Educators Discuss Much
The Jasper County Board of Education discussed much of the district’s goals and expectations during its regular meeting Tuesday night.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Newton presented the board with various beginning of the school year tasks and discussed future endeavors for the system. They also heard presentations from Jerry Williams, Transportation Director of Jasper County Schools on a wifi system that uses a Global Positioning System to track students and buses, and from Donna Poole, Executive Director of Student Services on the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) which includes a comprehensive overview and plan to aid in students with disabilities (SWD).
Dr. Newton presented the budget report stating that revenues were a bit lower as they typically are at this time of year and are only 7.79 percent. School expenditures, however are at 15.52 percent which is also quite normal. Dr. Newton explained that this would level out some once local ad valorem tax revenue begins to come in and the school year progresses.
Dr. Newton referred to Anne Harrison, Director of Finance, who also informed the board that typically newly hired staff are budgeted in at a T5-7 year salary range and that for this year the personnel item was budgeted at about $300,000 short. She explained that FTE monies are down and that this happens when you hire teachers.
Board members approved CTAE grant money from the following: $33,384 federal, $37,349 state grants and Construction Bond Grant (BioTech) $54,000. This money, according to Ms. Harrison aids in 68 percent of an extended day for fieldtrips, extracurricular activities etc. for the five teachers at Jasper County High School (JCHS) and include Health, Technology, Early Childhood Education, and Agriculture.
She was asked by board members and responded that the local board could fund the other 32 percent if they chose to do so. “We do currently fund the FICA for these funds,” Ms. Harrison said. “Currently we are required to match the Ag program. They pay for 20 days and we match that and pay for 20 days,” she said. The Ag program teacher gets his 100 percent extended day for summer activities, field trips, after school activities. She also noted that a federal program usually impacts everyone and provide services to students in technical programs. She noted that these monies were dependant on the government and if they want to fund it or not.
Mr. Williams spoke to board members and got their approval to do more research on the proposed tracking system for students and buses from Student Connect and Verizon Wireless. The system would include putting wifi on the buses and giving the students an identification badge to scan when they enter and exit the bus. The system could be accessed from any computer, so that parents could see where their child was at any time. He said that this was new technology, but is an accountability system for both the school and parents.
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I don’t like giving out student information, so that makes this a bit iffy to me,” said Mr. Williams. On the website accessed by parents, there would be ads which allowed for no charge for the services. “By allowing advertising there would be no cost to the board. The advertising is appropriate and will be age appropriate content. Otherwise it’s $77,000 without the advertising.” Mr. Williams said that Decatur city schools are currently using the system.
When asked what he thought about this he said, “Parents always want to know where their kids are. And why we don’t know where the bus is at any given moment. I think that it would be a great idea this day in age and especially for the future from this day going forward.”
Ms. Poole presented the board with an overview of the Student Success: Imagine the Possibilities theme of aiding SWD. She shared data that showed the 2014 Graduation rate for regular students was 72.5 percent and for SWD it was 36.5 percent. She also showed similar numbers when it came to the dropout rate comparison. She stressed the need for a school improvement process with a focus on students with disabilities. “We have to work on literacy, math, and attendance,” she said.
Ms. Poole explained that there was a historical background that shows gaps between all students and SWD in reading and math. She stressed that “we have to go back to foundational learning to support SWD.” She noted that changes that could be made now included looking back at CCRPI performance and performance issues from primary (third grade) through high school.
She said that Jasper County schools were receiving Intensive Technical Support from the state, and that there were three phases of implementation which included data analysis, planning and implementation, and evaluation. She said that with the support that there would be a RESA representative on hand and extra money for these improvements to be implemented.
Moving forward there had been stakeholder teams put into place and meeting held amongst them. The first parent forum is Sept. 28 and this will begin the steps with stakeholders to find ways to identify successes and conduct strategic data analysis and identify barriers.
