The November meeting of the Macon County Board of Education was the last for two members of the board.
Citing family issues that required his attention in Georgia, board member Fred Goldsmith announced that he would be moving his primary residence out of Macon County (although he still owns some property here) and resigning from the board. Goldsmith was first elected to the board in 2014 and previously served as Franklin High School’s head football coach from 2001 to 2005. He was reelected to the board in 2018, when he ran unopposed.
Goldsmith has long been vocal about infrastructural improvements throughout the school system, most notably the construction of a new Franklin High School and figuring out a long-term solution for the school’s frequently water-damaged track. He said on Monday night that his biggest regret from his time on the board was that no plans were finalized for those projects and that he hoped the board would prioritize completing them in his absence.
“I’m disappointed that we’re no further along with that than we are,” Goldsmith said. “Since I’m not running for reelection, I’m just going to come right out and say it: We need to raise the taxes. The problems that we deal with, the high school that’s costing us a fortune to maintain. … It’s cost a lot more to repair Macon Middle School today than it would have to take care of it along the way. The high school is even way, way beyond that.”
However, Goldsmith said that his experience with the board had been overwhelmingly positive. He appreciated his colleagues’ commitment to doing what’s best for the students and the fact that policy differences never prevented them from working as a team.
“I’ve done a lot of things and been a lot of places, but the years that I’ve spent here [in Macon County], the last 20 full-time basically compared with the other 40 before that, have been the best years of my life and this [board] has been the highlight of it,” Goldsmith said.
It was also the last meeting for board member Stephanie McCall, who was appointed to represent Highlands on the board in 2009 following the resignation of Frieda Bennett. McCall has been reelected while running unopposed three times since then in 2010, 2012 and 2016. She chose not to run this year, and Hillary Wilkes, who also won in an unopposed race, will fill her seat.
McCall has been a vocal proponent of expediting the process for returning children to the classroom amidst this year’s COVID-19 shutdowns. She expressed her appreciation for the support of her community over the past decade and the opportunities she has had to learn over that time.
“I feel very fortunate that I got to represent some of the most amazing teachers, students, and all the different people who work in our school system to make it what it is,” McCall said. “I took it, originally, because I wanted to learn, and boy, have I learned a lot.”
Board chairman Jim Breedlove presented Goldsmith and McCall with certificates of recognition for their time on the board. While he wished them both the best, he said that they would both be sorely missed for both their input and their friendship.
“The thing I love most is that you did it for the right reasons,” Breedlove told the two. “There weren’t agendas. Y’all truly came on board to do what is in the best interest of our students. I keep referring back to that. That’s a higher calling and it can’t be overemphasized how much y’all have embraced that and what a wonderful job you’ve done.”
The school board will reconvene on Monday, Nov. 30 to appoint a replacement to serve out the remaining two years of Goldsmith’s term.