The board went to bat for the superintendent. Before anything else, the board read a public statement saying personal attacks toward district staff are unacceptable, and that it has full confidence in the superintendent and her team. The backdrop was a recent storm when schools stayed open and a wave of online criticism followed. The superintendent, Nerlande Anselme, took it head-on. Safety always comes first, weather calls follow a multi-step process with forecasts and road checks, and this storm simply turned worse than predicted. She said the district would review how it handles walkers in bad conditions.

Busing was the big topic from the public. Three residents described children forced to walk along roads with no sidewalks, buried in snowbanks, because they live just inside the distance where the district doesn't run a bus. The question was fair. How much does the district actually save by skipping those short routes? The district's answer was that state rules don't require busing at that distance. But the superintendent said the business office would review transportation and call each family back.

Budget season opened with one clear message: max out the tax cap. Business chief Dr. Georgia Gonzalez laid out why she recommends the district raise its tax levy by the full legal limit every year. Her logic is that money you choose not to collect one year can't be recovered later without a supermajority vote. She says that over five years that gap can grow to roughly three-quarters of a million dollars, or about the cost of two or three teachers. Early numbers put next year's base budget near $160 million, with health insurance up about 7%. Gonzalez said the district is financially healthy and is leaning less on its savings so it can build reserves for the coming fifth- and sixth-grade building project.

Two new buses are coming. With a state electric-bus mandate on the way, the district plans to use a three-year waiver and buy two diesel buses for now (on top of one arriving this month), while it studies whether going electric makes sense for Rome.

Two grants came in with no local tax dollars attached. The board accepted $5,000 from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation for John Joy Elementary and $7,500 from the Rome Community Foundation for a new program at Rome Free Academy.

Minimum wage went up. The board signed off on paying the new state minimum of $16 an hour to affected employees and said the cost is already built into its budget planning.

The rest was routine. The board granted tenure to a Bellamy principal and a John Joy teacher, approved the district's school counseling program, and moved several policies along (purchasing, non-discrimination, harassment, and free and reduced-price meals). It also approved an evening classroom lease that pays the district about $2,950, therapy services for early-childhood students, and a round of grant-funded "peer specialists.” These are teachers who coach other teachers on instruction and student behavior, a concern that comes up again and again from the community.

Honors and what's next. The district honored Florence Barnett, Rome's first Black principal, who died in December, and a First Student bus driver who had spent years getting local kids to school. The board set plans to visit four schools in March and to review the superintendent's evaluation at a special meeting the following Monday.