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Rockdale schools highlight local-food pilot, student awards and outreach; district reports finances for August

5796920 · September 19, 2025
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Summary

District staff highlighted a local-food pilot that delivered locally sourced produce to Rockdale cafeterias, recognized student awards and scholarships, and presented August financials showing revenues and expenditures year to date.

Rockdale County Public Schools highlighted several district programs and student recognitions during the board meeting, including participation in a local-food pilot program, student awards and scholarships, and the district’s August financial report.

Why it matters: The topics touch school nutrition, student achievement and college access initiatives that affect thousands of students and local farmers who supplied produce to district cafeterias during a two-year pilot.

Local food pilot: Cindy Ball, the district’s chief of community impact, presented information about the Georgia Acre Collective local food incentive pilot, led by the Common Market Southeast. Ball said the pilot, launched in 2023, funneled nearly $128,000 into Georgia’s local food economy, connected 37 small-scale farms with school cafeterias and delivered about 67,000 pounds of locally sourced food to students across three districts, including Rockdale County Public Schools. Ball identified CJ Hicks, JH House and Peaks Chapel elementary schools as Rockdale pilot sites and said the pilot served approximately 74,000 students across partner districts.

Ball and video participants described additional supports: technical assistance for school nutrition staffs and culinary trainings that enabled some districts to move from precooked products to preparing raw ingredients. The district asked that the program find continued funding; Ball said Rockdale hopes the pilot can continue if additional funds become available.

Student awards and outreach: Administrators and school staff recognized achievements from across the district. Joshua Buchanan, an eighth grader at General Ray Davis Middle School, announced that Davis had the most student projects in the county to qualify as grand champions at the county and state science fairs and named students who advanced and earned Thermo Fisher nominations. The district also reported 168 students were named AP scholars this year and a 38% increase in students scoring 3 or higher on AP exams compared with last year.

Rockdale students also received scholarships and awards tied to agricultural and conservation programs. The Rockdale Soil and Water Conservation District sponsored 16 students to attend the Natural Resources Conservation Workshop at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), totaling $6,000 in sponsorships; several students received scholarships and division awards from the workshop and ABAC Foundation.

Financial update: Joycelyn Smith, chief financial officer, provided the final financial report for August. She reported monthly revenue of $10,500,000 and year-to-date revenue of $20,100,000 (about 8.8% of budget). August expenditures were $16,400,000 and year-to-date expenditures were $35,000,000 (about 15.1% of budget). Smith reported open encumbrances of $4,076,335 and a fund balance of approximately $14,078,187.

Next steps: Ball said the district will continue to pursue funding for local-food partnerships and asked the community to help sustain pilot gains. Administrators said they will continue outreach on college scholarships and financial-aid events, and the CFO noted routine financial monitoring will continue as the fiscal year advances.