Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Meeting Roundup topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pendleton County Schools board approves bus lease, budget revisions, personnel hires and MOU; policies set for first reading
Summary
The board approved personnel hires and volunteers, a four-year lease-purchase for a 2026 bus, budget supplements and transfers, and an MOU to pursue a math-teacher consulting grant (district share $7,250); policy amendments were approved as a first reading. Attendance and chronic-absence reports showed countywide improvement.
The Pendleton County Board of Education handled routine business and several approvals at its December meeting.
Personnel and volunteers: The board approved the superintendent's personnel recommendations, including extracurricular coaches, tutors and substitutes (names read during the meeting). The board also approved volunteers and chaperones for Brandywine and Franklin Elementary Schools and confirmed Daniel Miller as a nonpaid (volunteer) coach who will provide videography to support coaching.
Budget and finance: The board approved the November treasurer's report and accepted budget supplements and transfers listed in the packet (the packet included early-literacy grant funding and several state and federal grant adjustments). The board approved a four-year lease-purchase with Country Roads Leasing to fund a 2026 bus, an amount read into the record as $144,006.60 over four years at a reported 5.75% interest rate.
MOU and grants: The board authorized a memorandum of understanding to partner with educational consulting teams to apply for a state grant supporting math-teacher collaboration; the district's contingent share if awarded is $7,250.
Policy first reading: The board approved as a first reading a large packet of policy revisions driven by state legislation and regulatory updates. The packet included changes or new language touching on student assessment benchmarks, attendance, special-education funding adjustments, access to minors' medical records, school safety mapping, AI/technology accessibility (WCAG-related requirements), graduation requirements and more. The first-reading approval means the board will return in January for final consideration.
Attendance and student metrics: Staff reported improved attendance and chronic-absence numbers: county average daily attendance near 94.4%; Brandywine kindergarten at 97.22% for the period reported; chronic-absence countywide down from roughly 15.9% last year to about 11.9% this cycle. The board praised school-level improvements and noted the district will continue monitoring those trends.
Votes at a glance: minutes approval (passed by voice vote); personnel approvals (passed); treasurer's report (passed); lease-purchase for 2026 bus with Country Roads Leasing (passed); budget supplements and transfers as presented (passed); MOU with educational consulting teams (passed); policy amendments approved as first reading (passed). Most items passed by motion, second and voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.
The board scheduled its next regular meeting for Jan. 6 and adjourned. No final budget cuts or policy adoptions were enacted at this meeting; the policy packet returned as a first reading for later action.
