Newton Citizen

Photo by Howard Reed

COVINGTON -- The Newton County Board of Education will only meet once this month, thanks to the snow and ice storm that blanketed Newton County this week and closed schools for five days.

The school board originally had been scheduled to meet Jan. 11 for a work session, but it was canceled when Newton County School System Superintendent Gary Mathews decided to cancel schools this past week due to inclement weather and bad road conditions after talking with local law enforcement agencies and monitoring the weather.

Instead, the school board now plans to hold a combined work session and regular session meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, instead of holding two as it normally would.

On the agenda is the 2011-12 school year budget calendar and school board meeting dates for the year, the discussion of transportation and alternative education and the election of officers for the school board members. The board also is expected to vote on a contract for a comprehensive custodial program and agreements with Cobblestone Therapy for speech and language services and the Marcus Autism Center.

Judge Henry Baker will swear in newly elected board members Shakila Henderson-Baker, Abigail Morgan Coggin and Jeff Meadors at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday before the board heads into executive session at 6 p.m.

The school board will meet in the board room at the Newton County BOE building at 2109 Newton Drive N.E. in Covington.

Schools also will reopen to students and staff Tuesday, after they observe the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.

NCSS administrators are expected to meet next week to decide when students would make up the days they missed this week.