001[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la n [Music] it's going be May okay well good evening and uh yeah wow it's good to see all of you out in the audience and I just want to thank you all for being here as well as our online community out there in cyberspace somewhere we welcome you as well uh today is Tuesday uh March the 25th 2024 and the time is 602 the meeting is called to order uh Mr Kaden Simmons is he here come on Mr Kaden has agreed to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance so we going to ask everybody to stand I pledge allegiance to the flag the United United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivis with liberty and justice for all please pause
002for a moment of silence thank you you may be seated thank you sir kayen we want to thank you for taking the time along with your parents to say the Pledge of Allegiance this evening so we want to just present you with a certificate of our appreciation so if you will I want you to stand out in the Middle with our superintendent let's give him another round of [Applause] applause Kaden is one of our f students at Jes so thanks again kayen very [Applause] good okay this time I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda for Tuesday uh March the 25th 2025 I move that motion to approve the agenda for tonight okay second okay the motion has been properly made by Miss Black Shear and second by Mr Rouse uh the motion is
003to approve the agenda for today uh March 25th 2025 all in favor raise your hand motion passes unanimously now you've all had an opportunity to read the minutes I trust for March 11 2025 uh are there any corrections if there no Corrections then the minutes stand approved as distributed um M black here thank you I will read I will say the ethics statement um in accordance with regulations set forth by the Georgia ethics commission it is the duty of every board member to avoid both conflict of interest interest and interest of such conflict does any board member have any known conflict of interest scheduled or appearing on our proposed agenda see it n Mr chair we will proceed with our agenda thank you Miss Black Shear this time do any of the board members have
004any comments they like to make I would like to make a comment good evening everyone I would like to personally thank Jes the twit count Middle High School Dr Bullard and the central office and greater New Hope Baptist Church for all the gifts they have given me during board member appreciation week thank you thank you thank you you're welcome I think that come from from all of us we was really surprised really happy uh board Appreciation Week um y'all showed out Twigs County Public School we appreciate that for showing the love thank you and to my church as well Danville First Baptist thank [Applause] you good afternoon I'd like to say thanks to uh everyone for the gifts and the uh acts of love that was shown during uh board appreciation week uh Miss Jenkin
005sitting there doing this we like to thank the Miller High School for these shirts that we're wearing tonight uh I also like to thank my church hickville Bap church for the gift that I received I realize people don't have to do you know this is job that I asked to serve for but I thank everyone for what they did thank you and I echoed the very same sentiments I'm thankful for everything that anybody did because kind is a choice that people make I'm thankful to the Jes to the middle and high school to everyone to the staff to Dr bullet everybody who made a part and it really made us feel good and welcome and also I'm thankful for my church Harvey build Worship Center for everything that you guys did and anybody who played
006a part in it thank you well I tried to get around and thank everybody personally uh but I didn't get to the board so I want to thank you all uh superintendent the uh Board office staff and all of you and I again I want to say thank you to the Jeffersonville Elementary School and the TW County Middle High School uh just for taking it just for saying I don't know I thank you and then uh and then I was pleasantly surprised at my church I go to church in Warner Robins but they they shocked me and so I've already express my appreciation to them but again so I think all of this passes unanimously we say thank you okay uh Dr bullet Mr chair Vice chair board members uh you all are welcome um
007greetings to everyone who is in attendance greetings to everyone thank you Mr basy who's in attendance on tonight uh face to face and to those who are joining us virtually I'm going to yield my superintendent comments to Dr Griffin Stewart and Miss Carla dinard we have some presentations that we'd like to present on tonight however before uh Miss Dr Griffin Stewart starts I want to remind our parents that the middle high school did send out a reminder for you to complete a survey uh that survey is very important for us to submit uh data from our parents and our community so please take a look at your phone go through those reminds that came from the Middle High School and complete that parent survey that was sent out and I also want to remind everyone
008in the community that next week is spring break so the district office and all of the schools will be closed cled after Friday until Monday April the 7th so next week we'll be totally closed the district office and all of the schools so at this time Dr Griffin Stewart will come forward to present some awards for Science Olympia good afternoon chair car staren Vice chair Rouse board members superintendent Dr mag buer all of our stakeholders listening virtually and in person it brings me great pleasure to to recognize our Science Olympiad winners and participants but before I can do that we are a district with a vision and a mission and our vision is generating Excellence one team one goal and our mission is to inspire Challenge and prepare all students to compete globally this short
009presentation is aligned to our strategic goals one and two learning and wellness for all Excellence ahead academics facilities and opportunities what is Science Olympiad what's the purpose of it Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of Science Education increasing student interest in science and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in Science Education by both students and teachers how it works students compete in teams of up to 15 members preparing for and participating in events that require both knowledge of science Concepts and practical application skills the organization aims again to improve the quality of Science Education for K12 students increase students interest in science and recognize outstanding achievement in Science Education by both students and teachers and then of course we live in a technological Society so we definitely want our boys
