Five speakers on Monday night asked the Oconee County Board of Education to conduct mold testing at Oconee County Elementary School, even offering to pay for an independent firm to do the work.
The five, speaking in the Public Communication section of the meeting, made their request after Oconee County Schools Chief Operations Officer Ryan White said analysis of data from moisture meters and humidity sensors indicated conditions were not sufficient for mold to grow at the school.
Mandy Moreira, who is Parent Teacher Organization president for Oconee County Elementary School and whose child is enrolled at the school, said “We want professional mold testing, not walk throughs by the schools.”
When the five citizens concerned about mold and a sixth speaker unhappy with how Oconee County Schools handles open records requests finished their comments, the Board turned immediately to other topics.
Earlier in the meeting, the Board had adopted a tentative Fiscal Year 2026 Budget that shows $120.5 million in spending, up from $114.9 million in spending for the adopted Fiscal Year 2025 Budget.
The tentative budget is based on rollback millage rate of 13.919, down from the current 14.25, meaning that for the first time since at least 2014 the Board of Education would be using the rate that holds property taxes unchanged from the year before.
At the end of the meeting, after spending two hours in executive session, the Board approved the appointment of former Oconee County Schools Superintendent Debra Harden to be interim superintendent until Dec. 31 or until a new superintendent is hired.
Harden was the last elected and the first appointed superintendent of Oconee County Schools, serving from January of 1993 to August of 1999. Her contract calls for her to work 49 percent of the time in accordance with the requirements of the Teacher’s Retirement System.
Report From White
At the beginning of the meeting on Monday, Board Member Amy Parrish asked the Board to amend its agenda “to include an operations report that provides a facility update on Oconee County Oconee Elementary School.”
 |
| Herr Before Board 5/12/2025 |
The Board put the report just ahead of Public Communication on the agenda.
Chief Operations Officer Ryan White said he wanted to inform the Board of the work that took place to the unconnected outside classroom pod and the gym at Oconee County Elementary School during spring break. The School faces Hog Mountain Road in Butler’s Crossing.
White said all of the old seams in the gym floor were removed and recaulked “to ensure that we negated any trip hazards by having a continuous floor.”
“Also know,” he said, “that the gym floor is designed as an impermeable layer to not allow moisture through the flooring.”
“We monitor the humidity levels using the sensor on our HVAC units and the handheld humidity sensor as well, which allowed us to check multiple areas in that space,” he said.
“We also utilized a moisture meter to test a variety of surfaces in the gym, all of which came back within industry norms,” he said.
Outside Pod
The outside pod, which houses Third Grade classes, was renovated in 2022, White said, and “powder residue left over from the renovation process” was removed during the work over spring break.
“These classrooms are also evaluated for our humidity and moisture tested,” he said, “and we found the classrooms to be at the correct levels as well.”
“We continue to investigate concerns based on our facts and data and all our appropriate industry standard processes,” he said.
In response to a question from Board Member Adam Hammond, White said “we do do the walkthroughs in all of our schools twice a year.”
White said the walk through involves the moisture meters and humidity sensors.
“Mold has to have water in order to grow,” he said, “so that's why we're continuing to look at the humidity levels.”
Citizen Comment
Caitlin Farmer, Community Engagement Director, The Oconee Enterprise, was the first to the podium when citizen comment was allowed following White’s presentation.
The newspaper reported on the front page of its April 24 edition that it had filed a number of Open Records Requests regarding possible mold at Oconee County Elementary School that had been unproductive. Editor and Publisher Michael Prochaska subsequently wrote about further problems obtaining records regarding staff at Oconee County Elementary School on the newspaper’s Facebook page.
“I come to you today to express my continued concern with Oconee County Schools' lack of compliance with open records and open meetings laws,” Farmer said.
“At some point we have to ask a question,” she said in concluding. “What on earth are you hiding? Is it so bad that you refuse to answer the most basic questions? What is so bad that you are willing to break the law?”
PTO President
Moreira, who spoke about possible mold in Oconee County Elementary School at the Board meeting on April 21, said on Monday “I'm in the school all the time.”
 |
| Moreira Leaving Podium 5/12/2025 |
“Nobody believes” the explanation offered for the problems at the Third Grade pod, where her daughter attends class, she said.
“A wonderful teacher that is leaving now has already put in her resignation,” Moreira said. “Our coach is leaving. She put her resignation in. The other coach is leaving...Our school nurse has put in her resignation.”
In its executive session following its meeting on May 5, the Board of Education approved the separations of Oconee County Elementary School paraprofessional Brady Durham, teachers Carden Faber and Keri Halleck, and School Nurse Laurie Lewis, effective at the end of this month.
“We have a second petition in circulation right now,” Moreira said. That petition says that parents are willing to help pay for mold testing.
“We have 213 signatures and it's growing,” she said.
