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Superintendent outlines communications app rollout and options to charge HOPE recipients tuition for extracurriculars
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Manning told the board the district will roll out the Apogee Rooms app to improve teacher–parent communication and presented options for charging HOPE scholarship recipients tuition or per-class fees for extracurriculars, citing a state code change that requires county boards to charge fees; the board asked for policy recommendations.
Superintendent Dr. Manning updated the Gilmer County Board of Education on several operational items, including a technology rollout and proposed fee options tied to the HOPE scholarship.
Dr. Manning said the district will begin rolling out the Apogee Rooms app, a secure messaging platform for teachers, coaches and parents that allows class- and team-level messaging and logs conversations. "We're rolling out the Apogee Rooms app," Dr. Manning said, describing it as a tool for sending class updates and for secure coach–student communication that will be supported by district training.
On funding and fees, Dr. Manning presented several approaches for recouping costs when HOPE scholarship recipients participate in district classes and extracurriculars. Options discussed included calculating per-class charges by dividing lost state aid across course offerings (an example figure mentioned was about $611 per class) and using an equipment-based calculation for athletics (a cited base equipment estimate for football was about $500). Dr. Manning said the state legislature changed the code so that "county boards shall charge" tuition/fees for HOPE scholarship recipients participating in public school extracurriculars; he said he would bring the exact code citation to the policy committee and the board meeting for review.
Board members asked for written policy language and for the superintendent to place recommended options before the policy committee. Dr. Miller noted that school funding comes from taxpayers and that HOPE funds represent state dollars that no longer flow to traditional public instruction when students transfer to other options. "Our kids get an education because the taxpayers fund it," Dr. Miller said, urging the board to recover costs where appropriate.
The superintendent said he will bring the precise statutory citation and concrete numbers to the policy committee and a future board meeting; the board directed staff to develop policy options before the start of the school year.
