Facilities plan and grant funds top first Savannah-Chatham school board meeting of 2024

Chief among the matters addressed at Savannah-Chatham County Public School System’s (SCCPSS) first meeting of 2024 was passage of the Long-Range Facilities Plan Phase 1. A more in-depth review of the board’s decision and comments on the plan that led to a unanimous approval will be forthcoming from the Savannah Morning News.

While the facilities plan has been top of mind for many in the Savannah-Chatham community regarding schools, other important topics were brought before the board on Jan. 10, not the least of which were announcements of student achievements. One exceptionally notable achievement is that of Jimmy Slack, a student from the Woodville-Tompkins High School (151 Coach Joe Turner St., Garden City). He helped the school attain the top prize in the Georgia Stock Market Game for the third consecutive year.

Superintendent Denise Watts, Ed.D., stated, "He began the season with $100,000 and in just 10 short weeks, he turned that into $202,455.19 in equity."

This was Slack's second overall state competition win in back-to-back seasons.

Graduation rate and content mastery ‘not the same’

Another major topic addressed during Wednesday’s board meetings was the SCCPSS Academic Affairs SY 2023 Cohort Graduation Rate report.

Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Bernadette Ball-Oliver made a point to state that “content mastery and graduation rate are two different components on the CCRPI [College and Career Ready Performance Index]. We want to recognize that they are closely intertwined, but they are not the same.”

The district determines the graduation rate through the following formula as noted on page two of its report:

Number of students in the cohort who received a regular education diploma

Divided by (÷)

Total Number of students who entered 9th grade in the cohort year

Minus (-)

Total number of students who entered 9th grade in the cohort year who transferred or are deceased

Ball-Oliver and the Academic Affairs team went on to state that Georgia graduation requirements “identified a number of credits a student must obtain to receive a high school diploma.” The state-required graduation credit units total is 23. SCCPSS’s own graduation requirements necessitate that students achieve 24 credit units. Credit units are awarded within areas of study such as English, Mathematics and Science. They can also include Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE), Social Studies and Elective credits, among others.

As stated in the SCCPSS report, “Content Mastery is measured by performance on the four end of course assessments (Algebra, Biology, American Literature and US History.” The end-of-course assessments through Georgia Milestones Assessment System (GMAS) account for 20% of a student’s final course grade. They are also used as the academic measure on the CCRPI.

As the presentation progressed, Ball-Oliver noted that one of the five elements that make up the CCRPI Readiness Component is student attendance. For the 2023 graduation cohort, the district’s attendance rate was 56.86%. The state rate was 71.26%. Both fell significantly since 2019. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the state attendance rate was 82.53% and the district’s was 91.18%.

Ball-Oliver accounted for the drop by saying, “Upon returning to school, it has been a challenge for some to understand that the modality is face-to-face instruction.”

STEM Academy Teacher Raegan Dillon interjected during discussion of the attendance rate. Dillon is the head of the teacher senate and SCCPSS’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. She said that everyday she receives an email from a student that they do not have a ride to school. “That is an issue with our choice schools [that] I've witnessed every day affecting attendance.” She referred to her experience at STEM Academy stating, “There's three students [who] missed at least 23 or 24 days, because nobody can drive them to school.”

At a press conference on Thursday, Ball-Oliver followed with insights on what schools are doing to track weekly attendance this school year. When asked about what factors they might have identified as affecting attendance, she said, “I don’t want to speak out of turn, but the official report will come out later this month from our Data and Accountability department that gives us a zoom up and looking at how are we trending after the first semester.”

Governor Kemp’s Supplemental Pay Incentive and Federal PREVENT Grant

Wednesday’s board meeting also addressed the Georgia Supplemental Pay Incentive issued by Governor Kemp prior to winter break. Kemp’s press release from Dec. 18 announced a “state employee retention pay supplement of $1,000 for each of the roughly 112,000 state employees and 196,000 educators and school support staff across the state.”

