout Georgia that are combining forces to force the state of Georgia to meet its constitutional responsibility to provide an adequate education to public school students. Martin passed out a spreadsheet showing that Wilkes County had suffered a 5.9 percent cut in state funding since 2002. His group has filed suit and may get a trial in 2008, but Martin says that they are working on a settlement. He addressed the Wilkes County board in hopes, he said, that the county will become part of the group. He will be sending board members more information for their consideration at a later meeting. The board passed, at Superintendent Williams' request, a resolution requesting an extension of the county's five-year facilities plan. In other business, Guin opened bids on the sale of three school buses dating from 1991 and 1992. The high bidders were the Washington County Head Start program and C.E. Norman of Lincoln County. Following up on the board's recent construction meeting, Williams said that she had talked to a representative from Southern A&E about revising their numbers to reflect several changes prior to bidding. She also said that she would write a letter to the state Board of Education to change the county's building process from construction-manager-atrisk to a hard-bid process. "Once we know what the cost per square foot is, then it will come to the board for a decision on where to go from there," she said. The Board approved the school calendar for the 2007-2008 school year. Albertson questioned the need for a three-week Christmas break that made school start early in August. "That puts band camp out there in the hottest time of the summer," he said. Williams passed out copies of the monthly financial report to Board members, then introduced Elaine Wheatley, the new Director of Finance and Related Services, who replaces CFO Dean Ware.
The meeting adjourned for an executive session for personnel.
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