010and girls to be literate I want to thank um our sponsors in advance Miss capis Miss dinar and Miss we serve as sponsors for our Science Olympiad students so at this time we want to call Miss dinard forward she's going to provide some additional information as a sponsor let's give her a round of applause for being our one of our spons good afternoon good afternoon Middle Georgia Risa is in charge of our regional Science Olympiad competition it has been six years since Middle Georgia Risa has held a competition students from Jeffersonville Elementary had the opportunity to participate along with other schools within Middle Georgia in this year's competition which was held on March 1st 2025 at Perry High School the competition consist of 18 events where two members compete in each event the coordinator for
011the competition gave us permission to use just one team member in events if we did not have enough people so two of our events only had one person competing each team is made up of third through fifth grade with only five fifth graders allowed there were 13 teams of 20 students that competed from other schools however we only had 15 students that competed due to Ill illnesses the events were made up of stem activities as well as picture recognition in such events as backyard biologist starry starry night and no bones about it within the 13 teams there are only six places awarded our students had a month to prepare 7th through 13th Place are not awarded placement in the top six is a huge huge accomplishment especially since this was their first time I will
012now recognize the following Science Olympiad winners first place grab a Graham Skyla Robinson and L [Music] [Applause] Jackson for [Applause] the following winners were recognized as sixth place within the 13 teams gummy bear catapult Johnny Williams and jamaah Williams all right backyard biologists Connor Bowen and Gavin [Applause] gainy Starry Starry KN Rodney Davis and George Pitts [Applause] egg drop Rodney Davis and crin plunket [Music] [Applause] barge building Skyler Robinson and LC Jackson [Applause] all right let's give these students another round of applause and congratulations [Applause] gosh you know let's give our Science Olympiad students another round call and parents I want to thank you for making sure oh this wouldn't be possible without you parents our school leaders teachers it takes a village to raise a child so thank you so much for being a
013part of our village so we're moving on to the next category and that's our y Georgia authors competition our y Georgia authors we're going to recognize this evening a district winner as well as our mid Georgia Reesa second place winner so um board chair the mission and vision has already been established along with our strategic goals so we're going to move to what is the Y Georgia author's competition the purpose of the Y Georgia author's writing competition is to encourage students to develop enthusiasm for and expertise in their writing to provide a context to celebrate their writing successes and to recognize student achievement in arts and academics this prestigious competition has been engaging Georgia students for more than two decades and is open to any student currently enrolled in Georgia's public schools grades K through
01412 the competition is sponsored by the Georgia language arts supervisors and the Georgia reca network with support from the Georgia Department of Education we start first at the school level so it's a school competition first and then we rate those um writings essays poems and then we come up with our first second and third place winners but who we have this evening is our district first place winners so without further Ado we're going to start with kindergarten through 12th grade so when you hear your name called please come forward students this evening Mr R if you would give me one of those medallions writing is just not an academic skill it's a life skill so this evening we are so proud of our Scholars for writing that they will get a writing Medallion so it's
015something that you can keep with you for the rest of your life and we want you to definitely keep writing so with that we'll start with kindergarten barari moris the title of his work water slide good Joby and he's our kindergarten student first grade Anila foran Mike's birthday our second grade student Cadence Jenkins The Best Day [Applause] Ever third grade KH Lucas the day I lost my best friend our fourth grade Ralph Coker theii and unsafe Planet congratulations [Applause] Ralph and our fifth place student dazn Johnson a snow day let's give our Jes students another round of applause Dr Buller did you want to come down and take a picture with our um Jes students Mr Davis any teachers who help with the writing our students look so awesome don't they oh man let's give
016our students another round of applause they look awesome all right great job Jes and we're going to call our Twix middle and high school students together so if you're a middle schooler or a high schooler come up when you hear your name called sixth grade Nia Morton see creatures of the shallow deep shallow and deep Nia Morton Sarah Wright different [Applause] Jordan Bernie tired Jordan Bernie come on down Jordan we're moving on to the twis County High School ninth grade Leah thle the time [Applause] travel 10th grade Gracie El Sasser a small town 11th grade alijah height third period alayia [Applause] height and last but not least our senior our Battalion commander of our Geral TC program that just got exceed um on our just recent um review and so Jada Finn come on down
017to the groom so Miss Jenkins all School leaders Dr Buller if you all would come forward take a picture let's give them another round of applause so we are so proud of our J twitz county middle twitz County High School District winners for writing because remember but writing is a life skill so students continue to write after we have our district winners we send everything off from our district to Middle Georgia Risa and in Middle Georgia Resa that's where all the entries are enter into a competition with other districts so we're in a network with the bib County Schools Jones County Schools hon County Schools so it's a lot of different schools in the network and so we are rated on 1 2 and third when we move forward with several other students so I'm
