A monthly publication highlighting work session and regular monthly meetings of the Board of Education
Board Briefs
January 2020
The Barrow County Board of Education is composed of nine members. Board members serve a four-year term, with three districts elected at-large and six elected by district. The Board is the official governing body of the Barrow County School System.
Highlights of Presentation and Discussion Items
Property Tax Discussion
Jennifer Houston, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, presented detailed information about the impact of property tax in Barrow County. Here are a few noteworthy data points:
  • BCSS is in the bottom 10-11% of school districts in the state based on expenditures per student
  • BCSS has a small central office, ranked 153 out of 180

Compared to our neighboring counties,
  • Barrow has the 2nd lowest property taxes
  • Barrow has the 3rd highest number of students
  • BCSS is last in school tax per student (2018 data)

It takes over 40 years to pay off the 13 year education of one child from K-12. The presentation also projects the future revenue that will be lost based on age exemptions.

80th Day Enrollment Count
Enrollment for Barrow County School System is currently 14,058 , which is almost a 2% increase since the last FTE count on the 60th day count this year.
  • Elementary - 6,794
  • Middle - 3,456
  • High - 3,993
Classroom Teacher Stipend Options
The Board of Education asked to explore the costs to add an additional local salary supplement. Cindy Beggs, Assistant Superintendent of Planning & Personnel, presented 3 options: $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000. This supplement would only apply to classroom teachers (not all certified personnel), which is about 995 teachers currently.

The Executive Cabinet will come back with a recommendation to the Board as part of the budget process this spring with what supplement is feasible.
Superintendent's Recognitions
The Bright Ideas grant program, in its fifth year at Jackson EMC, funds innovative classroom projects developed by state-certified public middle school educators within the counties served by Jackson EMC. Educators for grades six through eight can apply for up to $2,000 in grant funds for classroom projects that are not funded through general education dollars.

Once again, Barrow County School System teachers were awarded grants to pursue bold learning opportunities for their students. Seven teachers at three schools received $10,445 for their Bright Ideas. Learn more...

• Jennifer Deckard , Westside Middle: “Gamifying Physical Science” $1,974
• Donna Morris , Bear Creek Middle: “Seeing our World” $1,145
• Tonia Harbin , Bear Creek Middle: “Success in STEM” $1,600
• Ashley Bailey , Arts & Innovation Magnet: “Innovation Station” $1,995
• Ysheena Lyles , Arts & Innovation Magnet: “Jammin on the 1” $836
• Darby Bozeman , Russell Middle: “Storytelling through Podcasting” $1,160
• McKendree Ramsell , Russell Middle: “Clay Stop Motion” $1,735

2019 Georgia Farm Bureau Teacher of the Year

Diana Cole from Statham Elementary School was selected as the 2019 Georgia Farm Bureau Teacher of the Year. Staci Waters from Barrow County Farm Bureau presented the recognition, along with Principal Salethia James. 

NGMC Barrow Tar Wars Poster Contest Winners

During the last two weeks in October, all fourth and fifth grade students in Barrow County Schools participated in Tar Wars, a tobacco-free education program developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians. This program is a partnership between Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow and the Barrow County School System to teach students about the health effects of tobacco use, the cost associated with using them, and the advertising techniques used by the tobacco industry to market to youth.

One of the activities in Tar Wars is a contest in which students design a poster discouraging tobacco use. The top entries were selected by public vote online. Congratulations to our winners!
1 st  Place: Lillian Washington
“Listen to the Wise Guinea pig and Stay drug Free”
5 th  grade Bethlehem Elementary School
2 nd  Place: Sydney Shadrick
“Stay Tobacco Free!....And you’ll be healthy like me!
5 th  grade Statham Elementary School
3 rd  Place: Richard Jackson
“Don’t Smoke….live a good life, don’t Smoke”
5 th  grade Winder Elementary School
Three Schools Recognized as Top Performing Title I Schools

Barrow County School System had three schools recognized as a top performing Title I School by the Georgia Department of Education.
  • Bramlett Elementary - Title I Distinguished School 
  • Auburn Elementary - Title I Reward Schools
  • Russell Middle - Title I Reward Schools


Presentation of Colors

Cadets from the JROTC Program at Winder-Barrow High School presented the colors (not listed in photo order):

  • Cadet Layla Teal
  • Cadet Zackery Phillips
  • Cadet Tyler Casper
  • Cadet Cole Smither
December Attendance Awards

Student
ES – Yargo Elementary
MS/HS – Apalachee High

Staff
ES – Yargo Elementary
MS/HS – Westside Middle
Program – Sims Academy

Transportation
Bramlett Elementary

School Food & Nutrition
Five schools with perfect attendance. Winder-Barrow High won the tiebreaker.
December Clean School Award

Each month, board members visit schools and evaluate which school is being kept neat and clean.

This month, County Line Elementary was selected.

Congratulations to their custodial staff for this recognition.
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The Barrow County School System utilizes eBoard in an effort to be transparent in its governance and operations. You can locate the most recent information concerning the Board of Education meetings on eBoard. 

The regular business meetings of the Barrow County Board of Education take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the boardroom of the Professional Development Center (PDC) located at 179 W. Athens St., Winder, GA 30680.


Barrow County School System | BOLDly Committed to Student Success