The Putnam County Board of Education held its monthly work session at Putnam County Middle School (PCMS) Oct. 2 to watch the Middle School Showcase.
The meeting began with two short updates from Assistant Superintendent Derick Austin discussing the HVAC project for the middle and high schools that will need to be voted on at the next public meeting and the civil engineering for the new elementary school.
The HVAC project will come out of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) and, if approved, will replace chillers and boilers in the middle school and some other work at the high school.
The civil engineering for the new elementary school will be voted on next week and the suggested engineer is the same one who conducted a traffic study and created the potential school layouts that have been presented in prior meetings.
After updates, the Putnam County Middle School showcase began, and several students and teachers came forward to present or perform for the board of education.
Starting off the showcase, student Quaveonna Lawson and Georgia Studies teacher Leanne Stanley presented Lawson’s interactive website that she will present at the upcoming National Humanities Conference in support of the presentation of the Putnam Model.
Her website was an interactive display connecting field trips over the last year that supported what she learned in Stanley’s class.
The Putnam Model was expanded school-wide this year and focuses on experiential learning.
According to Stanley, it increased both socialization, and tolerance, and strengthened essential skills for students.
“The Putnam Model has allowed me to use critical thinking and creativity on projects to expand me as a student,” Lawson said during her presentation. “Thank you to the board for giving me these opportunities.”
Following Lawson, eighth grader Leah Helms and sixth grader Charles Jones III spoke about their experience as leaders of the Student Governance Authority.
The School Governance Authority is a body made up of principals, parents, teachers, and community members who provide input and make decisions regarding the school's operation and instructional program. Both students stated that they joined the body to give students a voice and to improve their leadership skills and it has been a positive experience overall to learn and work with their other leaders.
Then, seventh grader James Bollen and sixth grader Kannericka Nelson spoke about their experience at the National Beta Convention. The theme this year was the ‘Power of Beta’ and both students explained that Beta Club has helped them to find their own special interest, boost their confidence, strengthen their leadership, and learn to work to achieve their goals.
Both stated they hoped to attend the national convention again in the future.
With presentations over, the sixth-grade chorus, two musical theater students, house leaders, and a student-athlete led performances for the board. The sixth-grade chorus sang ‘Color of the Wind’ from the Disney movie Pocahontas. Eighth-grader Peyton Stokes and sixth-grader Jones performed ‘There is a Santa Claus’ from Elf the Musical.
Then house leaders Alexis Evans, Mishel Perez, and Stokes explained the schoolwide housing system, and its benefits, and sorted the board of education into their houses while cheering them on from the sidelines.
Concluding performances, Coach Beau Beasley and student-athlete Aiyana Crawford performed a race to show off some of the warm-ups from Beasley’s Advanced Weight Training class.
To view snippets of the performances and the board’s house sorting ceremony, scan the QR code at the top of the page or visit our YouTube channel. The next public board meeting will be Oct. 16 at 158 Old Glenwood Springs Rd.