Votes at a glance: key actions taken by Richland 1 board on March 11, 2025

The Richland 1 Board of School Commissioners on March 11, 2025, approved a series of administrative and capital items by unanimous votes during its regular meeting at the Stevenson Administration Building in Columbia. The board also completed routine personnel actions and scheduled a return meeting March 25, 2025, at Eau Claire High School.

The board approved the administration's request to reallocate a portion of the general fund balance to 12 capital projects totaling $5,165,000. The projects include ongoing work on Snyder (phase 3 funding), scoreboard replacements, flooring and paving projects, corner stone/dedication plaques at a set of recently completed projects, and unspecified facility maintenance categories. Administration staff said about $25,000 had already been set aside for scoreboard needs and that a full baseball/softball scoreboard replacement could cost about $48,000 including installation. Superintendent's staff also told commissioners they would provide more precise lists of project locations and priority rankings on request.

The board authorized issuance of purchase orders to Smarter Systems Creative Auto Visual (Charlotte, NC) to replace SMART Boards in district classrooms in an estimated amount of $1,000,000, to be purchased under the approved South Carolina state contract for audio-visual services. Commissioners discussed the intended classroom use and how the devices support instruction; staff said the newer SMART Boards include built-in micro PCs that allow teachers to log in with district credentials.

Other actions and informational items approved or acknowledged by the board (each passed unanimously unless otherwise noted):

- Personnel: The administration recommended and the board approved hiring four teachers for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. The district reported 38 teaching vacancies at the time of the meeting.

- Leaves: The board approved two leaves of absence without pay (employee initials QJA and KGB) under district policy GCC/GDC (staff leave and absences).

- Contracts: The board received an informational report on purchase orders between $50,000 and $249,999.99 for February 2025 and authorized various contract actions as presented.

- Executive session: The board entered and exited executive session to discuss human resources matters (personnel updates, hiring and leaves); the motion to enter executive session passed unanimously.

Board members asked staff for follow-up details on several items, including dollar savings from energy projects led by Schneider Electric (staff estimated about $2.5 million in savings across completed phases), a specific list of flooring and paving priorities, and an updated facilities assessment schedule (phase 1 building-condition assessment ongoing; phase 2 programmatic capacity assessments to begin in the fall). Coach Matts and facilities staff described that scoreboard funding will be used for repair-or-replace decisions, prioritized by failure or season needs.

Votes at a glance (recorded outcomes):

- Reallocation of general fund balance for 12 capital projects totaling $5,165,000: approved (unanimous). - Issuance of purchase orders to Smarter Systems Creative Auto Visual for SMART Board replacements (estimated $1,000,000): approved (unanimous). - Personnel hires (4 teachers): approved (unanimous). - Leaves of absence (QJA, KGB): approved (unanimous). - Purchase orders report ($50,000'$249,999.99): received as information.

The board will take up additional business at its next regular meeting on March 25, 2025.