The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday night approved spending $108,128 for the purchase and installation of 120 new access control panels for doors in the system’s 12 schools.
Tony McCullers, Chief Technology Officer for Oconee County Schools, told the Board the purchase will address technology needs of the schools and strengthen overall security across the district.
In a short business meeting, the Board also voted to spend $93,840 for a new waste disposal services contract, $84,182 for radio enhancements at High Shoals Elementary School, and $27,891 for paving of a track at Malcom Bridge Elementary School.
The Board received its regular reports from Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams, who said that collections from the Educational Special Purchase Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) for January of 2026 were up by 6.2 percent from collections that same month a year ago and represented the 11th straight month of collections of more than $1 million.
Adams said that the General Fund Balance as of Feb. 28 was $81.1 million, down from $83.5 million on Jan. 31 but up from $73.5 million on Feb. 28 of 2025.
The Board spent about 20 minutes in executive session at the end of the regular meeting on Monday, discussing personnel and real estate matters.
Board Chair Michael Ransom said on Tuesday that the Board is still evaluating an offer it has received for 42.7 acres on U.S. 41 north of Bishop that the School Board has owned since 2007 but has never utilized.
After the meeting had ended on Monday, Oconee County School Superintendent Melissa Butler said the initial upfront cost of adding metal detectors at the system’s 12 schools, as would be required by legislation under consideration in the General Assembly, would be $720,000 for the devices alone.
HB 1023
House Bill 1023, passed by the Georgia House of Representatives on Feb. 24 and now before the Senate, mandates that every public school system in the state install weapons detection systems at main entry points of every school building by July 2027.
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| Butler 3/9/2026 |
Superintendent Butler said the current estimate is that the law would require that Oconee County Schools install a device at 60 entrances at a cost of roughly $12,000 per device, or $720,000 across the system.
This does not include the cost of staffing the devices during the school day, Butler said. Oconee County Sheriff James Hall has said staffing would involve two trained persons.
Butler said that staffing also would be required for after school events and sporting events.
The House version of the bill did not provide any funding for the devices or for staffing.
Democratic House District 121 Rep. Eric Gisler voted against HB 1023, calling it an “unfunded mandate” on the schools.
Republican House District 120 Rep. Houston Gaines voted in favor of HB 1023.
Gisler and Gaines represent Oconee County in the House.
HB 1023 currently is before the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Access Control Panels
Chief Technology Officer McCullers told the Board that “Access control is the system of physical door hardware and software used to manage and monitor door access throughout our schools and district facilities.”
“As with all technology systems, these tools must be regularly evaluated and updated to ensure that they remain reliable and capable of meeting our needs,” he continued. “Based on the age and capabilities of our current access control system, we are recommending a refresh of our access control panels along with improvements to the supporting software.”
McCullers said the recommendation is to purchase new hardware that has “the ability to integrate with our existing camera system, which will provide additional functionality and efficiency for managing building level security.”
The recommendation was that the Board purchase the 120 access control panels from Graybar through the state contract with Omnia Partners.
Funding will come from ESPLOST and the General Fund, McCullers said.
Steven Colquitt, Director of Communications at Oconee County Schools, said in an email message on Thursday (Feb. 12), that the 120 access control panels are “are not limited to main student entrances and could include playground entrances, side hallway doors, and other exterior doors used by employees across the district.”
Colquitt said “the rough estimate of 60 metal detectors (by Superintendent Butler) refers separately to doors used for student and general public entry where weapon detection could potentially be required if the proposed legislation is passed.”
The Board on Monday also approved spending the $93,840 with Roll Off Systems waste disposal services. The spending will come from the General Fund.
The Board awarded the bid of $27,891 for the Malcom Bridge Elementary School Track with All About Asphalt. This will be paid through the school Principal Fund.
The Board also approved spending $84,182 with Graybar for the High Shoals Elementary School for the radio enhancements, with funding coming from the General Fund.
Financial Reports
Chief Financial Officer Adams said the $1,040,783 in ESPLOST collection for January of 2025, received in February, brings the amount generated by the tax since its inception in January of 2023 to $39.2 million.
