Three people were escorted out of the Board of Education meeting and building after they spoke before the Board at their Dec. 14, 2021 meeting. Angela Siets, Kisya Burnett and Willie Brown each took their time at the podium during public participation. All three were upset saying the Liberty County School System is failing their children and every other child who needs Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and 504 plans.
Siets owns a company that specializes in working with kids with special needs and disabilities. She said she was appalled and disappointed after attending a recent IEP meeting with a young boy she mentors through her company. The boy is the son of her friend Willie Brown. Sikes said she and Brown’s son were accosted by a school teacher.
“To have your teachers, people who you are supposed to look up to and respect, treat you the way he got treated and the way I got treated,” Siets said adding an assistant school principal told her the boy was annoying and inappropriate.
Burnett, who frequently speaks out about bullying and calls herself and advocate for educators, said the system has failed to stop bullying to include bullying being done by administrators. She alleged that an administrator told the staff to not follow proper protocol.
“It is a disgrace that we have an assistant principal, who is telling teachers they cannot use the security badges that the district trained these teachers (to use) to protect them in school,” she said.
Brown said he’s been fighting for his son’s rights for two years and said school staff are not following the system’s Standard Operating Procedures for IEP.
“He is supposed to have special accommodations,” he said. Brown said when there is an issue with his son in school the school will wait until the afternoon to call him, because the school receives funding as long as the child is in class.
“They send him home more than he’s been in school,” Brown said.
He said he was fed up with the process and said he has taken the matter up at the state level. Agitated, Brown kept yelling at the Board members at one point saying, “You are all up there, everything looking all good but our special ed kids are getting nothing. You are failing our kids.”
Brown was asked to leave and walked out of the meeting with Siets and Burnett. In the building lobby the three discovered police had been called by deputy superintendent Zheadric Barbra. After a brief talk with police the three were asked to leave the building and were escorted out.
This entire interaction took place after the LCSS had announced they had received the Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) Leading Edge Award.
Burnett and Siets said the school system should be stripped of that award. The Courier emailed the Superintendent, Board Chair and LCSS Director of Communications last Friday afternoon asking why police had been called and if they had any response to the allegations. As of press time Tuesday afternoon the Courier has received no response.
The meeting went on as scheduled. During the informational items LCSS Chief Academic Officer Susan Avant said all virtual learning students will return to in-person learning on Jan. 5, 2022. She reported the system had about 300 virtual students many who have already contacted the schools saying they wanted to return to in-person learning. Avant said school administrators and support staff will be working during the upcoming weeks to plan for the return the students. Should families continue to need an alternative to in-person learning, there are several options available to include Georgia Virtual School, Georgia Cyber Academy, Horizons Learning Center Home Study (grades 3-12), Homeschooling, and Hospital Homebound.
The District Calendar Committee had developed two calendar options for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. A survey was released to stakeholders allowing them to vote on their preferred calendar. The calendar options receiving the highest votes will be presented to the Board during the January meeting.
The Board approved to hire Elevate K-12 to fill in the Math teacher shortages they are currently experiencing. The program provides educators and is a contractual agreement which can be renewed each semester. The Board approved several out of state travel opportunities for various Bradwell Institute programs. Board members asked if Liberty County High School had similar travel options. The Board was informed LCHS has not requested any out of state travels and those opportunities are typically brought up by faculty and staff seeking opportunities for the kids. The Board approved the purchase of 14 new eSports gaming computers, a managed network related switch, electrical work, and accessories at a cost of $39,970.00. The LCCA eSports team requires network access that significantly degrades their network security as currently configured.