School Board to be Addressed by SACS President

Six weeks ago members of the Cobb school board heard from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools via the U.S. mail. Today, they’ll hear in person from the agency that accredits the Cobb County School District as SACS President and CEO Dr. Mark Elgart will address the board sometime during its scheduled sessions.

When reached Tuesday night by Patch, member Tim Stultz of Post 2 said, “I think it would be premature for me to comment on this matter at this time.’’

In March, Superintendent Fred Sanderson received a letter from Mike Bryans, the state director of AdvancED and SACS, in response to numerous complaints that alleged Cobb County violations of AdvancED accrediting standards and policies. Many of those complaints focused on the board’s hotly debated move earlier this year to revert to the traditional calendar.

On April 28, Sanderson wrote back to SCAS, saying that four members, including Stultz, were too hasty in changing the school calendar in February and caused unnecessary division within the board and the community.

It is not known when Elgart will speak to the board, which will hold its work session beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Central Office on Glover Street in Marietta. But what is known is that board member David Banks plans on discussing the idea of taking advantage of the $11 million saved this year in construction costs on Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax projects and using the extra money for other needs.

Chief Administrative Officer Doug Shepard told Patch at the April 28 school board meeting that construction projects came in $9 million under budget in March and $11 million overall so far in 2011.

Banks, whose Post 5 covers Pope, and high schools, wants to spend the surplus funds on books, buses and technology.

“What I’m asking the administration is to take what we have in under-budget savings and let’s reallocate it to those three areas so we can refresh computers, buy new buses and buy new textbooks that we need,” Banks said. “By the economy tanking on us, we were able to capitalize on the construction environment so that the bids we put out were much less than what we anticipated.”

But Shepard also has warned the board several times this year of signs that construction costs are rising, and some projects have come in over budget. Projects with large amounts of construction materials seem particularly vulnerable while oil and other commodity prices remain high.

One example at the April 28 board meeting was the Lassiter High School renovation project, which came in $2 million over budget. Half of that overage reflected the expansion of the seating in the school’s new theater, but Shepard said the other half came from higher prices for materials.

Board Chairwoman Alison Bartlett, whose Post 7 includes , balked at depleting the unassigned classroom funds in the current SPLOST for the Lassiter project, and board members Kathleen Angelucci and Stultz joined her in voting no when .

Bartlett couldn’t be reached for comment for this article, but about the need for austerity, caution and a search for savings don’t seem to align with a plan to spend SPLOST savings.

Such savings can come in handy in the future, as the board has seen with leftover money from the last SPLOST. The board declared SPLOST II funds as excess to prevent a millage rate increase this fiscal year, and the board will discuss doing the same for fiscal 2012 at its Wednesday meeting.

Under the that Chief Financial Officer Mike Addison introduced to the board April 28 and that the board examined line by line May 4, the board will need to declare about $22 million in SPLOST II money as excess to achieve balance in fiscal 2012 without raising the millage rate from 18.9 to 20 mills.

Addison is seeking tentative approval of the budget Wednesday, although final approval won’t come until June.

Also on the agenda for Wednesday:

• David Morgan, whose Post 3 includes , and high schools, will discuss the board’s strategic plan and its priorities and vision. The question of the board’s adherence to a strategic vision was one of the issues SCAS raised in its March letter of inquiry to Sanderson.  

“We want a strategic plan that drives and fosters student achievement at its highest,” Morgan said. “I think it’s (also) important we have a vision that drives our actions and decisions as a board.”

In the afternoon, the board will address another SACS concern by holding its second training session with the Georgia School Boards Association's professional development director, Tony Arasi. The training is expected to take two hours.

• Sanderson plans to provide an impact report on “Closing the Gap: Working With Students With Disabilities.”
• Sanderson will talk about standards for high school athletic facilities, a topic Bartlett raised earlier this year.
• Among SPLOST items are the district’s portable classrooms and renovations at Mountain View Elementary and .

Not on the agenda is an update on the search for Sanderson’s successor. Although the board has met more than 10 times in executive session regarding the search, the board will likely hold off meeting again Wednesday on the superintendent because it’s scheduled to gather Thursday for further talks, Banks said.