Jason Vorhees | The Telegraph

Bibb County School Superintendent Dan Sims speaks during a meet and greet event in July 2022 at Rutland High School.

Students at Mercer’s Reg Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism reviewed nine local agencies on their compliance with state law as well as any extras they provided in making their work as transparent and accessible to the public as possible. You can read about the other agencies and see their rankings here.

The web address for the Bibb County School District is https://www.bcsdk12.net/

Does website list out its key staff, governing board or other leadership and how to contact them? The website provides its governing board as well as their contact information. The Superintendent is Dan Sims and he can be contacted through an online portal. The Board President is Juawn A. Jackson of District Four and his contact [email protected]

Does the agency have a public information officer? If so, is the name and contact information listed? The website does have a communications officer, her name is Stephanie Hartley and she holds the title of Chief Communications Officer. Her email is [email protected].

Does the website have information on meeting announcements/meeting dates & times? If so, where is this posted. The website provides information on meeting announcements, dates, and times. They can be found here:
https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/SB_MeetingListing.aspx?S=4013

Does the website have meeting agendas? The meeting agenda can be found on the website here: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/SB_MeetingListing.aspx?S=4013

Does website have approved meeting minutes? There is a tab on the website for meeting minutes, however, it is difficult to find the layout of the meeting.

Does the agency provide a way for the public to watch its meetings virtually as they happen? And/or does agency have recordings of its meetings on the website or linked from the website? Their website does not have a way to watch its meetings virtually, but if you visit their YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@bibbschools/videos you can find their board meeting there.

Does the agency have social media platforms and if so, which ones?  The Bibb County School District uses Facebook, YouTube and X. They use their social media platforms to share information going on in their schools, and to spotlight teachers and students, along with different leaders in the district. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bibbschools/ X:https://twitter.com/bibbschools?lang=en  and  YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@bibbschools/videos

Does the agency provide a way for the public to make open records requests? Their website makes it very easy to submit an open records request and shows where to send it. https://www.bcsdk12.net/cms/one.aspx?portalId=1736221&pageId=2024925 Email [email protected] to submit a request

Please note any other information you found on the website that would be helpful to members of the public who would want to keep up with this agency’s business. There is a parent section on the website that provides after-school schedules, school care, athletics, transfers, and withdrawal so that they can check up on what’s going on at schools in this system for their children.

Transparency grade: We would give the Bibb County Board of Education an Excellent grade for Transparency. Everything on their website is there that we were searching for is present including the meeting agendas, their transcripts, and the meeting times.

Online Accessibility Grading: We would give the Bibb County Board of Education a Superior grade when it comes to Accessibility. Contact information for leaders is very easy to find. The agency used social media to share and spread information about events going on.

Transparency Grading

Excellent: Agency goes above what the law requires for just posting its meeting times and also posted agendas and minutes.

Satisfactory: Agency had its meeting times posted on its website as required by law.

Unsatisfactory: Agency did not have its meeting times and/or agendas posted on its website as required by law.

Online Accessibility Grading

Superior: Agency provided contact information for leadership, audio or video recordings of meetings and minutes from its meetings. Agency also used social media platforms to share out information of interest to the public.

Average: Agency provided contact information for leadership and was active on social media but did not have audio or video recordings of meetings and/or minutes from its meetings posted online.

Below Average: Agency didn’t provide contact information for leadership and didn’t regularly post on social media. Agency also did not have audio or video recordings of meetings or minutes from its meetings available online.