Putnam Commission And School Board Chairs Pleased With Joint Session

The chairmen of both the Putnam County School Board and County Commission thought Tuesday’s joint work session was helpful.

Members of each body gathered to discuss future needs and wants of the school system for the upcoming budget season. Commission Chairman Mike Atwood said the communication between the two entities is at a great place, but there are still some tough questions to answer.

“Great, awesome, good information,” Atwood said. “There is still a lot that we don’t know. That’s unfortunate cause we got to start the budget process, but we know what they’re thinking. We know the potential amount that is available for them to utilize, and they’ve given us a list of what their priorities are going to be to try and spend that, so we’ve got something to work with.”

Board of Education Chair Lynn McHenry said having an overall vision for the future of the school system is important. Especially, with the federal COVID funds being shared.

“It’s critical that our kids have a good direction once they get out of high school, and we’re trying to do that more with programs now,” McHenry said. “We are wanting to expand these and give them more opportunities, and hopefully, some of these federal funds will help us do that. But, we are only as good as we can work together with the commission in order to progress that.”

Atwood said he has been apart of the commission for when communication with the school board was not healthy. But, Atwood said that is not the case now.