On Tuesday, the Baldwin County Board of Education assembled for its monthly meeting consisting of sports recognitions, renovation updates, and the approval of a new teacher recruitment measure.
Baldwin County should have no shortage of pride with the recent accolades for its high school basketball teams and staff who were recognized at the meeting.
The Baldwin High School Bravettes were recognized for winning the GHSA 4A girls basketball state championship. Among the team members, Madison Ruff was recognized for being named GHSA 4A Player of the Year.
Coach Kizzi Walker was recognized for being named both GHSA 4A Coach of the Year and Region 2-AAAA Coach of the Year.
Continuing the recognition of Baldwin High School’s basketball success, the Baldwin Braves boys basketball team was recognized for making it to the GHSA 4A Final Four. Coach Ben Smith was recognized for being named Region 2-AAAA Coach of the Year.
Regarding board approvals, Human Resources Director Anitra Douglas proposed a recruitment measure that would allow Baldwin County to be competitive with other districts in recruiting teachers.
“Currently, an individual holding a category T certificate starts out at zero years of experience as step E. Next, they move to one year of experience at step E. The next year they moved to two years of experience at step E. That means they’re on the same step for three years on the state salary scale currently with the same salary,” stated Douglas.
The proposed measure would make it so that, after one year of credible experience, a teacher will skip years one and two to salary step one, as if they had three years of credible experience. This way, teachers will not have to wait three years for a salary increase.
Superintendent Dr.
Noris Price noted that other school districts have already implemented this measure, and in the interest of competitive recruitment, the Baldwin County School District should adopt this measure next school year.
The board revisited a report commissioned by the Georgia Department of Education in 2022 with recommendations to counteract teacher burnout. At a recent board retreat, the board made a decision to prioritize recommendations and initially focus on one that wasn’t either already being implemented or needed to be improved.
The recommendation they chose to focus on falls under the section of preserving and protecting time. The recommendation is to prioritize teachers’ time to plan for and deliver quality instruction without being interrupted for excessive meetings, trainings, or other duties.
“We’ll be working with our principals to see what that looks like for our district. They just want us to really prioritize the number of meetings we have, the number of trainings, and other duties that may be assigned to teachers, in order to protect their planning time, “ said Price.
Deputy Superintendent Matt Adams updated the board on the timeline for school renovations and temporary relocations for board meetings.
During the summer renovations, the Early Learning Center will house approximately 29 to 30 district office personnel until the updates are complete. The office spaces should be ready by May 30 to move in and be functioning as normal.
With the demolition of the boardroom starting as early as May 15, the June, July, September, and August board meetings will be held at the fine arts auditorium at Baldwin High School.