The district decided to “gross-up” for the tax implication to $1,350 for full-time employees and $675 for part-time employees. The district’s budget amendment statement put before the board read, “to cover the additional monies to gross-up the retention supplement and to provide the supplement to all employees, an additional use of $3,828,177 will be needed from Fund balance.”

The total amount of the grant was $4,049,718. Added to the district’s funds, that equates to a total of $7,877,895 toward employee supplemental pay.

Also related to funding, the U.S. Department of Education awarded SCCPSS $4,000,000 for a five-year Project PREVENT Grant to support target schools for fiscal years 2023-2028. The district presented the board with a budget amendment for Project PREVENT Grant, which said, “The grant funding will be used to address the impacts of community violence experienced by students at the five identified target schools: Hodge and Gadsden Elementary Schools, DeRenne and Myers Middle Schools, and Beach High School.”

Ball-Oliver stated at Thursday’s press conference that the grant “will allow us to hire additional social workers as well as what we call a Community Navigator.” She also stated that SCCPSS campus police will lead a “massive mentoring program” to train community mentors for SCCPSS students. She said that Board of Education Chief of Police Terry Enoch has already connected with some groups such as 100 Black Men of Savannah as well as local churches.

More: Teachers among more than 100K Georgia employees getting $1,000 year-end bonus, Kemp says

Informal Session highlights alternative programs and community partners

Beyond the Facilities Plan, Wednesday’s Informal Session included presentations from principals of SCCPSS alternative programs, which include WINGS Elementary; Building Bridges, Middle School Program; and Building Bridges, High School Program. The report noted that the middle school provides synchronous hybrid education. It also stated that “32% of students are virtual due to transportation issues.”

The Savannah Music Festival’s (SMF) Senior Director of Community Impact provided insights on the reach of the Musical Explorer’s program and Jazz Academy partnerships with SCCPSS. She highlighted that of the 53,000 students who have attended Musical Explorers over the last nine and a half years, 90% have attended or attend SCCPSS schools. Moss pointed out that SCCPSS has invested more than $200,000 in SMF’s school programs. Board members expressed a desire for student access to more diverse musical performance opportunities beyond the SMF Jazz Academy.

The final presentation at the Informal Session featured Madison Williams, the marketing and communications manager at Chatham Area Transit (CAT). He shared CAT's Zero Fare Student Pilot Program presentation. Building on his comments at the end of November's board meeting, he expanded on how CAT plans to enroll students in the program. He also showcased the Zero-Fare pass cards and emphasized CAT safety practices. Most school board members spoke in praise of the partnership and advocated students to use public transportation as a supplemental option to ensure they are attending class. District 7’s Johnson pointed out the gaps in CAT service in western Chatham County, even though CAT will begin service to Port Wentworth in March 2024.

More: November Savannah-Chatham School Board meeting unveils big changes for district

Five SCCPSS schools exit Federally Identified Schools’ list

A final topic of note from the district this past week involved five Federally Identified Schools. At Thursday’s press conference, Ball-Oliver announced that three schools (Brock Elementary School, A.B. Williams Elementary School and DeRenne Middle School) exited the Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) list. Additionally, two schools (Largo-Tibet Elementary and Windsor Forest Elementary School) exited the Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) list.

“We want to recognize the accomplishments of the administrators and the teachers in those schools and their commitment to continuous improvement and growth,” she said.

Largo-Tibet will be ceasing operations at the end of this year per Phase 1 of the newly adopted facilities plan. Its students will be rezoned to Windsor Forest and Pulaski K-8. Largo-Tibet had previously been a Choice School within the School Choice Program.

Regarding School Choice, families are encouraged to review the 2024-25 Choice Program Open House Schedule. Choice school applications open on Jan. 27, which will also mark the district’s annual Student Success Expo from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Savannah Civic Center. Students and families will be able to review choice school options and meet with school representatives at the expo.

The public can access full recordings of SCCPSS school board meetings at https://www.youtube.com/@SCCPSSCommunicationsTV/streams and review meeting agendas with attachments at https://go.boarddocs.com/ga/sccs/Board.nsf/Public.

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: SCCPSS board approved rezoning, adds to employee supplemental pay