Officials Hear

Reports During

Annual Retreat

By BILL JONES

Staff Writer

The Greene County Board of Education and county school system administrators on Tuesday heard reports on accomplishments of 2007-08 board goals and plans for meeting 2008-09 board goals.

The reports were delivered during the system's annual administrative retreat at the James W. Parham Central School Office on West Summer Street.

In terms of facility improvement accomplishments during the 2007-08 school year, Director of Schools Dr. Joe Parkins said the county school system:

* completed two new classrooms at Mosheim Elementary School (by renovating existing space);

* completed replacement of windows with new, energy-efficient units, at North Greene and West Greene High Schools;

* updated its five-year facility management plan;

* completed facility upgrades at all county schools;

* began construction of band rooms at North Greene and South Greene High Schools (with both now expected to be finished by December 2008);

* began construction (by school maintenance personnel) of a new athletic field house at North Greene High (now expected to be completed in August);

* provided funding for school equipment repair and the refinishing of gymnasium floors and

* completed partial replacement of the aging plumbing at McDonald Elementary School.

During the 2008-09 school year, plans are to complete replacement of old windows at Glenwood Elementary, South Greene High and Baileyton Elementary and to seek funding from alternate sources for other facility improvements.

Parkins also reminded the assembled board members and administrators that the school board had recommended the building of a new West Greene High School and the conversion of the existing WGHS building into a middle school to serve upper-grade students who currently attend Glenwood and McDonald Elementary School.

Parkins said a funding resolution for building the new high school had been presented to the Greene County Commission in June, but failed to win approval. He urged the school board to continue to push for funding of construction of a new WGHS building next year.

Safe Schools

DeBusk Elementary Principal Chris Malone delivered a report on how the county school system did in meeting the board's 2007-08 goal of "creating teaching and learning environments that are safe, disciplined and healthy."

Malone told the board that as part of efforts to ensure the safety of students, a team has been appointed to update the system-level Safe Schools plan.

In addition, he said, procedures for visitor-identification at schools have been modified.

Also, Malone said, two additional school resource officers were hired for the 2007-08 school year. As a result, he said, all four county high schools now have resource officers on site daily.

"The four officers are available to assist at the feeder elementary schools and the middle schools as needed," Malone said.

Emergency radios in place at county schools enable rapid communication with school officials and law-enforcement authorities should an emergency arise.

In terms of efforts to improve school discipline during the 2007-08 school year, Malone said, Chuckey Elementary School was "very involved" in implementing "positive behavior support" for students.

That school, Malone said, also received a $10,000 grant from the East Tennessee Foundation for development of additional positive student behavior support efforts.

In terms of improving school health, Malone's report said, physical-education teachers will be trained to implement more inclusive physical activities during the coming school year. A $3,000 grant has been received to purchase specific physical education equipment, the report said.

In addition, the school system's Coordinated School Health program is promoting "healthy choices" by students and parents.

Health screenings were completed during the 2007-08 school year in grades kindergarten, two, four, six and eight. Second-term wellness class students in the four high schools also underwent health screenings during the 2007-08 school year.

Plans are to develop a four-year schedule for replacing existing school security cameras with digital cameras at the entrances of all schools.

Plans are to seek the addition of a resource officer at the county school system's alternative school on Hal Henard Road.

Academic Accomplishments

Reports on academic accomplishments during the 2007-08 school year in grades Pre-K through three, four through eight, and nine through 12, were presented by the educational supervisors responsible for those grade levels.

Kathryn Crumm presented the report for grades Pre-K through three. She pointed out that third-grade students met all No Child Left Behind "adequate yearly progress" targets for the year, while the mean mathematics achievement recorded by second-graders system-wide was "above 80 percent" and kindergartners' mean math achievement was 88 percent.

Crumm also reported that during the 2007-08 school year, the number of pre-kindergarten classrooms grew to 16 across the system and the Pre-K curriculum was aligned with state standards.

In addition, she noted after-school reading tutoring using "My Reading Coach" software was implemented at all elementary and middle schools. All first graders also used the reading improvement software during the school day during the second half of the 2007-08 school year, Crumm said.

Academic goals for the 2008-09 school year in grades Pre-K through three include again meeting adequate yearly progress targets in third grade, increasing year-end math test scores in grades kindergarten through two by one point and increasing reading/language arts, science, social studies and math scores on state standardized tests.

Grades 4-8

Academic accomplishments in grades 4-8 during the 2007-08 school year were led by the students in all four grades meeting No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress targets, according to Debra Jo Boles, the system's supervisor of grades 4-8.

In terms of academic achievement, as shown on the county school system's 2007 report card, students achieved a grade of A in math and grades of B in reading/language arts, social studies and science, Boles told the assembled board members and administrators.

In terms of the value-added measure of improvement from year to year (as shown on the 2007 state report card) county school system students also made A's in reading/language arts, math, science and social studies.

Also last year, fifth-grade students system-wide achieved a grade of B on the state writing test, while eighth graders achieved a grade of A.

During the 2007-08 school year, Camp Creek and DeBusk Elementary Schools achieved re-accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

National History Day teams from Mosheim Elementary and Middle School and Chuckey-Doak Middle School represented Tennessee at the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland.

For the 2008-09 school year in grades 4-8, goals are to again meet adequate yearly progress targets, achieve standard gains for all student subgroups on state standardized tests.

Another county school board goal is to earn at least a B in report card achievement in science and social studies.

Strategies for meeting 2008-09 goals in grades 4-8 include aligning the system's middle school curriculum with the standards of the ACT college entrance examination and "encouraging teacher collaboration with emphasis on research-based teaching strategies and new state standards."

In addition, 2008-09 strategies include requiring students in grades 4-8 to complete at least three writing projects each nine weeks.

High School Achievements

Wayland Seaton, the supervisor of secondary education, delivered the high-school report concerning 2007-08 academic accomplishments and 2008-09 academic goals.

Seaton said Greene County high school students:

* exceeded the state average of 4.0 on the state writing exam; and

* scored increases in the numbers of students scoring at the advanced level on the state English II, algebra I and biology "Gateway Exams."

While the 2008 state report card scores of county school system students remain embargoed by state Department of Education, Director of Schools Parkins said preliminary information indicates that the system will receive "another good report card."

Last year's state report card had been the best ever received by the Greene County School System, he said.

Seaton said high school goals for the 2008-09 school year include:

* increasing high school students' ACT college entrance exam scores by half a point;

* increasing the number of students who score at the advanced level on the English II, algebra I and biology "Gateway" exams by one percent;

* continuing to exceed the state average of 4.0 on the state writing exam;

Strategies for achieving those goals, according to Seaton's presentation, include:

* continuing ACT college-entrance exam preparation classes;

* aligning the math, science and language arts curriculum with ACT college-entrance exam standards; and

* requiring students who are candidates to become honors graduates to take higher-level math, science and language-arts courses.

In addition, according to Seaton's report, other plans for 2008-09 include:

* beginning a 9th grade "catch-up" course training for teachers in math and English;

* holding a differentiated instruction workshop for teachers; and

* holding a workshop on new state curriculum standards for English, math and science for teachers.

In addition, he said plans are to continue the summer credit-recovery program for high school students who fail classes and continuing to develop mentoring programs.