The Henry County Board of Education will be chaired in 2019 exactly as in 2018.
Moments after Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis opened the inaugural study session of the year January 14 by congratulating Josh Hinton and Holly Cobb for their services as chair and vice-chair last year, the first official order of business resulted in Hinton and Cobb being elected to the same positions for this year.
Cobb nominated Hinton for chair, while Annette Edwards nominated herself. Edwards’ nomination did not pass, while Hinton was appointed with four votes. Pam Nutt then nominated Cobb for vice chair and Edwards again nominated herself. The vote result was the same.
This came on the heels of a December board meeting discussion following a public review of the board’s policy for electing these officers. A number of citizens at that time urged the board to rotate the positions every year, and now-former board member Donna McBride said last month that she felt the district’s policy leaned in that direction.
At that same December meeting Edwards noted that, upon completion of her first four-year team on the board without serving in either role, she doesn’t think it is fair that everyone doesn’t get the opportunity to sit in the chair or vice-chair position. Other board members said then that they felt having a vote every year was the appropriate action, regardless of who is selected.
Edwards was sworn in for her new term before the meeting, as was new board member Sophe Pope, who defeated McBride in last year’s election.
In other business at the January 14 meeting, the board approved a bid for the purchase of wide-area network routing equipment to be placed at each school in the district and expand its fiber network, an initiative that is part of the current E-SPLOST program. A request for proposals was issued, after which the district’s Technology Operations Department received and evaluated six bids for this project.
Because it is a Georgia Department of Education E-Rate project, the county will be able to move forward at a sizable discount. Additional funding will come from SPLOST funds that have been marked for school upgrades.
The cost for the project is $954,225 and the district’s total commitment is $427,347. According to staff report, the equipment will be ordered in May and installed during the summer break. The board also approved an updated policy authorizing the superintendent or his/her designee to sign for all school system banking and investment accounts.
