School Board Votes To Accept Grants

August 18, 2005

HUNTSVILLE—The Scott County Board of Education has voted to accept a $404,495 grant from the state to establish four new pre-Kindergarten programs.

That vote came Thursday night as the board met in regular monthly session at the Central Office here for its first meeting since the resumption of classes. And it was mostly a “good news” meeting insofar as a smooth transition into the new school year, the establishment of new state-funded classrooms, and having met or exceeded education benchmarks set by the state last year.

4 PRE-K’S FUNDED

Director of Schools Mike Davis said that he and Supervisor of Instruction Linda Keeton had attended a meeting in Chattanooga the week before where the grant announcement was made.

Davis credited Keeton with writing the grant application, adding that all four pre-K programs sought met with the approval of the state and have been funded.

He further explained to board members that the new programs have to be up and running by October 1, and that four teachers and four teacher assistants would be hired. He encouraged parents of pre-K students to contact the school nearest them and have their children registered.

PROGRESS MADE

Davis also announced that the “Value Added” data from the state, although still embargoed for release to the public, has been received and is “the best I’ve ever seen . . . our students—in every single category­­—made progress,” he stated, noting that this announcement comes on the heels of notification that Scott County students met or exceeded adequate yearly progress on the T-CAP tests.

In other announcements, Davis credited what he called “an easy take-off” into the new school year to principals, teachers, Central Office staff and parents at each of the school centers. He said some parents, teachers and their spouses were at the schools getting classrooms ready as much as two weeks in advance of the new school year, and noted with pride the community support for the new school center at Winfield.

PRINCIPALS’ REPORTS

Scott High Principal Sharon Wilson reported to the board on the establishment of a “R.E.A.L. School” (Relevant Education through Alternative Learning) program, with slots for 31 freshmen from the 2004-2005 school year who had failing grades at the end of the school year.

Wilson said that the new drop-out intervention program currently has 24 students enrolled in the program, which is being held at the Scott High School Field House, with two teachers and two teacher assistants.

“Hopefully, the students will come out [of the year-long program] with eight full credits” and be able to transition into the regular classroom at the start of the 2006-2007 school year “and be on target for graduation,” Wilson said. She added that the participating students are excited about the program.

Wilson informed the board that initial enrollment figures show Scott High with 796, slightly below the enrollment of a year ago.

She also informed the board about the publication of a 70-page magazine-style book which had recently been published containing stories written by Scott High students.

The book, entitled Our Living Heritage: Stories of Southern Appalachia, is the culmination of a two-year project under the leadership of three Scott High School English teachers (Kelli Alley, Anna Bates and Melissa Rector), participation by several students and funded by a First National Bank of Oneida Mini-Grant.

Students whose writing is featured in the publication are Danielle Ray, Haley Watts, Brenda Clements, Amanda Bradley, Allison O’Neal, Brittany Bodwell, Troy Jeffers, Erica Todd, Whitney Watts, Sonny Sexton, Jayna Massey, Justin Stephens, Katelynn Burchfield, Alyssia Russ, Bobby Bowling, Heather Dupre, Haleigh Byrd, Sarah Byrd, Heather Todd, Michael Carson, Brandon King and Kayla Kidd.

In addition, Wilson said, the student publication features scores of full color photographs taken by Haley Watts.

Other principal reports were made by Randy Shelton of Burchfield Elementary, who said his school has 403 students (up from 383 in the spring), not counting the pre-K enrollment figures; Linda Sharp of Fairview Elementary, who reported a total of 407 students, down slightly from the pervious year; Bobby Lee Smith of Huntsville Elementary, who reported an initial enrollment of 418 (excluding pre-K); Lemance Bryant of Huntsville Middle who said he has 214, down five from last year; Ken Davidson of Winfield Elementary, whose enrollment is 220 (down two from a year ago); and Marva Robbins of Robbins Elementary, who begins the new school year with 315 students.

All principals reported a smooth start to the new school year, although Shelton said that the field house building project came to a sudden halt earlier in the week when state prisoners were pulled off the project, bused back to Morgan County and put “in lock down” in the wake of the shooting death of a state corrections department worker. Shelton said the work would go on, however, as volunteers from the community would be providing free labor to assemble the log structure which was donated by the Barna Log Home company.

Principal Sharp of Fairview also informed the board of the start-up of a new reading intervention program entitled “Great Leaps” in which for 10 minutes each school day a reading program aimed at “praise and building self-esteem” would involve every teacher and student in the school.

BOARD ACTION

In other business Thursday night, the board:

• Approved private run bus contracts for Pamela Jeffers and Kathy Henson;

• Awarded a contract to Dennis Jeffers, CPA, to audit the Activity & Cafeteria Funds;

• Approved an intergovernmental transfer of a surplus school bus to Scott County Government, which will be repainted and utilized as a vehicle to transport Drug Court participants to and from counselling sessions in Knoxville;

• Approved a grading policy for Scott High School’s advanced placement and dual credit courses which will not jeopardize participants’ overall grade point average in a negative manner. [In a related matter, Director of Schools Davis announced that he had earlier in the day received a phone call from a benefactor who pledged scholarship funds for financially strapped students who would not otherwise be able to participate in the advanced placement or dual credit program.];

• Voted to approve the agreement regarding the Children’s Health and Maintenance Plan (CAMP);

• Voted to establish a salary schedule for school secretaries and data technicians [with the understanding that Director of Schools Davis would submit within the next month a comprehensive salary schedule for all classified personnel in the school system with the goal of recognizing employment longevity;

• Approved the 2005-2006 student handbook for Scott High with minor revisions;

• Adopted on first reading proposed board policies regarding bullying and harassment, as recommended by the Tennessee School Boards Association in accordance with new state laws;

• Entered into a agreement with the Head Start/Early Head Start programs to provide meals for the students based on a U.S. Department of Agriculture monthly reimbursement schedule;

• Set a date (Aug. 23) and time (7 p.m.) for a board work session to review a proposed teacher contract prepared by the teacher negotiations team ;

• Voted to award the bid for gym floor refinishing at Burchfield, Fairview, Robbins and Scott High to Prater’s (described as the “best” but not the lowest of two bids submitted), as recommended by Director of Schools Davis; and,

• Entered into a contract with Goodwill Industries of Knoxville to benefit the school system’s Special Education students.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the board went into executive session with County Attorney John Beaty to discuss “sensitive information” involving a student, according to Director of Schools Davis.

newsroom@ihoneida.com

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