Dr. Newton presented the statewide assessment results (Georgia Milestones) for Fiscal Year 2015 (2014-2015) noting that the results did not look great. He reviewed the Department of Education’s press release and noted that the results could be found on a link from the school’s eboard website. He said that Georgia upped the cut score this year and students had to do better to make a proficient score.
He presented that in English/Language Arts (ELA), in Georgia 38% of students met or exceeded (proficient or distinguished) as opposed to 80% in previous years. He stressed that these milestones included more in-depth thinking and the level of proficiency cut score for passing is higher than it has ever been.
“These numbers don’t look good; the district scores will be released in October.” Dr. Newton explained that the new scale left him with questions such as “how many of those developing learners are closer to proficiency and which are to beginning learner?” He said, “as Mike Newton parent, with a son in 9th grade literature and composition, in high school 20% of the students final average will come from the score on this specific test. This makes looking at HOPE eligibility and the impact that it will have will affect the state averages.”
Dr. Newton then reviewed the draft District Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) for FY16. He stressed that there were performance objectives and that literacy and math standards were priorities, along with attendance and engagement of students. He said that the focus would be on these along with initiatives as to what actions the district was going to take for these improvements.
He noted that the CIP would be used for Jasper County School’s Charter Application. “Currently there are three committees and each has met already. Ms. [Erin] Lynch represents on the governance committee. I am appreciative of community involvement and the next board meeting the board will hear preliminary reports to see what is taking place. We should be ready for application in December, way ahead of schedule,” said Dr. Newton.
Board Chair Shannon Barton asked the board if anyone had any questions or concerns brought to their attention. Most agreed that clarification and information was most needed as the public was confused between a charter system that the schools are going to and a charter school.
“What I am seeing is that people are so excited about it. They are excited about opportunities to do things in the future that we haven’t been able to do before. I am excited for staff and innovative ways to teach and for kids to learn. I’ve seen forward thinking staff and great progress in this district and I think that that is just going to increase,” said Dr. Newton. He also encouraged the public to visit the school’s website for more information. He said that basically a charter system will provide flexibility, innovation, and progress all more guided here on the local level.
Board members reviewed the plans for the future use at the high school and discussed logistics and utilities for the new multi-use building at JCHS. The plans were viewed and input sought on the “big picture,” for future uses at the high school such as a football stadium, baseball and softball fields, etc. The multi-use facility that is currently being funded by the local board is projected to start with grading by January 2016 with projected completion by May 2016. The facility will be used for classroom instruction, will house the weight room and a practice room with mirrors for competition cheerleading and wrestling. There will also be coaches’ offices and extra storage for band and athletics.
Board members placed a new policy, JGJA (Suicide Prevention Policy) on the table to be reviewed for 30 days. It can be found on the school board’s eboard website. They also voted to pass waivers for routine practices such as classroom size, awarding of credit, EIP and gifted.
The board approved an attendance proclamation for September being Attendance Awareness Month which focuses on making sure that kids get to school. Dr. Newton said that the first batch of letters have gone out to parents of students who have chronic attendance issues – some missing 7-8 days of school. “Parents are not happy,” he said, “but we can’t educate them if they’re not here.”
The board also voted to approve the following new hires: Heather Fields, Bus Driver, and Breneika Dennis, Bus Monitor, for Jasper County Transportation Department; Brenda Nelson, Pre-K Teacher, and Emily Robinson, Pre-K Paraprofessional, Jasper County Primary/Pre-K School; Amber Thomas, Custodian (part-time), Washington Park Elementary School; Sharon Lord, FLP Interventionist and Shawn Dean, Paraprofessional, at WPES.
Those resignations approved included Tamika Thomas, PEC Teacher/Varsity Girls Basketball Coach, and Kellye Kelly, PEC Paraprofessional. Opal Folendore, School Food Assistant, was terminated.
Dr. Newton and the board stressed the need for school bus drivers and encouraged faculty such as coaches, etc. to take on that position.