018so happy and excited to announce that we had our seventh grade student Sarah Wright to win second place for seventh [Applause] [Music] grade so Sarah I've been with you for a while I want you to keep writing Sarah has been writing for a long time this young lady is destined to be an author one day and so Sarah we hope that you enjoy the goodies in that basket please Miss Jenkins Administration please come forward Dr Buller come on [Applause] down Miss Johnson teachers let's give them another round of applause congratulations so again to our parents our teachers this day wouldn't be possible Without You board members as always thank you for your support that concludes our student recognitions thank you thank you Dr Griffin Stewart students you are are a amazing uh we are very
019proud of you continue to to shine and generate Excellence you are definitely doing that and demonstrating to the world how great you are so continue to shine and shine in your gifts don't allow your gifts to go unnoticed we're going to go ahead and move now into our business agenda U Mr chair all right uh thank you all and thank you Dr bullet um again thank um uh thank all you young people for your participation in all these activities uh it's good for you it's good for you y'all have a have a great rest of your day you earned it it's always good to see that give him time to disperse for all right at this time we will move into our business agenda again we want to thank each one of you for attending
020tonight and uh we're here from Dr bullet with the district request Mr chair Vice chair board members we do have a few District requests that we' like your approval on tonight these District requests do support our our vision and Mission to generate Excellence one team one goal and to inspire Challenge and prepare all of our students to compete globally we have field trips that we'd like your permission you've already given permission for the 4H competition in Perry Georgia which was held on the 22nd this past Saturday on March thank you for allowing Mr pedway our 4 advisor and Miss capist for taking those 18 students to compete in the 4 competition we ask your permission for the Jes program for exceptional children small group to participate and travel to Cherry Blossom and this is for
021the purpose of communicating information about basic plants and animals and understanding the safe and appropriate use of materials also the Jes celebration for all of those students who had perfect attendance PBIS Award winners as well as honor roll will be celebrated by Jes through the communities and schools as well by going to Urban Air Adventure Park in mon Georgia and that'll be on the 28th as well from 9:15 to 1:30 p.m. and the third grade at Jes ask your permission to travel to the Mak Museum of Arts and Science and that is to explore Georgia's animals fossils rocks and minerals and that'll be on the 9th of may we also have a fundraiser that we'd like your approval on as well and that's for the Twigs County Middle School Middle High School track team and
022they're going to have the ultimate kickball competition in the middle high school gymnasium and the funds raised from that activity will be used to PCH purchase track uniforms this concludes our district request for this board meeting all right thank you Dr bullet uh can I get a motion to to approve the uh superintendent's District request and fundraiser activities I move to approve the um distri request and fundraising a second okay motion to approve the district request and fundraiser activities has been properly made by Miss uh King and second by Mr uh but uh is there any discussion okay so the question is on the adoption of the motion to approve the uh uh field trips and dis and fundraisers all in favor raise your hand okay the motion passes unanimously Mr Austin good evening board
023chair Vice chair board members superintendent Dr Bullock constituents in person and virtually I present information as it relates to our monthly financial report ending February 28th 2025 those support our vision of generate excellence one team one goal and our mission to inspire Challenge and prepare all students to compete globally in our first column General funds Revenue we have collected 75% as it relates to our budget amount expenditure 68% and we are 67% into the fiscal year 76640 more in Revenue than expenditures for general fund as of February 28 202 Debt Service fund we have fulfilled all our debt service obligations as it relates to any bun debt special Revenue funds particularly all title funds idea 34% of the total budget has been reimbursed capital projects we've exhausted our bond funds so this is more particular
024and referring to SPO related projects 34% and school nutrition 88% of the revenue has been collected 78% has been expended 84763 more Revenue than expenditures at this time all net changes are are positive for its month end for February 28 2025 are there any question comings or concerns any questions thank you Mr Aon uh Dr Griffin Stewart and Mr Ingram is he you you gonna go solo okay good afternoon again Cher car Starin Vice chair Ral board members superintendent Dr mck Bullard all of our stakeholders in person and virtually it brings me great pleasure to share our NWA map assessment updates but before I can share that information we are a district with a vision and a mission our vision is generating Excellence one team one goal and our mission is to inspire Challenge and
025prepare all students to compete globally this presentation is aligned to strategic goals one and two learning and wellness for all Excellence ahead academics facilities and opportunities the NWA map growth assessment started this year for our high school students nwaa represents Northwest evaluation Association and map represents measures of academic progress this assessment is a computer adaptive test designed to measure students academic growth and informed instruction by adjusting to each students individual needs the purpose is a formative assessment program that helps teachers families and administrators identify students strengths areas for growth and what material students are ready to learn additional information about the math growth again it's adaptive in nature the frequency is that students our high school students normally take the maap growth test two times per year the content it covers reading and math but
