November Savannah-Chatham School Board meeting unveils big changes for district
The Savannah Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Board hosted another full day of meetings on Wednesday, Nov. 1. The public can review agenda items as well as all School Board meeting documents online.
The Accountability Committee – Equity Subcommittee followed up its October meeting with an overview of the Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) and Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) Schools within the district. The Informal Session featured a broader status report for all SCCPSS’s Federally Identified Schools and an in-depth review of the SCCPSS Long-Range Facilities Plan.
Later, in the afternoon, the Regular Meeting touched upon the Board’s legislative priorities, a District Accountability System (DAS) report on fifth grade math and school choice program rollout for the 2023-24 academic year.
Savannah Oct. School Board Meeting: Here are the highlights
Long-Range Facilities Plan: Major changes are coming
The most impactful news of the day came during the Informal Session as Superintendent Denise Watts shared the Long-Range Facilities Plan. She detailed seven recommendations that, according to a press release sent out on Nov. 2, “Calls for the shifting of attendance zone boundaries for a number of schools, as well as the closure of two schools and repurposing of those facilities. The changes will also better align school attendance boundaries to improve transportation efficiencies and reduce the distances many students currently travel to school.”
Watts said a dedicated facilities plan website launched on Wednesday. She acknowledged that changes to students’ school assignments can affect families emotionally. “We have strongly considered all of the impacts that this could have at the student, family and staff level."
She also noted that there is no call for reducing staff in any capacity, though the plan does indicate a need to shift some staff to other schools.
There will be a follow-up press conference for the media at 2 p.m., Nov. 6 at the SCCPSS Whitney Administrative Complex to directly address deeper questions about the plan.
Updates on Federally Identified Schools
The Andrea B. Williams Elementary’s status report was the first of three Federally Identified Schools status presentations during the Accountability Committee's Equity Subcommittee meeting. Principal Tony Foy stated that Williams exceeded 2023 goals but still had much work to do. He covered strategies implemented to address challenges at the school. He also discussed the use the state and federal funds provided to support the school. “Approximately 90% of Title One and School Improvement (SI) funds were allocated for staffing,” he said.
The George A. Mercer Middle School status report was then presented by Principal Christian Pantin. Much like Foy, Pantin discussed the challenges and the strategies implemented to address them over the past year. One of the ongoing challenges mentioned was transportation. He said struggles have led to “periodic late morning bus arrivals,” which has had some impact on student instruction. He was able to tout some successes, including a unique program called Raider Nation Planeteers. He said a Planeteer is “is a scholar who is very passionate about saving the planet.” He also shared that Mercer allocated federal and state funds predominantly toward staffing.
Bryce Bell, assistant principal at Windsor Forest Elementary School, presented her school's report. They key takeaways were that the school still needs more support for fourth and fifth grade and that staffing was still a high priority. Successes over the past year at Windsor Forest included 64% of third and fifth grade students with disabilities (SWD) meeting or exceeding their typical growth goals according to the iReady diagnostic in math. A tremendous challenge still facing the school regards its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) hub. Bell said the school currently supports 274 ESOL students with various “levels of language acquisition.” She said that many people tend to think of ESOL as only supporting Spanish speaking students. Teachers in Windsor Forest’s program, however, assist students who speak Farsi, Dari, Swahili, Arabic, French dialects and Pashto, as well as other languages.
The morning’s meeting segued into the mid-morning Informal Session, which started with a broader status report for all SCCPSS’s Federally Identified Schools.
In addition to the six CSI and TSI schools mentioned, leaders discussed the eight SCCPSS schools designated as Promise Schools. These schools need support to sustain improvement or prevent them from falling into the lowest five percent CSI category.
The district plan of support includes two main goals: 1) Increase Georgia Milestone Assessment System (GMAS) content mastery by five percent; 2) Increase GMAS content mastery for SWD and English Language Learners (ELL) subgroups by five percent. School improvement actions include but are not limited to: implement 45-day action plans, create and encourage family engagement activities, implement plans to decrease student discipline referrals and absenteeism, as well as provide feedback and coaching to teachers.
During the board’s follow-up questions, District 3 Representative, Cornelia H. Hall said, “We heard from three of these schools that staffing is their main problem, not programs, but staffing.” She then pointed out that the state is giving TSI schools $75,000 and Promise Schools $20,000 to address their challenges. She pointed out that the funds do not amount to even one person’s salary, let alone employee benefits.
Savannah Schooling Options: Too early to think about Savannah-Chatham County school choices for next year? Think again
Regular meeting round-up
Legislative Priorities
The board’s 2024 Legislative Priorities were shared and adopted. The priorities homed in on early childhood education, student wellness and resource allocations. District 1 Representative Denise R. Grabowski (who also serves as the legislative delegate liaison of the board) took the lead on streamlining the priorities that were initially discussed in October’s board meeting. She created the three “big buckets” to organize their requests of legislators:
request more state support of Pre-K programs
reassess current school attendance age requirements
expand the use of ESPLOST to provide flexibility and address changing market conditions.
District 6 Representative David A. Bringman, PT DPT, spoke before the formal vote. He asked for the public to review and help advocate for these changes. “We're just nine voices that sometimes they [legislators] listen to. But if more of you were able to get behind this, we might be able to change the state...These are priorities that we believe will help every Georgia citizen.”
The school board will be meeting with legislative representatives at Isle of Hope K-8 school on Nov. 7 to share these priorities directly with them.
School choice
Angie A. Lewis, Ed.D., executive director, Office of College & Career Readiness, and Jessica Horton, CTAE, supervisor/Choice Programs coordinator, shared the 2024-25 school year School Choice Program information. Families are encouraged to review the timeline from application through notices of school choice selections.
School Choice Program applications open on Jan. 27, 2024, which is the same day as the Student Success EXPO and STEM Festival at the Savannah Civic Center. Families and students should note that performance art schools may have different application requirements due to auditions. Lewis said that all choice schools will also hold open houses throughout December and January prior to the choice process.
The district cites enhanced student motivation, improved parental engagement, positive impact on the local workforce and connecting students to real-world experts in their fields of interest as added benefits of the Choice Program.
Public comments before the board
Madison Williams of Chatham Area Transit introduced a zero-fare pilot program that would “provide K-12, college and university students with a semester-long zero fare transit service on our fixed route and paratransit services, starting in January.”
Miriam Ralda, kindergarten and dual-language immersion program teacher at Gould Elementary, shared her concerns about how the Facilities Plan would affect the Gould student population. She also cited unrest among teachers after meetings that occurred abruptly last week.
Important dates and events
SCCPSS held its annual Kidz Biz Career Fair, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 and Friday, Nov. 3 at Woodville-Tompkins Lower Campus. Kidz Biz is for fifth grade students from each school in the district. SCCPSS communications indicated that students will “learn about high school career pathways and the important role business and industry plays in creating future career opportunities for our students.”
The board approved the proclamations of:
101st annual observance of American Education Week, Nov. 13-17Nov. 5 as Retired Educators Day, which “encourages our citizens to recognize the lasting contributions of retired educators all throughout the month of November.”
Nov. 12-18, as Literacy Week
Nov. 10, schools in observance of Veterans Day
Nov. 16, Professional Senate meeting at Hubert Middle School
Nov. 20-24, Thanksgiving Holiday Break
9 a.m. – 10 a.m., Nov. 29 Finance Committee Meeting at Whitney Administrative Complex
8 a.m. – 9 a.m., Nov. 30 Audit Committee meeting at Whitney Administrative Complex
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: november 2023 savannah school board meeting
