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by Lucas C. Allison

Dispatch Correspondent

The Wilcox Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting Tuesday Nov. 10.

Reeves Construction of Albany submitted a base bid of $908,540 for the 7th Avenue extension with an addendum bid of $50,000 for the construction of a 10-foot bike path. Supt. Julie Childers recommended the Board approve the base bid.

Childers said at an earlier meeting that the Board had mentioned naming the street for some longtime educators, however the committee at the Wilcox PK-12 recommended naming the extension “Memory Lane,” then with Board approval and a fee, people would be able to purchase and place maybe a memorial bench or marker on the street.

Childers reported the class of 2020’s graduation rate was 95.4 percent, the second highest in the Heart of GA Regional Educational Service Agency

(RESA) marking the 6th year the school system has outperformed the state average.

Childers also provided data related to dropouts over the past six years there have been thirty-three dropouts of those 27 were a combination of white male/white females, four were black males-zero were black females and two Hispanic or others.  She reported this year there have been four dropouts two each white males/white female.  She said they have added more vocational opportunities and also are contacting the dropouts to see where they are and possibly what can be done to help them.

The media center in the old Middle School is being converted into a Wilcox School Memorabilia Center that will display items from all the schools in Wilcox including those that have closed. If you have any yearbooks, trophies, awards, jerseys or any memorabilia you would like to donate, contact Childers at the Board of Education offices.

The board approved the request of Rev. Joey Boney for the use of the old high school gymnasium to hold the annual Community Wide Thanksgiving service. Childers advised the board that she had been contacted by Paula Ball, Wilcox County manager regarding leasing the old elementary school gymnasium to hold Superior Court in March 2021, due to COVID 19 precautions and need for additional space. She stated Mrs. Ball will be working with Judge Chastain and they will work out a lease agreement which will be presented to the board for approval at a future date.  The Board approved the revised FY21 SIG compensation plan

The board approved a worker’s compensation bid of $39,341.37 submitted by GA Education Workers Compensation Trust, which was the low bidder and current provider.

      Technology Director Lynn Dale will provide an update on system-wide technology and data collection.  She provided detailed updates on Virtual Learning and the location of WI-FI rangers located throughout the county and an increase in bandwidth that has been requested through the state.

     She said she has a proposal for Windstream to install fiber optic cables from the new school to the old school in which the school would pay 10 percent of the cost.

     After an executive session to discuss personnel matters, the Board reported they had approved the following hires:  Kaley Cofer as pass tutor, Lucinda Lyons as a pass volunteer and Jessica Sutton as a substitute teacher.

     The Board of Education meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 5pm at the Board of Education office in Abbeville.