026is also course specific test in algebra geometry and biology reporting map test scores are reported using the RIT scale which measures the students academic achievement and potential growth as a district we use these results this year for grade levels subject area school and school district for a variety of purposes again it's about informing instruction monitoring student progress and areas for intervention this year our high school students experien map for the first time in November that was our first assessment W and the second assessment W just ended not too long ago it was this month what subject areas and grade levels were assessed we had English 9th and 10th American literature Algebra 1 and geometry so our map results what did they reveal what you have in front of you board members is a scale and
027the red represents our students from 1 to 25th percentile the orange represents the next level from 26 to like the 40th percentile the yellow represents from about the 60th percentile to the 70th percentile and then the orange no the the green and the blue represent students who are proficient so when you look at that I want you to think about the Georgia Milestones the red will represent beginning learner the orange would represent developing learner and so with some of the yellow the yellow could be developing learner moving to proficient learner but the green and the blue represents proficient or distinguished so if you look you will see in the fall we were at 44th percentile and if you see we had 26% of our students out of 50 tested in the red we had 18%
028in the yellow 32% in excuse me the orange 32% in the yellow 20% in the green and 4% in the blue so we want students to be in the green and the blue we took it in the spring and as you can see we moved up some percentiles to 46 percentile that red did decrease and so our students moved to 32% and the orange 26% in the yellow 26% in the green and 4% in the blue English 10 we had our students at 39 percentile in the beginning so you see the scale score and if you do the comparison you will see that during the winter we increase 40 to the 48th percentile so we see that um we had more students in the green category um as well as the blue and so we've
029seen students increase um and we' seen a couple of decreases but it's still increased overall in our percentile that was English 10 American literature we see that we were at the 48th percentile so 133% of our students were in the red out of 30 20% um of those students were in the orange the gold was 30 30% in the green and 7% in the blue you see we moved up to the 51st percentile and we see that more students moved to the blue category from the green and we did have some more students to move into the yellow so that was our Ela so when we look at Mat results for algebra one um as you see we were in the 25th percentile in the beginning so we had 41% of our students in the
030red 23% in the orange 16% in the yellow green 18% 2% in the blue during our spring or semester or the spring window we had 21% so we did see a decrease uh we had um more students to decrease 49% 23% in the orange 18% in the yellow 10% in the green so that was our algebra one students our geometry students we also seen a decrease in our geometry students we tested 41 and as you see we were at um 39% in the beginning in red 17 in Orange 19% in yellow 15% in green 10% in blue so as you see we decreased um we had 51% during the second Administration 12% in Orange 27% in yellow 5% in green and 5% in blue so what we're going to do now is take a deeper
031dive into the data a little more so our assistant principal from the Middle High School Mr Ingram will come and do a deeper dive on this data Miss Eng thank you good evening board chair Christ offin Vice chair Mr Rouse board members superintendent Dr Bullard constituents a virtual to constituents as well we've already established the vision and mission statements let's go into a deeper dive of the map results so we looked at each student's progress and if you'll look at our ninth grade literature what percentage of our students made progress 63% of our students made progress from the fall administration of the test to the the current Administration that we had which number 34 students in 10th Grade we had 70% of our students to make progress um with 30 the number being 33 and
032in American literature 11th graders 69% of our students May um progress with that number being 29 okay what are our next steps for our Ela students we want to provide small group instruction based on their needs based on these map scores and continue to align instruction according to their weighted Ela standards based on their um Georgia Department educational instructional blueprints so we still want to look at those standards work with those standards they're not um proficient or strong with and we're still pushing those standards for the rest of the school year we provide two week common assessments those are um the same test um provided by a professional not one of the teachers an outside test no more than five to 10 questions and we'll see if those um students are ready to be proficient
033and move to the next level and those who are not proficient we continue to support those students in ela um we want to support our ELA teachers in the root words the prefix and suffixes um initiative that's been going on all year and and the premise of that is to increase the vocabulary skills the students we want to get them expose as much words as possible but if they're not a if they haven't seen those words before they can look at either the the root word either the prefix or suffix if they know that they can pretty much figure out the definition of that word and be able to use it in a sentence proficiently we want to do sp reviews until the administration of the American literature test so we're going to keep reviewing
034the standards once we finish those particular standards we want to keep it fresh in the students mind so they'll be proficient on the test when it comes to the Georgia Milestones okay looking at our math MAP results um we had 54% of our students make gains between the fall and the winter administration of the map test which B to be turns out to be 27 students we have 58% of our geometry students to make gains which turns to be 25 students what are our math initiatives our next steps as a team we our math team we reviewed all the algebra scores and those algebra domains we crosswalked them with the map assessment domains so we looked at all of the domains in the map we looked at each student to see what area they were
