Gary Rice

On Monday night at their regular meeting, the Greene County Board of Education unanimously appointed Carver Principal Gary Rice as the new Principal at Greene County High School. The high school had been without a principal during the previous school year.

Additional appointments made were the  naming of Paramount Jr. High School Principal Dr. Harriet Lewis as Principal at Carver Middle School and moving Paramount Asst. Principal Frederick Square to the position of Interim Principal at Paramount.

 Board acts on Superintendent

 At the July 18 meeting, the School Board reconsidered the actions taken on July 7, 2011  regarding Mrs. Isaac Atkins and Dr. Emma Louie. Board President, Leo Branch stated, “We want to be right and do right. Therefore, we reconsidered our previous action discharging Mrs. Atkins as superintendent. Instead, we have now suspended her and notified her of the reasons for our intent to discharge her.

“We also withdrew the previous notice and issued a new notice. In the first notice, the board provided Mrs. Atkins an opportunity for a hearing on the discharge.  Now the board will give her a hearing and then decide whether or not to discharge her.”

The board also reconsidered the appointment of Dr. Emma Louie as interim superintendent.  She was reappointed as acting superintendent pending the outcome of the hearing or the board acting otherwise.

The superintendent’s official duties were transferred from Atkins to Louie.  The board took further action to change signatures and secure administrative properties of the board.

  “We want to go about everything in the right way,” said Branch.  “If we do things in the right way, then our school system will move forward and provide our children the best education we can give. Ultimately, that’s what we want,” explained Branch.

Other personnel items passed included:

*The autorization of Acting Superintendent, Board President and Attorney to enter into a Consultant Agreement with Mr. James Powell on transportation.

*Authorization of the Acting Superintendent’s recommendation to abolish the position of Director of Instruction in the school system, effective July 18, 2011.

*Rescind the transfer of  Mrs. Rosalyn Robinson from full time Counselor at Paramount Jr. High School to half time Counselor at  Paramount Jr. High/Eutaw Primary School commencing with the 2011-2012 school term.

*Rescind the transfer of Mr. Frederick Square from Assistant Principal at Paramount High School to Assistant Principal at Greene County High School commencing with the 2011-2012 school year.

*Approval of the voluntary transfer of Ms. Lisa Heard from Director of Instruction at Greene County Board of Education to Interim Special Education Coordinator with assigned duties in Secondary Curriculum commencing with the 2011/2012 school term.

*Approved the voluntary transfer of Mrs. Shirley Ezell from Federal Programs Coordinator at Greene County Board of Education to Federal Programs Coordinator with assigned duties in Elementary Curriculum commencing with the 2011-2012 school term.

In other business, the board:

*Heard a financial statement from CFO Shane Martin.

Martin advised that the cash and cash equivalency was $7.2 million, which does not include any Federal funding nor bingo funding.

The total fund balance for the month of June, 2011 was $3.9 million, with incoming funds of $1.14 million and expenses of $1.2 million.

Action items considered and approved included:

*A resolution to amend the signatures on the accounts with Merchants and Farmers Bank;

*Approval of a bid from Dairy Fresh as milk supplier for CNP in FY 2011-2012;

*Approval of a bid from Flowers Baking Co. as bread supplier for CNP for FY 2011-2012;

*Approval of payment of all bids, claims and payroll;

*Approval of the financial statement submitted by CFO Shane Martin;

*Approval to allow an emergency bidding process for heating/cooling at Greene County High School.

In her Superintendent’s report, Acting Superintendent Emma Louie advised the public that School Calendars had been passed out to everyone present before the meeting began.

She said that the Back to School Rally sponsored by the Children’s Policy Council would be held Saturday, July 30 at Paramount Junior High from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and urged parents and concerned citizens to attend and bring their youth.According to Louie, the Alabama Graduation Exam had been given last week. She said the grades on this exam were expected to arrive in August. “This will give us an idea of where we stand. We’re still working on how to improve our academics.”She also announced that Greene County High School will have a principal for the upcoming school year.  During public comment, Dr. Carol P. Zippert announced the upcoming of the annual Black Belt Folk Roots on Saturday and Sunday,  August 27th and 28th. “Stay in Greene County that weekend,” she urged, “and bring your family and friends to the Festival.”