About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2019)
Page 10, May 20, 2019, The Islander BOE outsources custodial supervisor duties By Pamela Permar Shierling Last week (May 14) the Glynn County Board of Education (BOE) formally approved several contracts previously discussed during the May 9 work session. The most notable change in the way things have worked in the past is that the BOE chose to, in the wake of a custodial supervisor’s retirement, enter into a private custodial man agement services contract with The Haskins Company. According to A1 Boudreau, Facili ties Director for the school system, Haskins will provide quarterly inspec tions - including onsite building in spection; fleet maintenance tracking and service scheduling; onsite train ing and development where needed or upon request; updates on building changes, renovations, space informa tion annually; license ownership and database maintenance; customized reports for Custodial Program recom mendations, power equipment, report ing, supplier information, FTE count optimization analysis, etc; onsite in formal vendor managed inventory requirements at the school level; for mal RFQ prep, recommendations and specifications for procurement by the BOE where applicable; maintenance department consultation and updates on regular basis; vendor and supplier relation activities on custodial prod ucts only. The contract cost is $3,195 / monthly ($38,340 annually) for a one year commitment with options to re new in years two and three. Boudreau said, ‘Our goal is to get our schools cleaner.” Haskins will train the school sys tem custodial employees on how to get to a certain level of cleanliness, Bou dreau said. “And Haskins will train based on our requests,” he said. The FY 2020 budget shows a re duction of $73,800 for a custodian su pervisor position due to that person’s retirement. The BOE approved a $1.6 million contract with Ridge Enterprises for the new Altama Elementary School site clearing. There were three other bidders and Ridge was the lowest price as well as the highest rated. A June ground breaking for the school is expected. The board approved the Golden Isles College and Career Academy’s (CIGGA) request to apply for a Con struction-Related Equipment (CRE) Bond Grant from the Georgia Dept, of Education. If granted the funds will go to pur chase new equipment for GICCA’s kitchen. Dr. Rick Townsend, GICCA’s CEO, said, “If we get the grant, it will be used as seed money to update the school’s culinary lab.” The BOE approved spending THE MSLANDER imPRESSive reporting imPRESSive coverage Call to subscribe 912-265-9654 1604 B Newcastle St. • Downtown Brunswick $573,000 to continue the Read 180 lit eracy intervention program for those who read below grade level. During the work session on May 9 staff provided a literacy update for the 2019-20 school year which will fo cus on increasing the number of stu dents reading proficiently by the third grade. According to staff, instruction will be improved to reduce the need for wide-scale remediation. Studies show that reading profi ciency by the third grade relates to the graduation rate. Students who do not meet the third grade reading pro ficiency benchmark: are more likely to drop out of school; are more likely to live in poverty; are more likely to have higher incarceration rates. Also remediation after the third grade is not as effective and likely to take longer. Read 180 and Math 180 have been in place in the Glynn County School system since the 2014-2015 school year. Superintendent Dr. Virgil Cole said that Mrs. Lewis (Sung Hui Lewis, As sistant Superintendent) feels strongly that it is still a beneficial program even though, Cole said, “I do feel strongly we need to wean ourselves off of some of this program and she agrees with me.” “We are having some success in literacy now and this (Read 180) has been a valuable part of that,” Cole said. He also said the one time pay ment of $573,000 will come out of the 2019 budget. BOE member Mike Hulsey asked during the work session, “When is the end game (for this program) going to get here?” “I’ve been on the board for 14 years and we’ve talked about kids needing to read by the third grade. That’s been our major issue. So when is the end game going to get here?” he asked. “I want to have a plan for phas ing things out,” he continued. “I don’t want to be talking about this five years from now.” Dr. Cole said he agreed with Hulsey and that the system did need to work away from Read 180 but he did not say what the plan was or the time frame. Staff told the BOE that last year 74% of Glynn County kindergartners were reading proficiently; that in creased to 93% this year. Statistics for first and second grade reading proficiency were: first grade - 68% last year and 73% this year; second grade - 73% last year and 79% this year. From the Work Session on May 9: There wasn’t much to report on the Performing Arts Center front. Accord ing to School System Superintendent Dr. Virgil Cole, “We plan to continue to meet with the College (College of Coastal Georgia).” (J ’<4 { * *A n Aj 1^3$/ h Wit Thursday, June 6,2019 7 "9 p.m. Richland Rum Downtown Brunswick Tickets: $60 each / $100 per couple Ticket holders will enjoy: Delicious food and drink, rum tastings, music, a fabulous silent ouction and door prizes! All proceeds benefit the Glynn Academy Touchdown Club & the GA Football team.
