The Rev. Samuel Pridgon brought 13 concerns dealing with minorities to Tift County Board of Education members Tuesday night on behalf of the Concerned Citizens Committee .

Pridgon had brought up similar concerns before the board at a meeting on June 10.

“If these things are done then our educational system, from the minority perspective, will be better off and our schools will be part of a better school system,” Pridgon said during the public comment portion of Tuesday night’s meeting.

Among other things, Pridgon's requests to the board included increasing minority hiring and implementing a signing bonus for new minority teachers.

Pridgon asked the board to give the Concerned Citizens Committee answers as quickly as possible and added, “Please let us know what you are able to do and how we are able to assist you.”

Cofounders Anthony Dennard, Fred Slade and Carlos Howard came before the board with a request for the Tifton Eagles Youth Basketball Association to use the basketball courts at Eighth Street Middle School.

The request was tentatively approved; however, because of the scheduled resurfacing of the floors over the summer, the board was concerned that the ESMS would not be available on the requested dates, July 25 and 26.

The association is attempting to host their first Angels/Eagles End of Summer Shootout Youth Basketball Tournament. Since the three coaches work with traveling teams of boys under age 15 and girls 13 to 14, they are hoping that the tournament will be a chance for the families of the teams to see them play locally.

“We’ve been doing good in local tournaments in the Savannah and Tallahassee area. It’s going to be a good opportunity for Tift County as a whole to show that we are very beyond basketball-orientated. We want to give back to the community and show them what they’ve been supporting,” Dennard said.

Ten of the 11 boys and about 19 of the 22 on the teams are from Tifton. The tournament will consist of 12 teams, six boy teams and six girl.

The board approved the request to use a facility and hope to have the resurfacing of the gym at ESMS completed in time. However, if it is not ready, they plan to allow the use of either Charles Spencer Elementary or Matt Wilson Elementary instead.

Also during the meeting, the board established a list of approved fund raisers for the upcoming school year, approved the new drug policy which now includes the drug testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities or park on school property and approved the code of conduct which now includes a federally regulated policy on dealing with sexual harassment.