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ALBANY, GA --
The Dougherty County Board of Education met on Wednesday to tie up some loose ends from this summer.

In August, the Dougherty County School System Tribunal Board heard cases involving the 2009 CRCT scandal. During those hearings the tribunal board recommended first-year teacher Nikki Lyons receive a non-renewal of her contract for allegedly prompting students to the correct answers during testing while the board followed the tribunal's recommendations in two others.

Shortly after, the board received an update on corrections made to the School Improvement Grant.

In July, the Georgia Department of Education froze Title I funds for Dougherty County Schools saying one of the reasons was because the DCSS didn't comply with the School Improvement Grant regulations.

In order to release the funds, the DCSS was instructed to follow a list of corrections including the hiring of a permanent Principal and increased learning time at Albany High School.

The board will begin the interview process for the principal on Wednesday afternoon and plans to make a motion to hire someone on October 29th, the deadline date.

They have also already introduced longer bell schedules at the school in order to stay in line with the grant.

The board sent both an email and hard copy of their financial reports and corrections and await the Georgia DOE's decision of whether or not to release the funds.

Both Superintendent Dr. Joshua Murfree and board member Reverend Bush say this is a big deal for the system and they're proud of the district's efforts to get the funds released.