The Dallas County Board of Education (DCBOE) had their monthly meeting for March on Thursday evening in the County Commissioners Chamber.

After the meeting was called to order and the agenda was approved, the board discussed updating the Parental Accountability Policy.

DCBOE attorney Malika Sanders-Fortier requested the board’s approval to further research the policy and revisit the proposal at the next board meeting.

Board member Roy C. Edwards proposed that fines or fees be presented to parents on certain infractions in order to hold them accountable for their children’s behavior.

Edwards referred to an altercation on a school bus between two students in which both parents have gotten involved.

“We need our parents to control the children, not the children control the parents.”

Edwards believes the fines will incite parents to take greater measures to monitor their children’s behavior at school.

Edwards says that the time that school administrators spend attending to disciplinary paperwork has become an obstacle preventing them from doing other administrative tasks like observing teachers, monitoring students and focusing on academics.

“I feel that we spend too much time on behavioral problems,” said Edwards.

Edwards added that he did not know if there was any legislation in place that would keep fines on parents from being placed.

Chief School Financial Officer Brenda Turner delivered the monthly financial statement and bank reconciliation for February.

“You can see that we did not collect very much [Alabama Tax] in February, we collected $121,569 and so far, [the first five months] this [fiscal] year we’re $11,000 less that we after the first five months of last year,” said Turner. “So hopefully those taxes will come back up.”

$58,000 from the sales tax and $696.92 from the boat and motor vehicle tax were passed to Selma City Schools.