Thursday evening, Sept. 11, the Carroll County School District Board of Education held their monthly meeting. Much information was covered over the hour duration of the meeting. The highlights of the meeting are as follows.
The first major matter of business to be discussed in depth during the meeting was regarding the district’s SPED Budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year. This topic was introduced by Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Prestridge.
“I worked really closely with Dr. [Wendy] Hubbard on this budget. As you may know, the federal budget for SPED has been cut and we have only received eighty-five percent of our funding this year,” CFO Prestridge began her explanation.
“So, we’ve worked really hard on this budget. The majority of it has gone to salaries for the people we have currently employed. There is a little bit in here for parent participation that is required to be spent in federal dollars, and there’s a little bit that goes to supplies that’s required - But other than that, everything else in here - like I said - is mostly salary and benefits,” Officer Prestridge finished.
CFO Prestridge went on to explain to the Board the process for submitting this SPED budget to the Mississippi Department of Education, stating that it has to first be approved by the Board then submitted to MDE for review. If the budget is approved by MDE the district will then be required to keep receipts for how all federal or state funds are spent and compile a report on the spending. Once the district submits this report, they are then reimbursed for the qualifying expenses. Following this explanation, she clarified that it appears that budget cuts for SPED assistance programs are across the board and are not a reflection of fault on the district.
Ultimately the district’s SPED budget for the 2026 fiscal year was approved by the Board. The motion for approval was made by District 2 Board Member Teresa Vanlandingham and seconded by District 1 Board Member Kenneth DeLoach with all in favor.
The next major issue to be discussed was regarding a recently proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the School District and the county to utilize the J.Z. George Gymnasium as the county’s designated disaster recovery center. This MOU agreement was presented to the county Board of Supervisors at the Aug. 25 meeting by Emergency Management Director Ken Strachan. It was at this meeting that the Board of Supervisors approved the MOU for the county, however in order for it to take effect the Board of Education must also approve it.
To begin the discussion on this topic, Board Member Vanlandingham expressed that she had some reservations about the agreement.
“Number one, we have a school to run and we never know when disaster is going to happen. This is our gym and we have all kinds of sports that go [on] in there. And the children are our number one priority and our number one asset,” Board Member Vanlandingham expressed her first concern.
She went on to say that the last time the gym had been utilized for disaster recovery there were a few issues she had personally noticed. She stated that the last time the gym was used for recovery efforts there was more space taken up than seemed necessary, leaving no room for regularly scheduled school sporting events or practices. In addition, she stated she had reservations with the contract and what is required of the School District in said contract. Board Member Vanlandingham went on to explain that she had contacted someone in leadership for this region of MEMA to discuss her concerns with past usage of the gym as well as concerns regarding the current MOU agreement. Ultimately after much discussion, the Board decided to table the issue for a later date in order for the Board Members to be advised on the contract.
In other news the Board:
• Approved the consent agenda including: regular board meeting minutes for Aug. 14, 2025, overtime and extra pay for August 2025, and the renewal of Druva Backup Software licensure.
• Agreed to business including: curriculum software, proposal for worker’s compensation fiscal year 2026, cisco umbrella, University of Mississippi grant agreement, and rescind MOU with MS State Department of Health.
• Accepted financial statements and docket of claims.
• Received audited financial statements for fiscal year end 6/30/24.
• Approved policies including: DJEC federal purchasing and procurement policy and IDDFAA district assurances for children with disabilities policy.
• Approved a temporary easement agreement in section 16 township 19 north range 3 east for timber cutting.
• Entered an executive session on a student disciplinary matter and a pending litigation issue. In the executive session the Board unanimously voted to uphold the disciplinary committee’s position on the student matter and no action was taken on the litigation issue.
• Agreed to move the October Board meeting to Oct. 16, 2025.
