NEWTON COUNTY – Discussion of resource related upgrades were the centralized topic at the March 12 Newton County Board of Education (BOE) work session.

The most expensive of the items came in item A, which was the discussion of purchasing new computers.

On the agenda item, superintendent Dr. Duke Bradley III recommended that the board purchase computers from Dell Marketing at $324,319.84 and Vivacity Tech in the amount of $799,968. The item states that the upgrades are a part of the district’s ongoing technology plan.

The combined cost for both the teacher laptop and student chromebook upgrades would be over $1.1 million.

District 1 representative Trey Bailey wanted to know if it was the first time they used Vivacity, seeing as they have used Dell in the past.

The Newton County School Systems (NCSS) chief strategy and support services officer Dr. Shelia Thomas said that a study was conducted through six different schools to determine what chromebooks the students would prefer.

Thomas shared the results of that study.

“The results of the pallet indicated that students preferred to use the Acer chromebooks which is through Vivacity as well as the durability of the actual chromebooks was better than what we were using before,” Thomas said. “The daily use now that we have students using devices one-to-one, they would project it to stand up to more rigor in usage than what we already currently have.”

When asked why the teacher laptops were going to be purchased from Dell, Thomas said that the difference in laptops and chromebooks was the deciding factor. She noted that the chromebooks would be used for the students and that the laptops would be for the adults.

Four other items were also discussed in regards to resource upgrades, including:

The purchasing of interactive panels and peripherals in the amount $199,225.

A content filter for technology devices in the amount of $128,115.57.

The purchasing of EV switch labs with a CTAE equipment designation in the amount of $150,000.

The purchasing of whiteboards in the amount of $46,995.37.

Should the board approve all of these items at their next meeting, the total cost for all items listed would be $1,648,623.78. 

In terms of financials, chief operations officer Dr. Michael Barr reported that the SPLOST distribution for the month of January was $1,692,471. The title ad valorem collection for January was $565,500.

Expenditures currently sit at 63.9 percent expended with just over 66 percent of the fiscal year completed.

The board also discussed and voted on a number of other items, and they are as follows:

Approval of Feb. 27 minutes (Approved 5-0).

Discussion of a renewal of contract for BrightView Landscape Services for groundskeeping and athletic field care maintenance in the amount of $842,829.

Discussion of items listed as surplus.

Items and personnel matters discussed in executive session (Approved 5-0).

Members of the board will vote on these items at the next meeting on March 19.