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The Hart County Board of Education honored South Hart second grader Weston Berelc (center) as a Georgia Young Author Award winner. Berelc is pictured with Superintendent Jennifer Carter (left) and Board Chair Kim Pierce (right).
With the new Hart County jail slated to open later this month, the Hart County Charter School System (HCCS) announced that its facilities and staff will be used in an emergency situation should the Hart County Sheriff’s Office require their services.
During a meeting of the Hart County Board of Education April 15, Superintendent Jennifer Carter added a late agenda item for the Board to review a proposed intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that would allow the Hart County Sheriff’s Office to use the system’s agriscience center on Bowman Highway as a relocation site should a disaster occur at the new jail.
“The housing of inmates at the agriscience center would be temporary, and the IGA states it would be twelve hours or less,” Carter said.
The Board stated that the proposed agreement also allows access to the district’s school buses and more importantly school bus drivers should relocation be necessary.
“The agreement states that if inmates were transported by buses that inmates would be restrained and under heavy guard throughout the entire process,” Carter said.
According to the IGA, should the agriscience center be already in use during a disaster the jail would use an alternate site not owned by the school district, but school personnel and equipment will still be used.
“The sheriff’s office would still require use of the district’s buses and drivers to expedite the transfer of inmates,” Carter said.
The IGA was approved unanimously by the Board.
Additionally, the Board approved just over $382,000 for new high quality instructional reading materials for K-5 students in the county’s three elementary schools.
The new reading materials for English and Language Arts are designed to keep the district in line with Georgia’s Early Literacy Act which was passed in 2023 by the Georgia General Assembly.
The new statute states that new reading materials should be “aligned to the science of reading, instruct students in foundational literacy skills and State Board of Education approved English Language Arts (ELA) standards.”
The Georgia Department of Education gave school districts two sets of curriculums to to review and Hart County formed a literacy committee comprised of three representatives from each elementary grade level.
During a meeting of the literacy committee March 22, they decided to choose Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Into Reading (HMH), which was on the approved list from the state board of education, as the best choice for Hart County Charter System’s core reading curriculum.
Assistant Superintendent Lydia Bennett presented the plan to the Board at their meeting, and while state mandated curriculum changes for grades K-3, Bennett asked the board to go a step further.
“While the state requires us to update literacy standards for K-3, we as a district we would like to standards for K-5,” Bennett said. “Fourth and Fifth grade are not a requirement. That is a need and want for Hart County.”
As the new state law demands an update of curriculum, Board Chair Kim Pierce said, “No matter what, we are forced with a curriculum purchase at this time.”
The district will use $319,774 from federal ESSER III dollars to pay for the majority of the curriculum change with a little less than $63,000 coming from local funding.
Carter said the district is required to use ESSER money by the end of the current school year.
“If we do not use the ESSER funds allocated for this (curriculum upgrade) if we do not use them for this purchase we would have to allocate them for something else because that money expires this year,” Carter said.”
The Board unanimously approved the curriculum upgrade, and Bennett said the cost is associated with a six-year commitment.
“That includes all consumables for the next six years,” Bennett said.
The Board also honored several students as stellar performers. They first recognized Lyzsania Badillo, Emily Reno, Destiney Hamby, and Gabe Hill from Hart County High School who won state championships in Atlanta last month at the SkillsUSA competition.
“As you can imagine, it’s no easy task to earn a state championship,” Carter said. “It requires commitment and an eagerness to learn. I wish them the best of luck as they travel to the national championships in June.”
Carter also recognized second grader Weston Berelc from South Hart Elementary School and eleventh grader Zoe Carter who were selected as winners in the Georgia Young Authors competition.
Berelc and Carter were selected as winners from among a crowd of students spanning 15 different Northeast Georgia school systems.
“On behalf of the Hart County Board of Education, I would like to congratulate Berelc and Carter for excelling in the contest and representing the system with distinction,” Carter said.
Finally, the Board recognized South Hart Elementary special education teacher Paige Gordon with the Philip Wright Award.
The annual award given to an educator who is making an impact on students with disabilities in the school system. The award is given in the name of Philip Wright, who created a legacy of service to students with disabilities.
Dr. Julie Franklin, Director of Special Services, recognized Gordon by saying, “Ms. Gordon is loved more than anything. The attention she has brought to her classroom are all short of miraculous.”
The Hart County Board of Education will hold its next meeting on May 13.