035proficient what areas they need help and we broke them up in we're going to break them up into small groups to make sure they get Prof they are proficient before the milestones we layered our support for algebra students who decreased the map scores these students were placed in small groups that focus on the heavily weighted standards based on the blueprints of the mile of the jorgia department education so these are the ones that that highest percentage those domains are the highest percentage we layered our small groups based on those domains so we can heavy hit those big domains that are needed what does that look like we have additional Mass support provided for students during our sixth period class until the end of the end of course test for example Mr Fitzpatrick and Miss Denon
036she'll be working with small groups of students with the greatest needs those are the ones you saw that in red okay um Miss Lena Miss persus and Miss Clark will be working with those who are in the orange and yellow so think of the reds are the ones that are level one um area the level um orange and yellow they are the level two are developing level one I'm are beginning level two orange and yellow are developing and then Mr Karin has come in and work with our students who are proficient and hire these are our level three proficient students that we project and our level four distinguished students that we project on the Georgia Milestone he's been working with them he will continue to provide even support and acceleration for those level three and
037level four students we'll continue also in math we do our common twoe common week assessments 5 to 10 math problems provided by a math consultant it's not by the teachers but they're the same questions for each class the all the algebra students receive those same questions then the geometry students receive them on their domain as well okay and we'll also do Spiral Review and algebra we'll continue to review those areas um as needed for the school year are there any questions yes ma'am how long has going we started off with lot yes we did start off with our smaller groups at the beginning of the year because we had the eighth grade milestones for our algebra one students and we had the algebra one in the course test for our geometry students however there are
038still areas of need so we continue um with small groups as well and we brought in M Mr Fitzpatrick Mr cafen to help us out we we've been working with the ones since school is started but we've provided additional adults to bring in so we can have even smaller groups how do you uh in the Deep dive how do you how do you how do you uh explain or or what what have you seen to cause a decrease or from 39% in the red to well I say a decrease a decrease from 39% in the red and the 51% going from the 28th percentile to the 20th percentile right so if you'll look at the map test results for the fall with the algebra one students there was a decrease from 41% to 49% students
039in the red now mind you there are 51% students who are testing so if you look that's a 8% gain 8% loss that's four students we're going to Target those four students and get them to where they need to be okay so that is 8% but you're looking at four children likewise with your geometry it went from 39% to 51% in the red that's 12% you're looking at about six students who we got to specifically Target to get them to the level to the level two at at least level two to make games would um you know when I say you looking just would would the just recently talked about the absentee rate would that have based on the few students you're mentioning would that have anything to do with the decrease absentees have made
040a um impact on the scores on some of the scores I'd have to look at them at each student specifically to tell you what the reasoning was but ABS absences attendance does make an impact any other questions yes I have a question uh my question is uh I first of all I want to say thank you for everything that y'all done all the growth all the things that are good but the math is really is concerning and so I guess my question would be as a board member as a part of the community what else can we do is there anything else we're thinking about I know uh we're talking about the small groups and different thing that we're going to do for the next school term what else do y'all think we can do
041if this is an issue that we see as a problem with the mathmatics so for the for the next school year we've got to continue to work with our Math teachers on pedagogy and just knowing how to teach those math standards and you know just being realistic with really our retention and who we recruit for our Math teachers they've got to have a more of a background in math because a lot of times now we you know we it's slim with traditional teachers now and so a lot of times when we get teachers in we're teaching them how to be teachers the same time they're working with students I can say that we are encouraged by our recent hire because this young lady who would will be joining us she went through her education program
042she done student teaching and math is her background so all of that makes a big difference and so it's it's got to be the teacher and continuing to build the teachers that we have I have a question um so when you doing these um um different extracurricular activities so when it comes to the end of the test you're going to be testing them before the end of the test to see if they have improved um or were you going to just wait till the end of the test in end of the year test yes ma' we have those two we common assessments we'll be able to see those again at least twice okay before the Georgia Milestones so um we'll be able to do that at least twice May 6 7th is American lit May
0438th starts the algebra 1 got May 13th and 14th May 13 12 I had May on my May 13th US History biology May 14th gotta so I know board members that our results can look Bleak because they do look Bleak right now um but it's still a prediction because the Georgia Milestone seals the deal um in my experience as an administrator sometimes it can look that way and then you get better results and sometimes it could be all green and it could go the other way so I just want to remind you that these are just predictions along the way because we seal the deal once we take the Georgia Milestones that's really where we nailish sh but these are great predictors but it still could be higher I want to just say um with
044the monitor how often are y'all still in the school um Dr bullet um and yourself are y'all in the school on the grind I mean seeing really what's going on we are definitely there especially when we're doing our walkthroughs because our walkthroughs are where it matters the most when we're doing those instructional walks because we're getting a picture of what's going on in classrooms and so Dr Bullard is there as well and as well as the rest of senior cabinet okay so uh go ahead go I've I've been working with a few of the kids and I I made some observations and a lot of what I'm seeing as nothing to do with what they're getting this year it has a lot to do with what happened in the past or didn't happen in the
