Parents Asking Education Board To Change Meeting Types, Times

Brandi Herndon, moderator of the Facebook group, Parents Improving Oconee Schools, has asked the Oconee County Board of Education to consider changing the times of its meetings to accommodate parents and to hold town hall meetings.

In comments before the Board of Education last week, Herndon said the current 5 p.m. meetings are “really hard for parents and especially working parents” and that town hall meetings would be “a place to identify and implement solutions to problems” in the county’s schools.

The Board did not respond to Herndon’s request, consistent with Board policy in dealing with comments from the public.

In other action last week, the Board decided–in a rare split vote–to approve a request from Superintendent Jason Branch that the Board spend $949,647 from the current Education Local Option Sales Tax on computers for teachers and students.

The Board also received a request from Robert Wyatt, chair of the Oconee County Library Board, for an increase of $2,000 for support of the county’s two libraries, bringing the Board’s contribution in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget to $28,000.

For more on this story, with a video of the Board of Education meeting, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Board member Tim Burgess