Kevin Yancey, Director of Student Services for Oconee County Schools, told the Board of Education on Monday that Sheriff James Hale currently is working to fill the positions created by an Agreement approved on Jan. 29 to place a deputy in each of the county’s 12 schools.
Yancey, in his update to the Board, gave no time line for staffing of the school resource officer program within the Sheriff’s Office created by the Agreement signed by Hale and the chairs of the School Board and the Board of Commissioners at the end of the joint meeting on the 29th.
Both Boards unanimously approved the Agreement, which has been under negotiation since just after the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County that left two students and two teachers dead and seven others injured.
Sheriff Hale immediately assigned a school resource officer to each of the county’s two high schools after that tragedy, and those officers remain assigned to those schools at present.
Yancey thanked the School Board for its “commitment to seeing that process through” and Sheriff Hale for collaborating on creating the Agreement.
School Superintendent Jason Branch had included the Board of Commissioners in his statement of appreciation for work on the school resource office program in his report to the Board at the beginning of the Feb. 3 work session of the Board.
Oconee County Schools administrators and Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell have provided different perspectives on the emergence of the final Agreement.
The School Board on Monday also received an update from Yancey on the number of students who had asked to be allowed to attend a school other than the one they were assigned. All were granted their request.
Tony McCullers, Chief Technology Officer, told the Board that Branch will recommend they accept a bid of $198,596 for 262 laptop computers and a separate bid of $88,245 for 111 desktop computers at the Board meeting on Feb. 10.
The meeting on Monday culminated with the Board voting to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption after holding the required three hearings on the Board’s stated intent do take that action.
School Board Time Line
The Board of Education voted on Sept. 16 to “authorize the superintendent to work with Sheriff James Hale to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would provide a comprehensive law enforcement presence at all 12 of our schools.”
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| Yancey Begins Report 2/3/2025 |
At the Oct. 7 meeting of the Board, Director of Student Services Yancey said he was continuing to meet with Sheriff James Hale to develop a MOU.
At the Nov. 11 meeting, Yancey presented the Board with a draft MOU that he said had been sent to Sheriff Hale.
On Dec. 9, the Board approved a MOU that called for assignment of one resource officer to each of the system’s two high schools for the remainder of this year and 12 deputies for the next school year.
At that Dec. 9 meeting, Human Resources Officer Justin Cofer, said that, on the advice of legal counsel, he and Yancey had added the Board of Commissioners to the legal agreement.
Also at that Dec. 9 meeting and again at the Jan. 13 meeting of the Board, Yancey said he also was exploring the possibility of the school system creating “a school-based police force” rather than have the Sheriff place deputies in the schools.
Throughout the discussion, Yancey and Cofer said the plan was for 12 school resource officers and that the School Board would pay some percentage of their salaries.
Different Time Line
At the meeting on Jan. 29 when the MOU (officially an Agreement) was approved, Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell offered a different time line for development of the Agreement both Boards approved on that date.
Daniell said he was in touch with Hale on Sept. 5, the day after the shooting at Apalachee High School, and immediately began discussion of a 16-person division within the Sheriff’s Office to provide school resource officers to all 12 of Oconee County Schools campuses as well as replacements and a command team.
In his overview of the Agreement at that meeting on Jan. 29, Daniell said that the first two sections of the document, Purpose and Term of Agreement, “were policy related” and were negotiated between School Board Chair Michael Ransom and himself.
He said he first met with Ransom on Oct. 4, when Ransom, then Post 5 Board Member, was running unopposed for Board of Education Chair on the Nov. 5 ballot.
“Section three and four are more operational,” Daniell said. “They were negotiated by the superintendent staff and the sheriff's office, with the exception of 3.2.4, which deals with operational assignments when school's not in session.”
Section 3 is called Program Staffing, and Section 4 is Duties and Responsibilities of SROs.
Section 3.2.4 is called Other Duties, and Daniell said this “is an agreement between the Sheriff and the Board Commissioners.”
The Sheriff is an elected official of the county, but his budget is funded by the Board of Commissioners.
Daniell said Section 5, Reimbursement, and Section 7, Termination, deal with policy and “were negotiated with between the chairmen." The document does not contain a Section 6.
Sections 8 through 12, were negotiated “with the legal teams on the side,” Daniell said.
Section 8 is Assignability. Section 9 is labeled Entire Agreement. Section 10 is Modifications. Section 11 is Governing Law. Section 12 is Miscellaneous.
The approved Agreement went into effect when all three parties signed the document on Jan. 29, allowing Hale to begin immediately to recruit deputies to serve as SROs.
Update From Yancey
In his report on Monday, Yancey said “the implementation of the School Resource Officer program will enhance our comprehensive safety efforts to ensure a safe learning environment for our students and staff.”
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| Branch 2/3/2025 |
He gave no details of that effort.
Daniell, at the meeting on the 29th, had warned that “This is not an overnight program getting that many people in the job. Recruiting law enforcement is very difficult.”
Yancey on Monday thanked the School Board and then “Sheriff Hale and his team for their ongoing collaboration with us in creating the MOU.”
In his Superintendent’s Report, Branch thanked the Board of Education, the Board of Commissioners, and, “of course, our staff that has worked so diligently over the last several months to get the work done to have an MOU provided for your consideration and for your approval.”
He singled out Cofer and Yancey for “their outstanding work.”
Other Reports
At the meeting on Monday, Yancey reported that parents had requested that 142 students be allowed to attend a school other than the one to which the child had been assigned.
That was an increase from 128 the year earlier. Both last year and this year, all requests could be honored because Oconee County Schools has excess capacity in each of its 12 schools.
Parents must provide transportation for moved students.
Colham Ferry Elementary School will show a net gain of three students, Dove Creek Elementary School will gain seven, High Shoals Elementary School will lose 16, Malcom Bridge Elementary School will gain six, Oconee County Elementary School will lose seven students and gain seven students, for a net of zero, Oconee County Primary School will add nine students, and Rocky Branch Elementary School will lose nine student.
Through the movement of students, Dove Creek Middle School will lose six students, Oconee County Middle School will lose four, and Malcom Bridge Middle School will add 10.
North Oconee High School will lose eight students but add 11, for a net gain of three, while Oconee County High School will lose nine students and gain six, for a net loss of three.
Tony McCullers, Chief Technology Officer, told the Board that Virtucom will continue to honor the Request for Proposal pricing for laptop computers approved in February of last year, biding $198,596 for the 262 laptops.
ByteSpeed was the sole bidder for the desktop computers, proposing $88,245 for the 111 machines.
Both computer purchases will be paid for with Education Local Option Sales Tax and General Fund monies, McCullers said.
Video
The video below combines the 4 p.m. hearing on Feb. 3 on the Board’s stated intent to opt out of the statewide floating homestead exemption and the 6 p.m. work session of the Board.
By rules established by Oconee County Schools Communications Director Steven Colquitt, my video recording must be done from the rear of the room.
The Board, in a 4 to 1 vote, passed a resolution stating its decision not to join in the statewide referendum.
Both meetings were held in the Commission Chamber of the Instructional Support Center on Main Street in Watkinsville.
Branch gave his Superintendent’s Report starting at 37:46 in the video below.
Yancey made his report at 44:32 in the video.
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