The Georgia School Board Association will conduct the search for the next superintendent of Liberty County Schools.

Liberty County Board of Educ ation members voted 5-1 at their meeting Tuesday to approve a contract with GSBA to perform the search. Board members, in a split vote last month, chose not to offer current Superintendent Dr. Franklin Perry an extension to his contract, which expires in June.

Board member Carol Guyett cast the dissenting vote in hiring the GSBA. The GSBA currently is heading up searches for superintendents in Morgan County and Baldwin County. Board members also got the results of the superintendent’s forums last month with students and teachers. Teachers chosen to participate were the teacher of the year selections from each school over the last three years. Student forums were conducted with elementary school children, ranging from grades third to fifth, and middle and high school students. Students were chosen randomly.

Student reviews on the new Yondr pouches for cell phones were positive, said Dr. Kelli Zeigler, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.

“They were supportive of the pouches,” she said. “They felt more connected to school. They had a better chance of listening and paying attention in class.”

Zeigler said students responded they felt safe and supported by their teachers to meet their academic and social emotional needs. They also thought they had at least one adult they can go to at any time for support.

Students said they had positive learning environments and strong relationships with their teachers. Students also said teachers were involved in their academic growth.

The students also responded that they liked the growing number of extracurricular activities and the opportunities provided through dual enrollment.

The system had places where students wanted to see changes, too. Among those were continued expansion of clubs and other extracurricular activities, continue efforts to hire more bus drivers, peer tutoring, more centers in school media centers to increase learning and a larger variety of food choices at lunch.

For the students forum, there were three students from each grade level chosen for the elementary school part, and four to five from each grade level for the middle and high school forum. The forum with elementary students was held virtually, and the middle and high school forum was conducted in-person.

“We had a good representation,” Zeigler said. “We wanted the students there to have a chance to talk.”

Teachers said they felt as if they had the support of their schools and the district as a whole. They also applauded the administration for “steadily increasing a positive culture and climate” and praised the support and professional development at the school and district level for staff. They also liked the instructional resources provided by the district to close achievement gaps among students.

Teachers also wanted the school system to continue efforts to increase available substitutes and to create more opportunities for teachers to lead professional development. Teachers also cited adding attendance incentive pay for staff as an area of improvement and pushed for additional staff to support new teachers.