This past Saturday the Board of Education met in a retreat/planning session from 9:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at the Columbus Public Library. The purpose of a planning session such as this is to allow the board to discuss trends, opportunities, issues, and ideas without the time restraints of a formal meeting. The session is open to the public and no action is taken. This format allows for good discussion and allows for the board to give the administration some direction for moving forward. This was the second retreat since I have become Superintendent and the board is committed to having these sessions twice a year.
During this session the board heard several proposals. Dr. Cleo Griswould, Principal at Kendrick High School, led a presentation developed by a committee of principals on their ideas in trying to control cell phone usage by students. The committee did a great job of developing procedures for each school to use. The board asked that the committee consider alternatives to out-of-school suspension and asked that the first offense punishment be more severe (take the student's phone for more than a day!). The committee will meet again and refine the recommendations, bring them back to the board at a regular meeting. The procedures will then be communicated to students and parents. All middle and high schools will use a consistent process to deal with this issue. I will also post the final recommendation on this blog site and ask that parents in the Muscogee County School District provide their input.
The Board also heard our recommendations on some new personnel policy changes. We will be bringing those to the Board in July. Currently the board has a policy which doesn't allow spouses to work in the same school. We have recommended and the board has agreed by consensus that we shouldn't prohibit spouses from working in the same building. We must prohibit, of course, individuals from supervising close family members so we will bring back a policy with these changes.
You will be hearing more about a lab school at CSU. Dr. David Rock brought to the board an idea that he and I have been talking about for more than a year. We will begin working on the legal aspects and the institutional aspects of this idea to see if we can bring it to fruition. The school would be built on CSU campus but would be a Muscogee County School District School. The staff would consist of a partnership between the school district and the university. There are many, many, many legal and bureacratic issues to be worked out before embarking on fulfilling this dream, but we are going to see what we can do. Keep your eyes and ears open to hear more about it.
The Board also was able to see a slide show of the great events that occurred in Muscogee County Schools during the past school year. It was inspiring! The public school experience cannot be measured in a single test score and it was evident by the video that we are helping children become good citizens, patriots, servant-leaders, as well as good academic students. thank you to the Division of Academics for sharing this with us!
The retreat was a success! We will now move on to implementing some of the ideas, refining some policies, and getting ready for the new school year. I can't wait for the students to return. We'll be ready!!!!!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Would it be possible to put the slide show on the blog so that others in the community could see it as well?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all you have done thus far to help improve the schools in Muscogee County.
I will see if we can get the slide show on the blog! It is a good representation of the great things going on!
ReplyDeleteCan you tell us more about the "lab school at CSU"?
ReplyDeleteDr. Andrews,
ReplyDeleteIs the "lab classroom" on the CSU campus going to be something like the advanced academic program offered at West Georgia for rising Juniors and Seniors? Just in case another reader may want to check this program out, I will further describe this program: it allows academically advanced students to take high school and college level courses simultaneously. The student graduates from high school in two years, as planned, plus may enroll in any college or university as a sophomore or junior because of the credits received through West Georgia, depending on the chosen plan of study. This progressive program could really challenge some of our high school students. There have been many articles that I have read recently that frown at the difficultly of many high school programs which require more subjects be learned in more depth and in less time than many colleges. Add to that the social aspects of high schoolers' sports or extra curricular activities that they must partake in to be considered for college, and the experience seems vastly different from when I graduated. Maybe a program like this could offer a competitive edge for those students who may not excel at severe multi-tasking (great grades, sports, etc.) or who may not otherwise have a chance at getting in to one of the Magnet High Schools because of poor grades or recommendations in Middle School. West Georgia's program seems to be attracting some pretty amazing kids from all over the state...I know we have some pretty incredible kids at each of our high schools right here!