HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-02-2022 Fairhope Public School Commission Meeting MinutesFairhope Public School Commission
November 2, 2022
Fairhope Middle School
Members present: Paul Hannon, Joe Kelley, Carrie Mclemore, Danielle Mashburn-Myrick, Hill
Robinson, Miranda Schrubbe,
Members Absent: Robin Coleman (U), Amy Foley (E), Cornelius Woods (U)
Principals present: Carol Broughton, Lynn Smith -Fairhope East Elementary; Julie Pierce, Sidney
Smith, Caroline Hollowell -Fairhope West Elementary; Patrice Wolfe -J. Larry Newton
Elementary; Angie Hall, Erica Lee -Fairhope Middle; Jon Cardwell -Fairhope High
City of Fairhope: Corey Martin
Guests: Gary Gover
Meeting was called to order and led by Paul Hannon.
Report Card
Julie Pierce shared a streamlined table of the combined proficiency scores on the most recent
ACAP for the 3 elementary schools. The numbers show growth for all grades in each subject
tested (reading, math, science). This information will be shared at a city council work session in
the near future.
The commission has been invited to participate in the State of the City event on January 26th,
at which commission representatives can have a table where city residents can visit and find
out about the impact of the 3-mill tax funding in our schools .
JLN Request
Patrice Wolfe presented a request for professional development funding to allow one teacher
to attend a coaching conference/workshop next summer, presented by top professionals in this
field. Conference registration is $1995; hotel, transportation and per diem are estimated at
approximately $1800. A motion was made to approve up to $4000 be allocated for this request,
to be funded from 3-mill money. Motion was seconded and approved.
Reserve Discussion
Updated spreadsheets had been provided by John Wilson and shared with the commission
prior to the meeting. As of September 30 t h, "Unassigned Available Funds" balance is shown to
be $888,632. This reflects unallocated funds from the periods July 2020-June 2021 and July
2021-June 2022. These are funds in excess of what was budgeted, coming from both property
and probate sources. An additional $573,518 remains as carryover from the previous 2 school
years ---money that was allocated but unspent when expenditures fell below what was
budgeted for each school. (The current policy of the commission is to hold in reserve any
property tax revenue collected over $2M and all revenue from probate collections annually
over a 3-year cycle. The policy is to be reassessed at the end of the cycle, but can be modified
as needed at any time. When the policy was first established, the commission expressed
interest in building the reserve to $2M.) Members discussed the need to determine a cap on
.. -
the reserve funds, the criteria and process for using reserve funds, and what to do with
carryover funds.
Additional
Corey Martin expressed interest in discussion and consideration of how school mental health
services could be enhanced further with 3-mill funds. Brief discussion took place regarding ways
various guidance counselor and social worker positions and roles could be rearranged and new
positions funded, offloading some technical/documentation tasks to designated personnel to
allow more direct interaction with students by guidance counselors and social workers. These
ideas will be explored more going into the next budget cycle.
December Meeting
It was decided that there is no need to meet in December. The next meeting of the commission
will be on Wednesday, January 4th at Fairhope High. Meeting was adjourned at 5:40.
After dismissing non-voting members of the commission, there was a brief discussion of recent
developments leading to 2 openings on the commission. Cornelius Woods has expressed his
intent to resign and Robin Coleman has exceeded the number of unexcused absences allowed
by commission attendance policy.
Respectfully submitted by
Miranda Schrubbe