Johnna Pinholster
VALDOSTA — New tennis courts at Valdosta High School will have to wait.
A Valdosta Board of Education facility committee member reported on the status of the project at Monday’s meeting.
With McKey Park shut down for renovations, Bill Love, District 6, said that the VHS tennis team has been left without a facility.
Valdosta State University has allowed the team to use its tennis courts in the meantime, he said.
The facility committee has looked into rebuilding the tennis courts at VHS and determined that it would cost more than $500,000.
Love suggested that construction on the tennis courts be put off for another time due to a lack of funds.
Lighting equipment from McKey Park that was donated to the Valdosta City School System by the City of Valdosta will be placed in storage, he said.
NAACP Letter
Jeana Beeland, At-Large, addressed the board of education concerning a letter sent to all members from the Georgia State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The letter requests a meeting with officials from the school system to discuss such issues as community monitoring for all state-directed and additional corrective action plans for schools and the election of local school councils, among other items.
Several members of the board, including Vice-Chairman Warren Lee, District 3, and Annie Fisher, District 1, said they had not received the letter.
Beeland asked if a small committee should be organized to meet with the organization.
Since he had not seen the letter, Lee said he was unable, at this time, to make a recommendation either way.
Dean Rexroth, District 4, suggested the NAACP representatives meet with the curriculum committee.
Chairman Ricky Rowe, District 8 Superward West, said the board as a whole could not meet with them.
Trey Sherwood, District 5, said he was willing to meet with the representatives as long as they are willing to show up with some solutions to fix the problems, not rehash the issues the school system knows exists.
The board then decided to turn the matter over to Superintendent Dr. Bill Cason, who will assemble the information requested and begin forming a group to meet with the representatives.
Also Monday,
• Rowe and Willie Jones, District 3 Superward East, were honored for their service to the school board.
Monday’s meeting was the last for the two men.
Cason said it is tough on a superintendent to lose good board members who work hard to help the children in the district.
Jones has served on the Valdosta Board of Education for 18 years and 10 months. Rowe has served on the board for 12 years.
• Love remembered Deacon Benjamin Crawford, who passed away recently. The Valdosta City School System and its children were very important to Crawford, a World War II veteran, Love said.
• With Annie Fisher, District 1, opposing, the board approved Cason’s recent performance evaluation.
• The Valdosta Early College Academy’s seventh-and eighth-grade classes will move to the former S.L. Mason Elementary School next year.
The students are currently using classrooms in the Valdosta State University College of Education building.
VECA sixth graders will remain at the university, Love said.
