GCS Board approves $2.5M security contract, new non-resident student policy

The Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Tuesday night, approving a $2.5 million security contract, among other items.

The three-year contract with ZeroEyes, an AI-powered weapons detection technology, is intended to improve security in the district. Funds for the contract will be pulled from the General Fund. The Board approved the expenditure unanimously.

Trustees then heard two items related to Board policy on out-of-district students. The South Carolina Legislature recently enacted a statute requiring school districts to adopt specific procedures for non-resident students enrolling or transferring to other school districts.

Here’s a look at those procedures:

The school choice window will begin prior to February 1 of each year.
Students have the ability to attend schools that have capacity for their attendance.
Intradistrict/resident students will have priority over interdistrict/non-resident students in the process.
Discipline and attendance can be used to deny an application or enrollment at a specific school.
Both capacity at schools/programs and the tuition/fee cost for non-resident students will be on the District’s website.
There is an appeal process for applicants, including up to the Superintendent/designee, and then to the Board of Trustees.

District officials say that these policies are similar to longstanding procedures in place at GCS. Trustees unanimously approved the deletion of the District’s current policy on non-resident students and the implementation of the new policy, titled “Board Policy JBCCA: Intradistrict and Interdistrict Transfer.”

Trustees also approved the acquisition of 0.31 acres of property at 7 Add Ct., near Fountain Inn Elementary School. The purchase is intended to support the conversion of the school into a K-8 facility, and is one of several small land acquisitions the Board has approved this year.

Trustees then approved a resolution pertaining to general obligation bonds in fiscal year 2027. District Administration annually projects the amount of bonds needed to fund various district operations, with this year’s amount not to exceed $225 million. This resolution was approved unanimously.

Final actions by the Board were the approval of various department budgets and the appointment of next year’s Board of Trustees Officers. Trustees unanimously approved all presented budgets, which included the Debt Service Budget, BEST Debt Service Budget, Building Fund Budget, Food and Nutrition Services Budget, and Special Revenue Budgets. Full details on these budgets can be viewed in the Board of Trustees’ agenda packet for June 9.

For the next school year, the following Board of Trustees members will hold officer positions. These appointments were unanimously approved by Trustees on Tuesday evening.