045past I'm seeing a lot of holes in the learning um and another thing I'm noticing why I understand they going to take the test on the computer I suggest take away the calculators take away the computers pull out paper and pencil make them use their minds and I'm just I'm just talking about from experience and I know I remember I used to take away calculators and then give instruction on when and when not to use a calculator and um I'm working with these young people these few young people that I'm working with I gave them something I said don't use a calculator but what I was shocked to realize is that they don't even have a calculator it's all on the computer now fortunately there's no computers in the classroom that I'm using so they
046have to use the bra and here what I'm finding out is these kids are not dumb they just have not had they just lacking a lot of basic knowledge in order to do algebra or geometry and uh uh you're right you need teachers that understand math but more than that understand how to diagnose the holes in their learning and feel those holes as you teach the unit uh but I see a lot of holes something as simple as multiplication you can't do simplifying radicals unless you know your multiplication table you can't factor a polom unless you know your multiplication table so what I'm saying is there's a lot of anyway what all I'm saying [Music] is from the elementary all the way up through take away those calculators and make them use their brain and
047I'm not against technology but when it when they get addicted to the technology I have walked around observing students and I see a mistake on their paper and I'll ask the question what is 2 * 6 they reach for the calculator and they know it 2 * 6 is let me stop but but yeah there's a there's a lot that needs to be addressed and it's not just right there in your high school first grade need to be learning multiplication tables I certainly hope I haven't walked in a first grade math class but I certainly hope they don't have a calculator in their hand second grade third grade fourth grade fifth grade sixth grade seventh grade eighth grade I'm too old to come out of retirement I'm enjoying my retirement but these things need to
048be addressed not at the high school level not just at the high school level sure you need to work on that but it needs to go all the way back and use they need to be familiar with the technology but they don't need to use it all of the time it's dumbing them down I that's all I got to say mrar I thank you because I am an old school person and so I do believe that the more we use paper and pencil the more it will stick and we can remove the crutches but we know that students use technology all the time so it's a matter of taking everything you said and with leaders are listening as well as teachers teachers because a lot of teachers listen as well as our parents and our
049students so I hope that you know what you just shared it resonates not just with us in this room but with every parent listening every student listening as well as every teacher listening you know how do we balance the technology piece because we want our students to get out in society and be able to compete and be productive citizens can you us uh Dr Bullock could you sum it up for us please and let us give us some more information when you observe of what's going on in our school I have something to say to you want to go ahead Mr Butler yes sir I want to make a comment to Dr Griffin I want to say uh I know you said it seemed uh Bleak or gleam for us right now but uh I
050think we are encouraged but we just have to have those painful conversation if div vision is to create uh one goal one team and generate excellent we have to be willing from staff to everybody everybody on the staff we have to be willing to have these convers because we want more for our students I think that's the sentiment of our board is that this is an issue this is not a poting finger but more so of identifying the issues that we're saying listen we got to give this to our constituents and the students of this County they deserve this and so we want to make sure that we all are on the same board this is the only time we have to have this conversation with you guys openly to say listen that we do
051want to see better and we want to support you guys but this is important it's important thing because we're saying we're going to try to get the best education we can and I believe that we are but I I think we all have to be willing to have the tough and the painful parts of the conversation in order for us to grow as a community and to deal with this issue that is at hand which is right now dealing with our masal how do we become better and so I do appreciate the work that everybody's doing but in order for us to do that we have to have these type conversation and listen to one another and I couldn't agree with you more absolutely board members I am also in agreement that it is these
052kinds of conversations that have to be had that's the purpose of having these assessments prior to Milestones it lets us know where our students are and it helps them to know as well where they are students also have to have ownership parents have to take ownership teachers have to take ownership leaders have to take ownership our community has to take ownership as well this is not something that happens just from first period if they have a first period algebra class uh this goes into the home it goes into the churches this is not just something that starts at the schoolhouse door so we all have to work together to make sure that what we see this is showing us an area that we have to bind together to address for our kids there is no
053one group that is responsible for those math scores we all are responsible for them and we have to ensure as a school district that we make sure that our teachers have the standards that they need the materials that they need that they have the training that they need but we also need to make sure that students come to school every day we had 30% of our students who Miss 10% or more of their school days we can't teach them if they're not there so we have to ensure that they're there and we have to ensure that we're we are demonstrating Excellence too as I said we take accountability for our role but we want to know want parents and the community to know that we also depend on them as well to make sure the
