The Board of Education had a larger community turnout last Monday with concerned parents and citizens coming forward to speak to the board.
Wendy Nicholson, a mother, was the first to speak to the board about her concerns related to transparency and communication for events that occur at the schools and the handling of violence and bullying within the schools.
Nicholson informed the board that her child has been bullied and despite her and their communications about it, the school has not assisted with lessening the bullying.
She requested that the school system be more informative about fights and other serious situations and improve their discipline system to assist with the effects of bullying and other rumored violence she’s been informed of by other parents.
“We don’t hear what is going on from our schools. Parents have to talk to each other to know anything and that’s not how it should be,” said Nicholson.
Gail Rainy approached the podium to discuss her frustrations with the school’s spending and “focus on salary and money.”
Rainy is the mother of a 2000 Putnam County graduate and stated that she has watched the school system become more and more focused on the monetary lifestyle rather than the students and their families.
She expressed frustration with the high salaries imbalanced by the lack of assistance to help students and families struggling because of lower income.
Charles Trumbo spoke in agreement with Rainy about the school system being too focused on money. As a taxpayer, he relented that the community is giving “an arm and leg” for an inadequate education and lack of care for the students.
Trumbo expressed how Baldwin County Superintendent Dr. Noris Price, who was selected as the 2022 Superintendent of the Year, does not make as much as Putnam County Superintendent Eric Arena. He also stated that by looking at the Office of Student Achievement records, it shows that counties spending much less with older buildings and resources are doing better than Putnam County.
“According to Open Georgia, our superintendent, Eric Arena, is the 29th highest paid in the state with a salary of $260,000 per year. We have school systems who are bigger than us that have salaries nowhere near that,” said Trumbo. “That is a problem for me. We are building new schools when we should be focusing on the curriculum and what’s going on in the school. As they say, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
Trumbo turned away from the board after his speech to address the audience and emphasized that voting the same for the Board of Education will elect the same leadership and hinder change.
“Attitude affects leadership,” Trumbo told The Eatonton Messenger. “If we keep the same board with the same attitude, nothing is going to change. I’m an advocate for this community that is paying for no improvement and for our children who need more focus on education.”
Closing out the speakers, Putnam County Republican Party Chairman Dale Bills further supported Trumbo’s frustration with taxpayer dollars not being used to support the school system as they should and with Putnam County’s decreasing performance metrics.
“Property owners, retirees, and fixed incomes are hurting. Two-thirds of our tax is for schools. Some are willing to pay higher tax for better education but not for an inadequate one, said Bills. “Whatever you have been doing is not working. Throwing good money after bad on a failing system has not worked and will not solve the problem.”
Bills recommended the board get back to the “basics.” He asked them to raise the expectations for teachers, reward students and teachers for their performance, counsel those who need more assistance, be frugal with money and work to reduce costs, and involve parents more.
Bills suggested holding a summit with other high-performing schools to evaluate how they are achieving greater performance metrics and use that information to improve Putnam County schools.
“To be honest, you have lost the public trust, turned your back on the good honest administrators, and real or perceived, you are seemingly a rubber stamp for the administrators and your high taxes are hurting your neighbors and fellow citizens,” said Bills. “We all know you ran for the school board to make a difference and with the greatest intentions…your desired legacy should be having students graduate with a quality education that enables them to succeed and be a more productive citizen.”
Board of Education Chairman Dr. Steve Weiner thanked the community for their input and concerns but made no further comments on the statements made.
The board followed public commentary by moving into the normal board meeting.