County school board approves $1,200 bonus for employees

Laurens County Schools teachers and employees received an early Christmas present in the form of a $1,200 bonus during the district’s board of education meeting held Tuesday.

Superintendent Clifford Garnto proposed the bonus for Jan. 9. He met with finance director Mary McCollough, and they agreed they were in position to fund the bonuses.

“We thought this would be a great gesture,” Garnto said. “They will be paid at the rate at which they are employed. If they are a full-time employee, they will get the full bonus, and if they are a 49 percent, they will get 49 percent of that.”

Before going into executive session, board chairman Jarvis Wilcher asked Garnto to step to the front to be presented with a plaque.

“On behalf of the board, we wanted to thank you for your years as superintendent,” Wilcher said. “You were chosen as superintendent in 2020 and it has been a great run since I’ve been here. I want to thank you and appreciate everything you have done.” 

At the beginning of the meeting, Tony Johnston was elected to serve as the board chair for 2026 while Kenny Payne was selected as the vice-chair. 

The board approved board meeting times for 5:30 p.m. in 2026, with its work sessions to begin at 5 p.m. The work sessions for 2026 will be held on Jan. 6, Feb. 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, Aug. 11, Sept. 8, Oct. 6, Nov. 10 and Dec. 8. There are no work sessions in June or July. The board’s regular meetings will be held on Jan. 8, Feb. 12, March 12, April 16, May 14, June 11, July 9, Aug. 13, Sept. 10, Oct. 8, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10.

In other meeting news:

• Garnto showed the board a graphic of the layout of the Eastside campus and where the new East Laurens Elementary School would be, and the location of the new ELMS athletic complex.

• The Clean School Award went to West Laurens Middle School.

• The board room art was provided by East Laurens Middle School. Some of the art, which had a Christmas theme, was brought over to the old West Laurens High building.

• The WLHS competition and game day cheerleaders were recognized for their seasons. The competition squad won region and finished third in state. Game day cheerleaders finished fourth out of 25 teams in state.

• Garnto brought up options for tracks at WLHS and ELHS. He wanted the board to have information on four different bids on the track surfaces.

“We’ll be recommending the top dollar one because it gets an average of about 10 to 12 years out of those surfaces,” Garnto said. “I’m just giving you this for general information, and it will come as a proposal next month.”

• The board approved the transfer of Mikahaila Dixon from SWLE to Heartland as parapro.

• The board approved the retirements of Lili Bozeman, Shayna Morgan and Jennifer Tucker, all teachers at East Laurens Primary School.

• The board approved the following new hires: Brittany Allen (food nutrition assistant at SWLE); Theodore Eagy (bus driver for Laurens County Schools); Julie Frix (teacher at ELMS); Katelynn Hayes (food nutrition assistant at SWLE); Carley Kersey (parapro at ELPS); Raymond Palmer (custodian at ELPS); and Reid Ragan (teacher at ELMS).

• The board named Jackson Carter as a community coach for WLHS boys soccer.