054students are there and that when we send things home for students to do that they're engaged in making making sure that they're doing it I heard a lot of great things that were said Dr Griffin student said the Milestones is where the buck stops I agree these assessments give us a prediction of where our kids are going to be and because we have such small groups of students that four students makes that 8% look wider than it is however we have to make sure that what those four students are this is not just about a number it's about a child and a name and a and a family so we need to make sure that every individual student those four students who made that 8% those six students who made that 12% get exactly what
055they need that's the purpose of the small groups and those small groups will continue even Beyond um you know our Milestone assessment because as Mr Karen said we have a lot of gaps that need to be closed that happened prior to kids getting in the ninth grade for algebra so we have gaps that still need to be closed we appreciate this board support again it it'll take the entire Village to make a difference with these math scores you see we're doing well in language arts we're doing well um in that area but we have a we have an area that we can bind together and we can unify and that's in the area of math every family every Community member every organization in our community can help bind together to make sure our students have
056what they need in the area of math we appreciate your your support any other questions comments listen yall I ain't got nothing against y'all thank you for thank you sir all you do thank you um you still up I am okay one more presentation ahead okay I'm waiting on you so the Georgia milestones and of course test updates the vision and Mission have been established our strategic goals are the same from the previous presentation so our Georgia Milestones is designed to provide students with information about their achievement and their Readiness for the next level of learning be it the next grade the next course a postsecondary endeav parents schools and districts the public and policy makers use results of course to monitor progress and support the Improvement of the Georgia education system our Georgia Milestones
057testing dates for our third through 8th grade are as follows we will start testing on April the 12th I mean excuse me April ail the 22nd 6 through 8th we'll start with our middle schoolers it will be section one when we move to April the 23rd we will have our 3rd through 8th and we will start with section one with our elementary and then we will move to our last two sections with 6 through 8th as you see April the 24th we will focus on Ela and social studies April 25th will be a makeup day April 29th we will start with our math April 30th in the science sections May 1st will be a makeup day so our Georgia Milestones on four levels level one is beginning learner we earn zero points if students are
058rated at a level one level two developing learner that's where our students will earn half a point level three is proficient learner one point earned and distinguished learner is one and a half points earned this year students in grades 3 fth and eth are required to make the following designation in order to be promoted to the next grade for the 25 26 school year so third grade in ela they have to score develop and learn or higher fifth grade and eighth grade they have to score develop and learn or higher in both Ela and math this year we are going to return to do retest dates so third fifth and eth will take reading on May 20th 5ifth and eth will take math on May 21st and 3rd 5th and 8th will um have a
059makeup day so students in 3rd 5th and 8th will be required to attend this summer opportunity program if they do not earn a developing a higher designation during the retake administration of the Georgia Milestones what's the benefits of retesting teachers and students will have another opportunity to review the Georgia Milestones data and have a second opportunity to practice those high- weighted standards with students in those math and Ela classrooms it's just a second opportunity for students in third fifth and E to demonstrate Mastery because some students don't always score um they might need a second time and teachers can provide additional support and practice again with a math and Ela standards the summer opportunity program dates are as follows June the 2nd through the 5th June 9 through 12 June 16th through 18th more information
060regarding the summer opportunity program is forthcoming and again those students in grades 3 through 8th will receive additional interventions during the summer opportunity program but our third fifth and eth will definitely be our Target grades um at the end of the summer if those students have to go to summer school we will have a placement meeting in July for about retention administrative placement or promotion options for the upcoming year moving on to our end of course testing grades high school students enrolled in courses designed by the state board of education and of course um assessments are in the following areas again biology Algebra 1 American literature and US history so after we're done with our middle schoolers and our elementary students we will start with our American literature on May 6th and 7th Algebra 1
061on May 8th US history on May 13th biology May 14th and then we'll have a makeup Day on May the 15th same for our high schoolers um students are required to make the following designation on the end of course subject areas biology development or higher US History development or higher Algebra 1 development or higher and American literature and so for students to be promoted to the next grade for the 2025 26 school year or to graduate they have to make a development a hire on one of these end of course assessments will count for 20% of the students final grade and will serve as the final exam and of course students with a passing score in the course for example if they have a 0 in the course but did not meet the assessment requirement
062will receive a in progress mark on their report card and will be required to attend the summer opportunity program parents again will be invited to attend the placement meeting in July for retention administrative placement promotion as well as graduation options so again there is the key again we want all of our students to be a proficient learner however I do want to stress that if students are at developing learner and that's half a point that does not necessarily mean that they are proficient but they have enough of the standards to move on to the next grade level so they have to be at develop and learner or higher our summer school dates again are June 2nd through the 4th June 9th through the 12th June 8 16 through the 18th and we will retest our
