New Greenbrier Elementary principal named
Greenbrier Elementary School will have a new principal next year.
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Columbia County school system officials named Judy Holton as the school's new principal Tuesday at the school board meeting.
Holton is coming to Columbia County from the Jenkins County school system, where she is the principal of Jenkins County Elementary School.
After the meeting, she said she was "looking for a change."
"The Columbia County school system is an excellent school system with a great reputation," she said.
Administrators returned the praise for her.
"She comes with great credentials. She's going to be a great principal," said Sandra Carraway, the deputy superintendent.
Current Greenbrier Elementary Principal Michele Sherman will become the director of elementary student learning in the coming academic year.
Sherman will replace Phyllis Means, who is retiring at the end of the school year.
The school board also authorized school administrators to continue their exploration of a pilot program that would give parents at three schools the option of paying school fees online next year.
Greenbrier High, Evans Middle and Riverside Elementary schools would serve as the pilot schools for the program.
Pat Sullivan, the school system controller, said cashless payments for school lunches are the driving force behind the initiative. Parents also could make online payments for expenses such as field trips, athletic tickets, caps and gowns, fundraisers, club fees, summer school classes and yearbooks.
"There are so many different ways we could use this," Sullivan said.
She said parents would pay a monthly convenience fee of $1 per family. Parents then could pay electronically for expenses with a credit card or by transferring money from their checking account.
A charge of 75 cents would be levied for a checking account transfer, and a credit or debit card payment would cost about $3.29 per transaction.
About 2 percent of that cost would go to the credit card company, said Sullivan.
School officials, who have held two budget study sessions this month, also agreed on a timeline to approve the 2008-09 budget.
Tentative approval is set for May 27, and another study session will be held that date if needed. The school board expects to give final approval to the budget June 10.