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Parents address Bryan County BoE about discipline concerns
school board
Stacy Callahan, right, explains how she built a bridge of toothpicks to the attendees at the monthly Bryan County Board of Education meeting Thursday at Bryan County Elementary School. The young bridge-builder along with Jordan Moore, who built and demonstrated her straw kite are part of teacher Nancy Gouck's science class at Bryan County Elementary School. - photo by Photo by Steve Scholar

Pamela Gunter asked Bryan County School Superintendent Dr. Paul Brooksher during the school-board meeting Jan. 28 at Bryan County Elementary School if there was a discipline problem at two of the district’s schools.

Gunter, the mother of a rising fifth-grader who will start at the middle school in the fall, said she had heard rumors that a discipline problem existed at Bryan County Middle and High schools.

“What is being done to combat the discipline problem? I want to have confidence these issues are being addressed. I’m not here to point fingers, but to help,” she said.

“Do we have a discipline problem?” Gunter’s husband, Trace, asked.

“All we hear on social media are the negative things,” the mother said.

Brooksher said that as a former middle-school teacher, he saw firsthand the tough time some students had transitioning to the middle school.

“It’s a difficult time for students. There is a lot of apprehension,” he said. “I’d encourage you to talk to the principals. We have certain procedures in place to handle behavior issues. Communication is the key.”

Brooksher said any perceived behavior issues at BCMS and BCHS were similar to the issues faced at other middle and high schools, including those in Richmond Hill.

“We have had lots of discussions about being consistent throughout the school system on behavior issues,” board Chairman Eddie Warren said.

“I just want to be sure they are being taught there are consequences for their activities,” Gunter said.

She also said the negative rumors being fostered on social media outlets contribute to parents opting to send their children to private schools, rather than keeping them enrolled in the county’s school system.

In other business Thursday, the board approved:
• The purchase of a Solarstar Greenhouse for $7,127 for Richmond Hill Middle School.
• Field-trip requests for RHMS sixth- through eighth-grade science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students, along with STEM ninth-graders at Richmond Hill High School to attend the Space Challenge Competition this month at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• A May field trip for Richmond Hill Middle seventh-graders to Walt Disney World for educational purposes.
• A $533 donation, consisting of one iPad and headphones, from DonorsChoose.org to Carver Elementary School.
• A $125 donation from DonorChoose.org to Richmond Hill Primary School for its Leaping Lizards classroom-pets project.
• A $290 donation from DonorsChoose.org to Richmond Hill Primary for two iPad Nano players.
• The use of the board room by the Black Creek Museum board on March 10.
• The rental of the RHMS gym in May by Life Moves Dance Studio.
• The purchase of a Toro aerator for $7,925.
• The purchase of two International Run-Ready engines for $11,995 each.

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