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| Adams Before Board 3/9/2026 |
The tax was projected to bring in $37.9 million when it was proposed to voters and is capped at $48.5 million.
School Board Member Ryan Hammock asked Adams when he now anticipates that the cap will be reached, and Adams said, given the voter approval of the new tax, “we’ll be okay” whenever that cap is reached.
Voters last November approved a new ESPLOST to go into effect as soon as the cap is reached.
When Adams turned to the report on current ESPLOST spending, he noted that “revenues and expenditures have been updated through the end of February."
That update, as well as the corresponding Fund Balance Reports, show that just more than $5 million was removed from the Debt Service Escrow Fund for ESPLOST VI in February, leaving $12.3 million in that account.
The only bond payments scheduled to be drawn from the Debt Service Escrow Account for the current calendar year is $517,925, with additional bond payments of $30.9 million scheduled through 2033, or into the next two ESPLOSTs.
Adams added six news projects that the Board has approved in recent months to the current ESPLOST project list.
Those are replacement bleachers at North Oconee High School, HVAC replacements at Colham Ferry Elementary School, Oconee County Primary School, and Oconee County Middle School, upgrade to the Oconee County Elementary School Activity areas, new digital scoreboards at North Oconee High School and Oconee County High School, a towable boom, and a bus camera system.
Adams reported $877,134 in new spending from ESPLOST from the January to the February reports.
Executive Session
Board Chair Ransom, in a text message on Tuesday evening, said that the Board did not make a decision in its brief executive session on Monday on the offer by an unidentified party for the 42.7 acres on U.S. 41 north of Bishop that the School Board purchased in 2007 as a possible school site.
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| Ransom 3/9/2026d |
“Dr. Butler is still pulling together some numbers for us to review, and the offer is still under consideration,” Ransom said. “We have not made a decision yet, and it will likely have to get pushed until our next meeting.”
Ransom said after the February meeting that “We do not have any current plans for the property at this time.”
“Given the layout of the parcel and its location, particularly the traffic along Highway 441, we do not believe it would be well suited for a school site,” he said.
The 42.7 acre parcel has frontage on U.S. 441 and on Union Church Road and is located north of the Golden Pantry Food Store and gas station. It is separated from Golden Pantry by two parcels.
According to county tax records, the Board purchased the property in July of 2007 for $1.1 million.
Current assessed value of the property is $1.5 million. At present, the acreage is wooded and is zoned AG (Agricultural).
After reconvening in public session on Monday from executive session, the Board approved a short Personnel Report from Superintendent Butler that included seven promotions, one rehire, and seven separations.
Recognitions
During the recognitions section of the meeting on Monday, the Board celebrated Erin Copelan, Colham Ferry Elementary Nurse, as the March Pursuit of Excellence Award Winner/Support Personnel.
The Board recognized the 2026 Georgia High School Association (GHSA) 4A Swimming 200 Yard Freestyle State Champion and the 2026 GHSA 4A Swimming State 100 Yard Butterfly Second Place recipient: Joseph Rhine.
It also recognized the 2026 GHSA 4A Swimming 200 Yard Individual Medley State Champion, Tessa Steger, and the 2026 GHSA 4A Diving State 1-Meter Springboard Second Place recipient, Annalee Greear.
The Board recognized the 2026 GHSA 4A Swimming State 200 Yard Medley Relay Second Place recipients: Joseph Rhine, Sam Strickland, Nakul Karumbaiah, and Vidur Karumbaiah.
The Board recognized the 2026 GHSA 4A Swimming State 500 Yard Freestyle Second Place recipient, Crenshaw Halbach, and the 2026 GHSA 4A Boys State Championship Swimming and Diving Team - Third Place recipients: Crenshaw Halbach, Alex Huang, Shaan Kannan, Nakul Karumbaiah, Vidur Karumbaiah, Grady Price, Joseph Rhine, and Sam Strickland.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County Schools YouTube channel.
McCullers made his report on the access control panels at 24:11 in the video.
I attended the meeting and recorded my own video as a backup. I am restricted to recording from the rear of the room.
The still images above are frames from my video.
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