JMCSS officials review recovery plan, upcoming projects

JACKSON, Tenn. — Thursday evening, the Jackson-Madison County School System held a budget committee meeting, proposing new budgets for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year and recent budgets that have been put in place for the current school year.

The Director of Physical Services, Holly Kellar, mentioned the school system’s first priority: a budget recovery for $13,152 after a vandalism incident and stolen items from two local schools and the central office last year.

“This is insurance recovery for damage to CCE equipment at South Side High School, stolen items from the maintenance vehicles at central office, vandalism at Malesus Elementary,” Kellar said.

The board members are looking for ways to fund projects for teachers and students, within their existing budget. One of them being a learning management system.

“Learning management system basically is a system that will house all of our curriculum. We’re online now, so now the students will have access to all the material,” said JMCSS Superintendent Dr. Marlon King.

The school system is also proposing a raise for teachers in its upcoming budget cycle.

“We have money that we’re going to exhaust that we got in the teacher appropriation bill, and we’ll be doing payouts for a bonus which is 280 and 200. Two-hundred and eighty will be for our certificates, and the 200 will be for our classified staff,” King said.

The members also discussed a proposal for mental health initiatives for students.