.MjU2OA.MjU2OA

MINUTES LOCAL EDUCATION COMMISSION DECEMBER 11, 1964 The Local Education Commission met Friday, December 11, 1964, at 2:00 p.m., in the Board Room of the Fulton County Administration Building with the following members present: Mr. P. L. Bardin Mrs. Alan Ritter Mr. Otis Jackson Mr. Wallace Stewart Mr. Allen Kiepper Mr. Kenneth Stringer Jvtr. Earl Landers Mr. William Teems Dr. John W. Letson Mr. Fred J. Turner Mr. Thomas Miller Dr. Paul D. West The minutes of the October 2, 1964, meeting of the Local Education Commission were read and adcpted. The report entitled, "ONE DISTRICT FOR ATLANTA AND FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEMS? ;' , which was presented by Dean Pierce at the October 2 meeting was discussed briefly. Mr. Otis Jackson moved that the report be accepted and thereby place the Commission on record as endorsing the position that the two school systems should be combined . Mr. Turner seconded the motion which carried unanimously. The question was raised concerning the number of Commission members required to constitute a quorum . Mr. Bardin read the following portion of Section 2 of the House Resolution No . 505-12 46, "A majority of the persons serving as members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum to do business but a less numbe r may ad journ from time to time. " · He then ruled that t en members would constitute a quorum whether they were all voting members or not. A letter from Mr . L. H. Newsome stating that he had moved f r om Atlanta was read . Dr . Ruf us Clement was unanimous ly elected to r eplace him. Mr . Otis J ackson gave a br i e f r eport of the trip made to Char lotteMecklenburg, North Carol ina , School Sys tem on Novembe r 4, 1 964. Bardin and Dr. Le t s on made t h is tri p a l so. Mr. Mr. Jackson r eported that �-2- all of the people contacted in Charlotte s eemed to be well pleased wi~':t the new s chool organh:ation and would not exchang·e -it for the old structure . Mr. J acks on point ed out that comb ining the North Carolina systems did not require as many changes in l egal and financial structures as wilJ. b e required for Atl anta and Fulton County. Financi al expenditure s h ave not been decreased thr ough combining the systems because salari e s and othe r s e rvices have been adjusted upward. Although operat:ng t he new system required more money than was required for the two s yst emG , t he represent at ive s contacted be lieve that much better s e r vi c es a re now be ing provided and that in general, the educati ona l o;)por tuni t i e s a re of a higher quality. The publ'c r e l ations a sp ect of the cons olidation was very important. Considerable ef f ort was devoted to f orming small discussion groups and other structures through whi ch c it i zens wer e informed about combining the systems. A compl ete wr i t t en r eport of the p r ocess of combining the two systems is not availabl e . A t entative budget for the yea r s 1965-66 fo r the sum of $86,480 was submitted to the Comrnission. It was pointed out that $10,000 of this amount had been appr opri ated by the At lanta and the Fulton C01.at y School Sys t ems . Howeve r, app roxi mat e ly $4 ,000 was spent for oper ating expens es duri ng 1 964 . Mr. Turner expressed an opini on that every ef f ort possibl e should be made by the County and the City to finance t he Commission's study and that if funds are not avai l abl e loca lly , then financial assistance should be sought elsewhere. Mr. Teem moved that t he budget be adopted as presented and that it be entit l ed a tentative operating budge-:t. The motion was seconded by Mr. Stewart and carried unanimous ly. Places to secure f unds for the budget were ident ified and the urgency for contacting foundations early in the year was stressed. Mr. Teem made the motion that the Ford Foundation be approached as a first step in a~tempting to obtain finances for the operation of the Commission. If t he proposal i s not r e ceived favorably by the Ford �, -3- Foundation, then other sources should be contacted. seconded by Mr. St ewart and passed unanimously. The motion was It was agreed that in the meantime, the respective local governments and agencies should be notified that the C;orrmi_ .:; .,:i. on m2.y e.sk them for funds to complete ~he st,~dy. Mr. Eardin stated that Corrunission funds are now handled by the Comptroller of the Atlanta School System. He stated that Mr. Holley could continue to handle the funds but that Mr. Stringer, as SecretaryTreasurer of the Cornmission,would authorize expenditures and make financial reports to the Comrnission. The Commission would approve all 1-:i. rge expenditures but out of pocket funds could be authorized by Mr. Stringer or, in his absence by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman. Mr. Thomas Mil l er moved that this procedure be adopted. Mr. Stewart seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Dean Pierce then gave a report on the Interim Report whir.his to be filed with the Representatives of Fulton and DeKalb Counties and the Senators of the 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st, 42nd and 43rd Districts in the General Assembly of Georgia and with che Clerks of the superior courts having jurisdiction in Fulton ,md DeKalb Counties and with the City Clerk of the City of Atlanta on the first day of the next session of the General Asse:mJ:;ly following January l, 1965. Mrs. Ritter moved that the report be accept ed. The motion carr~ed unanimously. It was agreed that legal services be delayed until after monies to fund the budget have been obtained. The meeting was ad journed at 3:40 p .m. ECH:dh December 30, 1964 