Board Bulletin for 10/11/2023

 

The Fulton County Board of Education (FCBOE) met on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, for its regularly scheduled work session meeting at the North Learning Center. The full agenda is available online. All items approved are available via BoardDocs. Meetings are streamed live on the FCS district homepage. Recordings will be available within 48 hours.  

Superintendent’s Report
Dr. Mike Looney began his report noting October 2 was Custodian Appreciation Day and thanking the FCS custodial staff for their amazing quality of work. He then asked Chief Academic Officer Brannon Gaskins to share some exciting news about the 2023 four-year cohort graduation results. New data shows FCS with a 90.3% graduation rate, achieving the highest ever recorded graduation rate for the third year in a row. A total of 14 FCS high schools were over 90%, with three schools above 97% and six schools over 95%. Dr. Looney thanked teachers, parents, students, and support staff for making this tremendous accomplishment possible, then announced the Board has authorized a $90.30 payment to all FCS employees as an expression of gratitude for their contribution to these amazing results.

Communications Division Update
Chief Communications Officer Brian Noyes gave an overview of the Communications division, explaining the district’s strategy for engaging with stakeholders and citing successes from the previous year. He shared that the Communications team seeks to highlight positive school stories and has created new tools over the past year to ensure employees, parents and the community are well informed and involved, including “The Educator” and “FCS Messenger” e-newsletters and the “Board Bulletin.” The Communications division also manages the district’s public web pages and social media channels. Combining those platforms (Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter), the district had 5.4 million social media impressions last year and 4 million visits to the district’s website.

Community engagement and partnerships are also a function within the Communications division. Over the past year, 213 new partnerships were identified and created beyond school-level engagements.

The division’s broadcast & video team has won seven Telly Awards, received an Emmy nomination and has increased its viewership of Dr. Looney’s “Let’s Talk Schools” program.

Mr. Noyes said that one of the most important responsibilities of the Communications division is daily engagement with the news media. Last year, close to 500 media inquiries were received from local, national, and international news agencies, and Noyes expects to surpass that number by the school year’s end. View the presentation here.

2024-2025 Instructional Calendar Parameters
Executive Director of Strategy and Governance Dr. Ryan Moore presented a new parameter to the 2024-2025 instructional calendar asking the Board and superintendent to consider opportunities for fall and winter breaks. The parameters, as drafted, were put on the consent agenda and will be formally voted on at next week’s Board meeting. Once approved, the FCS calendar committee made up of stakeholders from across the district will continue to review and provide input on designs for the instructional calendar.

New Hires and Promotions     
The following individuals were approved for a new position at the Board meeting: 

• Ali Boggs | Director, HR Information Systems
• Tanisha Lewis | Principal, Liberty Point Elementary School