SCHOOL BOARD HOLDS WORKSHOP ON BUDGET
SHE’S DISTRICT INSTRUCTIONAL COACH WORKING AT RIVERSPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL
District HR Director Lori Sandgren, Superintendent Bobby Pearce and Assistant Superintendent Sunny Chancy.
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor
The Wakulla County School Board held an informal workshop on the budget and issues facing new board members last week to give them a briefing on some issues they may face.
The workshop, held Thursday, Jan. 12, at the transportation office, was mostly led by district Chief Financial Officer Randy Beach and mostly looked at some financial issues.
School Board Chair Melisa Taylor attended, as did newly elected members Laura Lawhon and Eddie Hand. Josh Brown, who has served for two years, also attended and asked questions.
Among the issues discussed were the ongoing teacher shortage – currently the district has 25 openings for teachers. Beach and HR Director Lori Sandgren discussed steps the district is pursuing to fill the jobs, including using a teacher exchange to bring in foreign teachers.
School board members Laura Lawhon, Josh Brown and Eddie Hand.
Also an upcoming issue is free meals: staff will recommend to the school board in a coming meeting that free meals end at the middle schools and high school, and have them at elementary schools, Wakulla Education Center, and the Wakulla Institute. The only schools that qualify for free meals are Medart Elementary, WEC and WI. Staff will recommend that the other elementary schools be funded using reserves from food service.
Superintendent Bobby Pearce countered some Facebook posters by pointing out that Wakulla schools are not seeing growth. And he discussed the lack of need for a new high school – especially when the new 57,000 square foot career academy is built in the next year or so, and the front of the high school is replaced in 2025, there will be plenty of student stations.
Brown, who is owner of Waypoint Realty, noted that 65% of real estate sales in the past few years have been to people 50 or older, with grown children. He posited that the rising cost of houses had priced young couples out.
There was also a discussion about rising health insurance costs.