WHITE COUNTY, Ga. – Assistant Superintendent Scott Justus presented the board with the Mar. ESPLOST request during the work session on Tuesday, Mar. 29.

School Nutrition Director Abby Rowland also brought the board a proposed school nutrition meal price increase for the next school year. Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett informed the board of a request for a new club to form. The board also reviewed a presentation from Warrior Academy during the meeting.

The Mar. ESPLOST request is for $154,348.00. The request is for new chairs for graduation and that is $10,500.00. A new power source for the sign and dinosaur at Jack P. Nix Elementary school is $3,500.00 The request also has $6,600.00 for improvements at the Administrative building.

Transportation Director Sharon Hipps is also requesting $18,748.00 in the ESPLOST for a new app for parents and bus drivers. The app will allow parents to be able to track where their child is on the bus. In order to access the app parents of children enrolled in school will be given a code so that they will be the only ones able to access the information. If approved at the meeting Thursday, the software should be up and running by the beginning of the school year.

The last request on the ESPLOST is for $115,000.00 to purchase new Chromebooks for the rising ninth graders. This is an annual expense for the board however due to supply chain issues Director William Sperin is requesting this earlier than usual.

The proposed school nutrition meal price increase is due to the rising cost of materials. The increase will be from $2.00 to $2.25 for elementary school students and from $2.25 to $2.50 for middle and high school students. If approved this increase will not take effect until next school year.

The new club that Burkett introduced to the board is called Sources of Strength and the advisor is Francesca Smith. This is a club to encourage students that are struggling to turn to other students for help. These students will be able to report issues to Smith or another teacher and encourage their peers to focus on their strengths to get through whatever they are struggling with. This will be voted on in the regular meeting on Thursday.

Shelly McDonald and a student presenting to the board for Warrior Academy.

Warrior Academy led by Shelly McDonald gave a presentation to the board at the meeting. It opened in 2018 with nine students and two staff members now they are up to five staff members and 54 students. The mission of the academy is to help nontraditional students meet their learning goals.

Through the program, two students were able to graduate early in Dec. McDonald explained how they take Thursdays to highlight the things that the students are really good at. They call them Sliver lining Thursdays. For more information about Warrior Academy visit https://sites.google.com/white.k12.ga.us/warrior-academy/about?authuser=0.

The board will meet on Thursday, Mar. 31 at 6:00 p.m. for their regularly scheduled meeting. To view the agenda for that meeting visit https://white.fetchyournews.com/2022/03/27/board-of-education-meetings/.