Although things are still fluid due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Cullman County School System hopes to hold graduation ceremonies for seniors in the middle of June.

In a short meeting that was broadcast online due to COVID-19 restrictions, Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette said the system is aiming for June 13-14, but those dates are tentative and could change depending on the state’s orders.

Even if the date is not set in stone, the county school system will work to hold graduation ceremonies to celebrate its seniors’ achievements, he said.

“Regardless of when we do it, I think we need to do it,” he said. “I think our seniors deserve that.”

There are many other spring events, such as kindergarten graduation, that are also being missed this spring, and it’s possible that those can also be held in the summer when restrictions begin to be lifted, Barnette said.

“We wouldn’t typically do those in the summer, but we need some closure to the school year, so we want to try to be able to do that for them,” he said.

The system also began giving out paper packets and digital assignments last week, and that is going well so far, Barnette said.

He said everyone involved in the switch to distance learning in the middle of the school year has never had to deal with this kind of situation before, and all of the teachers and administrators have done a great job getting their plans together and families have been patient as those plans have been made.

“Our families have been really patient in these unprecedented times as we put together a plan of how to educate their kids and how to complete this school year, and I just want to say thank you,” he said.

Barnette also gave an update on the free meal program that the system has been hosting while schools are closed. He said there were more than 61,000 meals given away just last Thursday to make sure children were fed this week.

He thanked all of the CNP workers, teachers, bus drivers and everyone else who has volunteered to prepare and serve the meals, and he saw how grateful the county’s families are while he was at a school last week.

“Several of the people who came through had tears in their eyes thanking us because they didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from,” he said.

The meal program is on hold during this week and next, but will hopefully be started back up after the virus has hit its peak for the area, he said.

Barnette said there are many students and staff members in the county school system who have been affected by the virus, either by getting sick or losing their jobs, and the board is thinking about them as they go through these hard times.

“We want to keep them in the back of our minds and really lift them up in prayer as they deal with that,” he said.

In other business, the board:

Approved a request to pay Rickey Kelley for up to five unused annual leave days, as per board policy.

Approved a request from Fairview High School to pay George Redding an extra supplement of $2,500 from the booster club for field maintenance, paid by Fairview Booster Club.

Approved a request of the following change orders for Holly Pond Home Economics Addition project:

Change Order #1: In preparation of the new building pad, poor soil conditions were discovered. Under direction of geotechnical engineer non-bearing soil was removed and approve tested borrow pit soil was placed and compacted. Approx. area of 62’x30’x2.5’ deep was corrected and building pad has been completed. $4,162.40

Change Order #2: In preparation of the building pad/site area for the new addition, asphalt paving was scheduled to be demolished. Upon removal, an existing storm catch basin was discovered that is in conflict with the new addition foundation. The storm basin must be relocated approx. 4’ outside the foundation line. New HDPM storm piping installed to reroute storm drainage around the new addition. $24,420.00

Approved February 2020 bills and salaries in the amount of $8,752,881.28.

Nominated Chase Oden to serve on the Cullman County Board of Equalizations.