The Union County Board of Education convened on Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 7 p.m. at the UCBOE Building. Union County School Superintendent Dr. Fred Rayfield, UCS Associate Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Williams, and the all Board Members were present.

After a lengthly Executive Session, Board Chairwoman Cynthia Odom announced that they had accepted Dr. Williams’ resignation as of May 31, 2017. Dr. Williams was named superintendent sole finalist for Gainesville City Schools (GA) earlier in April 2017.

As Director of School Nutrition Courtney Waller prepared to show a video on UC School Nutrition, Dr. Rayfield expressed his admiration for the teamwork that went into the making of the video. The video was created by students and staff in the UCS System. After the video was shown, much applause generated from the audience, the Board and Dr. Rayfield. The Multimedia class was recognized by the State Of Georgia with a certificate.

Dr. Rayfield, UCES Principal Trish Cook

Dr. Rayfield recognized Trish Cook, Principal of UC Elementary School, for achieving Highest Performing Title I Elementary School status in Georgia. Dr. Rayfield also recognized Gwen Stafford, Principal of UC Middle School for achieving Top 5% of Title I Schools in Georgia. Dr. Rayfield said he had received recognition items from the State of Georgia in the mail that day.

Patricia Donaldson presents Devin Kyle White with early graduation certificate

Dr. Rayfield recommended that Devin Kyle White be approved for early graduation. He said White had fulfilled all requirements and had positive recommendations from Ms. Pat Donaldson and UCHS Principal John Hill. The Board approved White’s petition for early graduation.

The tuition rate for out-of-county, non-resident a student is currently $500 per semester or $1,000 per year and has been since 2009. Discussion on this issue took place in the Work Shop Meeting. The consensus was to keep the out-of-county, non-resident tuition rate the same for the 2017-2018 year. A motion was made to that effect and was carried.

UCS Superintendent Dr. Fred Rayfield

Dr. Rayfield recommended that the audit report be accepted in light of the favorable exit interview he and Odom had with the auditors. He said state auditors said that it was a low risk audit. A motion was made to accept the 2016 Georgia DOE audit report. The motion carried.

Dr. Rayfield addressed the question of whether to continue the Community Eligibility Option (CEP) for Woody Gap School. This would mean continuing the policy of free breakfast and free lunches for students. A motion was made to continue with this policy. The motion carried.

Also decided in Executive Session was the termination of Claudia Buglin, School Nutrition Assistant, effective April 30, 2017 and the acceptance of the new hires, the promotions, changes in positions, additional responsibilities and separations as shown, in toto.

With no further business to conduct, the Meeting adjourned.

UPDATE: On Friday morning, April 28, 2017, Dr. Williams sent an e-mail to Mark Smith at Fetch Your News informing him: “Some changes have occurred with my schedule conflict with Union and Gainesville and my last day at Union will be today, Friday.