063end of course students this summer The W is from June 10th through the 17th biology and US History will be June 17th American literature will be June 10th and sections two and three will be June the 11th algebra one will be June 12th what's the benefits of students retaking the end of course test again to provide a second opportunity for students to practice and demonstrate the Mastery of Standards ensure the final grade in the course correlates to the end of course conversion score of level to a higher so again if those um students are earning a 90 their convergence score should be at least proficient but developing or higher is the standard um ensure students are ready for postsecondary options or can just matriculate successfully to the next grade level so how have we been
064communicating this information sent letter home with students in grades 3 through 8 as well as our high school and of course test students regarding the end of grade end of course and information about the summer opportunity program is included additional information will go home today Miss Jenkins did have a parent meeting today so those letters were given out again at her meeting today at 5: um Jes as well as the twiz county middle high school these are things ongoing teachers and administrators will continue coaching and working with students in term of staying focused on the Georgia Milestones multiple meeting with grade levels and end of course test students have occurred throughout the school year is really to encourage those students to show up for the test and do their very best um ongoing School leaders
065communicating expectations on the weekly news broadcast that they do on their social media outlets and remind District support uh we will be visiting classrooms of those end of course test students and some of our Georgia Milestone students just to encourage students to do their best because if students do their best that's all we can ask them to do District support communicate through a district level remind and social media Outlet so you will start seeing yours truly on a short video clip just encouraging those parents to um really help push the students to do their best because testing can be a little anxiety for students but we want them to be relaxed and as calm as they can be and go in and just apply what they've learned during the year um parents can communicate with
066school leaders regarding the end of course as well as gmass expectations parents can also call teaching and learning Department with questions as um the contact information was included on the flyer so they know they can call if they have a question I'll be happy to meet with them as well and then District support again I will be sending out a message from my office about the retake expectations and it will be posted on our website are there any questions questions thank you Dr G thank you boy member appreciate you uh let's see at this time uh we're going to uh move into executive session um I want to thank each one of you for being here tonight uh of course you're welcome to stay uh we'll be back but uh can I get a motion
067for us to move into an executive session is a time where we um talk about Personnel uh decisions and litigation possible litigation uh purchases and computer cyber security uh which you can't make public so with that can I get into a motion to move to an executive session second all right the motion has been properly made by Miss Black she and second by Mr Rouse that we move into executive session all in favor raise your hand okay the motion passes unanimously thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he n [Music] I [Music] all [Music] e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] n [Music] a [Music] [Applause] la [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] la [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] oh [Music]
068h [Music] n [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] la [Music] all [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Applause] [Music] la [Music] a [Music] a [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah okay can I get a motion for us to adjourn from executive session so moved second okay the motion has been properly made by Miss King and second by Mr Rouse uh the question is on the motion to uh return from executive session any any questions all in favor raise your hand okay a motion passes unanimously um next okay can I get a motion to to uh approve the superintendent recommendation for new hires as well as resignations the new hire 51 53 Eid CI C and Eid uh 3477 hang on a second get my help uh
0693437 and 3442 and 3446 can I get a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation on both the new hires and the resignations I make that motion I move that motion okay the motion has been properly made uh by Mr Rous and second by Miss Black Shear that we to uh approve the superintendent's recommendation for the new hires and the uh resignations um any questions okay then all in favor raise your hands and the motion passes unanimously are there any other motions that need to be made at this time I make a motion to approve the Department of Justice school safety equipment identified in the grant proposal and the Arctic Wolf pending completion of the required competitive and non-competitive proposal process proc outlined in the federal programs handbook okay can I get a second a second
070it okay the motion has been made by Miss uh King and second by Mr uh Butler uh to approve the um the Department of Justice school safety equipment uh identified in the grant program as plus and the Arctic Wolf uh pending complete completion required competitive and non-competitive promot proposal process outline in the federal program handbook um is there any discussion or question at this time if none all in favor raise your hand okay the motion passes unanimously um Dr do you have any other uh business Mr chair that concludes all of our business on tonight all right thank you uh can I get a motion for us to adjourn so moved okay the motion to adjourn has been properly made by Miss was that Miss Black here miss King and second by Mr Butler uh
071any questions all in favor raise your hand okay this meeting is adjourned for