CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman County Board of Education (CCBOE) held a special-called board meeting on Oct. 25 during which it voted to enter into a contract with Spot.ai to upgrade to a systemwide security camera system over the next two years.
Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette said, “Every one of our cameras from every one of our schools will be on the same platform. So I can go in my office and see on my TV and see the front door at every one of our schools, and constantly rotate.”
The board said the new system could potentially save hours of time administrators currently use to search through footage manually.
Barnette continued, “Right now, as administrators, if there is an incident in a school, we are having to search through hours of footage, and now we can narrow it down to any motion detected by the cameras, even down to what color shirt they had on.”
The state-of-the-art camera system allows a live stream link to be sent to handheld devices in case of suspicious activity, alerts administration of loiterers in the school zones and could even allow license plate identification for each vehicle on campus in the future.
Fairview High School was a pilot school to test the new camera system. Cullman County Schools Media and Communications Specialist Ty Watwood explained that Fairview’s camera system was one of the systems most in need of repairs. “We have a lot of old stuff around the county; some places are good, some are not,” said Watwood, who explained there are over 800 cameras currently in use in the county school system, with many of them in disrepair or not functioning. In previous years, it was the responsibility of each principal to use sales tax funds allocated to his or her school or other school funds to replace or upgrade camera systems.
Spot.ai eliminates those hurdles, and has a yearly subscription fee of $96,245 for five years paid for by safety grants and local funds, as opposed to the roughly $30,000 it would cost to replace each school’s cameras individually.
The board approved the purchase unanimously.
The school system’s maintenance department requested approval to purchase new software to replace SchoolDude, which logs and keeps track of maintenance requests and services performed on machinery and equipment.
“What I’m really excited about is, let’s say there’s an air conditioning unit out there on our campus, not just an air conditioner but many different things, we’re going to be able to put a barcode on there,” Barnette explained. “We can walk by and scan this barcode with this app and it will tell us how old that unit is, how much money we have spent on that unit; that way we can decide right then if we need to continue to repair that unit or if we should replace that unit. I think it’s going to save us money in the long run.”
The board agreed and approved $11,000 to purchase the new software.
In his Superintendent’s Report, Barnette was excited to announce that all retired staff and faculty will be able to gain free entry to any Cullman County Schools sporting event. “Beginning Friday of this week (Oct. 27), anybody that has retired from Cullman County Schools can come to Bridgett Rodgers’ office, which is my secretary, and with a short (sic), just filling out where they retired from, and how many years they were with us, they can get a pass to get in free to any Cullman County sporting athletic event.”
Barnette also recommended and the board approved a request from the school system’s technology department to purchase a 2024 Ford Transit 150 cargo van from the state bid list; this move is set to cost the CCBOE $55,731. However, it’s a move Barnette and Technology Coordinator Brian Williams said desperately needs to be made.
“We have a van that our technology department uses to go out to different schools, and unfortunately we have passed used vehicles down to them over the years; so when we replace something, they (the technology department) get the leftovers,” Barnette explained, “And it (the current van) is just absolutely worn out, and our bus maintenance does the maintenance on it and they basically have said it’s costing more to repair it than it is to get a new vehicle.”
The board approved the following agenda items:
- Approval of Non-Faculty coaches, along with their contracts of Kolton Sellers and Bridget Elrod
- Approval for Good Hope High School to pay the following individuals for summer work for football to be paid from local school funds- Richard Dillashaw, Samuel Dingler, Tyler Hudson, Matthew McCulloch, Patrick McDonald, William C. Weaver and Mitchell Witcher.
- Approval for Vinemont Middle School to pay Lance Lay, Kerry Thompson and Preston Boyd for refinishing the Middle School gym floor, to be paid from local school funds.
- Approval for Welti Elementary to employ and pay Tara Twilley as after-hours personnel to be paid from local school funds.
- Approval for Cold Springs to employ and pay Heather Johnson as before and after school tutor to be paid for by ESSER funds.
- Approval to pay Jenna Mayo a stipend for managing district-wide Robotics Team tournaments during the 23-24 school year to be paid from general funds.
- Approved the salary schedule for the 2025 elected superintendent.
- Approved the resignation of Sandra Twilley from Welti Elementary
- Approved the voluntary transfers of Dr. Kellie Tanner, Carrie Morrow and Keisha Wright.
- Approved the appointments of Bobby Daniels, Anna Calvert and Sheila Welborn as temporary part-time teachers and Christa Hale as a Child Nutrition Worker.
- Approval of a salary schedule change for Pamela Draper
- Approved the following substitutes in teaching, bus driving and CNP:
- Edward Sandlin
- Megan Shedd
- Karen Duncan
- Carrie Gilespie
- Kristie Grund
- Tammie Heaton
- Glenda McClure
- Sandra Montanez
- Betty Pitts
- Kaytrean Williams
- Mildred Wright
- John Bowen
- Ashley Drake
- Janna Greer
- Constance Thrailkill
- John Veres
- Caroleta Waters
The CCBOE’s next board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 9, with the work session at 3:30 p.m. and the meeting immediately following. The CCBOE is located at 402 Arnold St. SE and can be reached by phone at 256-734-2399, the hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
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