BURKE COUNTY, Ga () – Burke County Schools parents, staff and community members attending a town hall meeting to discuss any changes they want to see.

This was the first town hall meeting aimed at building a better Burke County Public School System discussing safety, academics and responsibilities.

I spoke with a parent who has two children in the Buke County School System who had a few concerns.

Sara Singletary says the main topic that has many community members worried is communication and the avenues parents are able to take to get issues resolved.

Singletary tells me she feels good about being able to talk about this with the board.

“A lot of trust that I did not have yesterday, that I did not have walking in here this morning, I have a lot of trust and a lot of respect for our board members and our superintendent that if newfound and that I look forward to being able to have conversations freely with them rather than having to shell out and gain social media help,” said Singletary.

She tells me when she voiced her opinion and concerns, she felt heard by the board.

“For an entire year, I’ve prayed for transparency to come back into this school system and I think today was a major accomplishment for that, I really do, I feel very good about everybody being able to bring truthful concerns to the table and feeling heard by an entire board and our superintendent, this meeting was everything our school system needed today,” Singletary said.

Jackie Payton, Chair of the Burke County School Board came up with the idea to host this meeting and was happy to see parents, teachers and community members be together in one room voicing their feelings.

The board’s next steps will be to review everything that was mentioned and make plans as to where to go from here.

“We want to work with everyone, we want everyone to be happy, the more happy they are, the better jobs they produce, the better students we have. I am a 35 year veteran teacher, to hear what I heard today, some of the things were heartbreaking and some of the things excited me, but it let me know that we have more work to do,” said Payton.

They do plan on having more meetings in the future.