Other Speakers
Brandi Herndon, who had complained about mold in Oconee County Elementary School in 2018, said “if the problem had been handled swiftly and appropriately at that time, we wouldn't be here now with the same, albeit worsening, issue.”
 |
| Hernden Leaving Podium 5/12/2025 |
“We the parents and stakeholders want, request, and quite frankly, demand independent and reputable and appropriate testing and remediation be conducted on the entire Oconee County Elementary School campus.”
“The parents are prepared to pay for that testing to be done,” she said.
“How the district office has responded to concerns about mold at OCES,” Meryl Herr, the next speaker, said,” has highlighted that, in addition to having a potentially toxic building, you have a potentially toxic work culture in this organization.”
“It's irresponsible, it's disrespectful, and it's unsafe to inadequately address mold issues that are brought to your attention by your employees,” she said.
Greg DeBacker told the Board “I'm here to be another voice and another person to go on record to say I signed the petition and I support testing at the school.”
“If someone was trying to break down your front door,” Sarah Danis told the Board, “you call the police. If your kitchen stove caught on fire, you call for the fire department. If your toilet is overflowing and you couldn't fix it yourself, you call a plumber.”
“So it seems like if you had mold or mildew brewing in your home,” she said, |”you would call an expert for that as well.”
“So it seems simple enough,” she said, “that we could alleviate a lot of this concern and all these parents that are bugging you by having a professional mold remediation company come and inspect things and make sure that there is not an issue in the third grade outside pod and in the gym, and of course anywhere else in the school as well.”
Budget
Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams had told the Board at its meeting on May 5 that he didn’t have the needed information to complete a budget, and Monday’s presentation was the first public release of the Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund and Federal Fund budgets.
 |
| Adams Presenting Budget To Board 5/12/2025 |
The General Fund Budget projects $119.2 million in revenue, up from $113.5 in the current budget, and $120.5 in spending, up from $114.9 in the current budget.
The budget is balanced by withdrawing $1.4 million from the Unassigned Fund Balance, reducing that balance from $24.6 million to $23.2 million. The total Fund Balance at the end of June of this year is expected to be just more than $40 million.
Of the $119.2 million in revenue in the budget, $56.6 million comes from local sources, and $62.6 million is from the state.
The bulk of the local revenue, $52.1 million, is from local property taxes, up from $50.2 million last year. Also included is $1.3 million in interest income.
The property tax estimate is based on Tax Digest of $3.8 billion, up from $3.6 billion a year ago.
The local homestead exemptions approved by voters last May are reflected in the Tax Digest used in the General Fund budget, but not the statewide floating homestead exemption approved by voters locally and across the state, since the Oconee County School Board opted out of that exemption.
The millage rate of 13.919, which Adams identified as the rollback rate, or the rate that required to offset growth of property assessments due to inflation, is down from 14.25 last and from 16.5 in 2021.
If the Board adopts the rollback rate, it should not be required to hold tax increase hearings. It has scheduled hearings on the budget for 4 p.m. on May 22 and 29 at the Boardroom of the Instructional Support Center on North Main Street in Watkinsville.
The Federal Fund Budget is balanced at $7.7 million, up from $7.4 million in the current budget.
Executive Session
The Board went into executive session at 7:07 p.m. on Monday and emerged at 9:10 p.m.
Board Chair Michael Ransom said the Board was joined by Allen McCannon of Georgia Leadership Associates, who is helping the Board in it search for a replacement for Superintendent Jason Branch, who is retiring on June 30.
 |
| Harden Hall Of Fame Picture |
In open session, which lasted less than a minute, the Board approved the appointment of Harden as interim superintendent. At 9:16 p.m. Oconee County Schools put out a news release about the appointment.
Harden is a member of the Oconee County Schools Hall of Fame, and her picture is on the back wall of the Board Chamber.
“The Board of Education is thrilled to welcome Dr. Harden back to serve as the interim Superintendent,” Board Chair Ransom is quoted as saying. “Her previous experience leading our district and her deep understanding of our community means she will provide a steady hand during this important transition.”
The contract approved for Harden stipulates that she will serve from July 1 to Dec. 31 of this year or until “a full-time Superintendent has been selected. The Superintendent shall work forty-nine percent (49%) of the time in accordance with the return to work requirements of the Teachers’ Retirement System.”
Compensation will be $10,904 per month, or 49 percent of the currently monthly salary of Superintendent Branch, whose base salary for the year under the current contract is $267,039.
Harden, who holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of Georgia, serves as a consultant under the name of Debra Harden Consulting.
Late last year, Harden published her memoir, Enough, subtitled A Daughter’s Struggle To Overcome Family Secrets, Shame and Disordered Eating.
Debra Harden is the wife of Oconee County Commissioner Amrey Harden.
Video
Adams presented the Fiscal Year 2026 budgets at 21:36 in the video.
White made his report at 43:12 in the video.
Farmer began the citizen comments at 48:47 in the video and is followed by each of the other citizens who spoke.
NOTE: An earlier version stated the tax digest in millions, not billions. I apologize.
No comments:
Post a Comment