Board of Education

School closings on BoE menu

Unspecified number of schools may be on the block in report due April 7

The Fayette County Board of Education gave Superintendent Jeff Bearden the go-ahead Monday night to produce a report that could lead to the closure of an as yet undetermined number of schools beginning in the 2013-2014 school year.

Bearden will present the report at a called meeting of the school board on April 7. Read More»

Sup’t.: Cut positions by attrition, shift health costs to employees

Time is drawing near for the Fayette County Board of Education to begin making decisions about the 2012-2013 budget that begins July 1. In that regard Superintendent Jeff Bearden in a report at the school board meeting Monday night presented a number of proposals aimed at reducing expenditures next year. Read More»

Coweta taking Pre-K applications March 12-23

There is a limited window of opportunity for those parents wanting to have their children attend Pre-K classes next year. Applications for the Pre-K lottery are being accepted March 12-23.

Coweta County School System spokesman Dean Jackson said parents who wish to secure a spot for their child in the 2012-13 Coweta County School System Pre-Kindergarten classes can do so at their child’s district school through noon on Friday, March 23. Read More»

Fayette BoE asks artificial turf question in online survey

A request by parents at last week’s meeting of the Fayette County Board of Education to consider having synthetic turf included on a potential upcoming education sales tax (E-SPLOST) extension and installed on the fields at the county’s five high schools has led to a survey on the proposal. The survey will be available on the school system’s website through March 23. Read More»

Tea Party turns up heat on BoE’s Terri Smith

Fayette County Board of Education Vice Chairman Terri Smith makes a point during her presentation to the Tea Party. Photo/Ben Nelms.

It was a meeting featuring Fayette County Board of Education member Terri Smith, but it essentially amounted to questions about school board Chairman Leonard Presberg. Smith spoke to a group of nearly 90 people Feb. 28 at the meeting called by the Fayette County Issues Tea Party at the Whitewater Creek Country Club.

Smith came with a presentation that covered a range of issues pertaining to the school system. But that presentation essentially transformed into a question and answer session on Chairman and District 5 school board member Leonard Presberg.
Read More»

4 BoE posts to be decided by district vote

Federal judge signs off on NAACP lawsuit settlement; first elections to be in July

UPDATED for print, Feb. 28, 2011 — Get ready for district voting in the upcoming Fayette County Board of Education races.

The signature by a federal judge late last week settled the lawsuit once and for all and paved the way for a new type of election process.

Seats held by school board members Terri Smith, Marion Key and Janet Smola are all up for a vote this year. And so is the one held by District 5 board member Leonard Presberg, though the particulars of that election have not been established.
Read More»

District voting for Fayette BoE is a done deal: judge approves settlement

It’s official: A federal judge’s signature Friday has made district voting for all posts on the Fayette County Board of Education the law of the land.

The consent decree proposal to settle the 2011 federal lawsuit filed by the Fayette County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People against the Fayette County Board of Education to institute district voting has been signed by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr.

The judge’s Feb. 24 order followed a 3-2 vote by the school board on Jan. 9 to settle the suit and agree to district voting, which will replace at-large voting for all posts. Read More»

House easily passes charter school measure

It was going to take a two-thirds super majority of the Georgia House of Representatives to approve a resolution to let voters decide on a constitutional amendment restoring the state’s ability to approve charter schools.

But the 123-48 vote on Wednesday surpassed the requirement and resulted in a vote that had 72 percent of representatives in favor of the resolution. The Senate will soon take up its own version of the proposal. Read More»

Fayette BoE eyes replacement for old ‘summer school’

It is a reality that not every student passes every academic course. A proposal put before the Fayette County Board of Education Feb. 13 would modify the method by which students recover credits during the summer months.

The credit recovery model would meet increasing requirements while providing a cost-saving benefit to parents and the school system, proponents contend. Read More»

Coweta schools in sound financial shape

When it comes to an economy that is still stalled the Coweta County School System is holding its own. A financial report at the Feb. 14 meeting of the Coweta County Board of Education showed the school system’s General Fund budget with a projected fund balance of nearly $26 million when the school year ends June 30.

The school board on June 14 adopted a $165.5 million General Fund budget for the FY 2011-2012 school year that began July 1. The report for January showed 58.33 percent of the year completed and 57.25 percent of the budget expended. Read More»