Fred Phillips

can tell you where every copy machine used by the Fayette County school

district is sitting.

He can tell

you the model, the make, the point of over-extended use when it shuts

itself down and starts flashing "Call for Service."

He knows who

provides that, too, and that next year it will cost more than $400,000

just to maintain the school system's 156 copiers and duplicators.

Phillips, purchasing

and inventory management agent, had a cheat sheet: A detailed accounting

of all the district's copy machines, which he persented board members

Monday with a plan to streamline and eliminate costly contracts and overlap

of services.

A 10-member

committee recently completed the audit on the copier delimma, he said,

and had agreed to accept bids from Ikon for new and replacement photocopiers,

and from Omni Business Products for duplicators (the difference in the

two refers to the size and quality of the job, he said).

Another issue

resolves around technology. Many older copiers in use by schools are analog,

while all new machines are digital.

Board member

Janet Smola questioned whether the $400,000 cited was new funds or part

of the budget awaiting final approval. And if so, did the money budgeted

come close to fillngthe need that will arise.

It is, in fact,

already part of the overall budget, she was told. Then how much would

it cost to replace all the machines in the system?

"I can't

give you a total, absolute dollar amount because there are so many factors,"

said James Stephens, system comptroller. "But it's not a cake walk,

a blank check."

And in cases

where a machine purchased specifically for a school, as a gift from a

PTO for example, or for a teacher or classroom, like and, the central

office will pay to replace and upgrade it when the need arises.

Smola was still

hesitant to spend money on what she feared were "Cadillac" copiers.

"If I

have to choose between a Volkswagen and a Cadillac, I want the Cadillac,"

she said. "But if I've only budgeted for a Volkswagen ..."

"These

machines aren't Cadillacs," interjected fellow board member Greg

Powers.

Eventually,

the board agreed that the proposal had sound merits, even if how to pay

for all the new copiers needed down the road wasn't certain an OK'd the

plan 5-0.

In related

business, the board approved a contract for membership in the Regional

Educational Service Agency, which provides small-scale business machines

for school use.

In other action

Monday, the board:

· Approved

the hiring or reassinging of more than 50 personnel, including Linda Beaublien,

former teacher at the Alternative School, to assistant principal Huddleton,

and Bonita Fluker, transfering from a position in the gifted program for

Griffin Spalding County Schools, as assistant principal at North Fayette;

·OK'd

the appointments of four business people to a new school council posts

at Spring Hill, North Fayette, Oak Grove and Whitewater;

·Placed

on the table for public inspection were the job descriptions of the new

top-tier managers at the school district main offices: Deputy Superintendent

Fred Oliver; Assistant Superintendent of EducationPam Riddle; Assistant

Superintendent of Operations Wayne Robinson;

·Heard

an update on school construction projects.