By By JOHN DILMORE JR. Publisher
The displays of thanks and appreciation that have been made throughout the month of January -- which is set aside as School Board Member Recognition Month -- continued at Monday evening's meeting of the Brewton City Schools Board of Education.
Jane Henderson, principal of the Escambia/Brewton Area Career Technical Center, congratulated board members on the work they've done in the service of the city's school system.
The superintendent of the Brewton City Schools is Lynn Smith. Board members are Stephanie Walker (President), Dr. Keith Miller, Ola Ball, Lillie Dove and Terrill Neal.
Henderson's congratulatory presentation to the board follows a month's worth of appreciation shown city and county school board members. Last week, the Brewton Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization (P.T.O.) recognized the city's board members, and county board members were honored during their regularly scheduled meeting.
Both boards were instrumental this past year in pushing for passage of a county-wide 10-mill tax increase to bolster education funding left slashed by state budget cuts.
Members of both boards campaigned actively in favor of the tax, which Escambia County voters approved overwhelmingly on Dec. 9
In addition to Henderson's address to the board, three voting items were on the evening's agenda.
The first involved the regular state-mandated evaluation of the system superintendent, Smith.
The board voted to contract with state-approved evaluator Dr. Neil Hyche for the purpose of conducting the evaluation.
In other action, the board voted to adopt the 2004-2005 Brewton City Board of Education School Calendar, which sets forth the dates for holidays, teachers work days and other special events.
The board also voted to move forward with plans for conducting students evaluations of their teachers.
Neal expressed a desire that this set of evaluations lead to future evaluations, up to and including evaluations of administrators and the board members themselves.