Superintendent addresses concerns surrounding 2022-23 Raider graduation
Oct. 4—HAMLET — Richmond County Schools Superintendent Dr. Joe Ferrell addressed some of the questions posed by a September Daily Journal article during the October Board of Education meeting.
In an article by the Richmond County Daily Journal, RSHS Teacher of the Year Tanya Quick resigned from her position following the compelled graduation of two of her failing students, and her subsequent administration-approved and sanctioned action to pass about 20 of her failing students hours before the Raider graduation.
Dr. Ferrell said he's been debating about how to respond to the article, and acknowledged that the school system cannot engage in public debate regarding certain elements of the story. He said that certain questions raised regarding school attendance, graduation rate and the homebound process are concerns that they were already working to improve and will continue to address in the future.
"To me the core issues there...I look to 'How can we improve and do better at what we do?" Ferrell asked. "I'm not sure I'm ready to call the whole thing [article] a blessing in disguise yet, but let's go down that path for a moment. We're already thinking about and already addressing a number of things that were pointed out to us through that whole process."
Dr. Ferrell said he was encouraged by results and information shared by Director of Testing and Accountability Director Jennifer Taylor (article from that presentation forthcoming). He also pointed to the enhanced work of a dropout prevention coordinator, a position that is now on-site at the high school to ensure better support for at-risk students.
Dr. Ferrell said he has had an opportunity to visit every school in the district at least twice, and many of them three times, and that he has been impressed with the "laser focus on attendance at all grade levels."
"We all know that attendance has been a huge problem for us since COVID," Dr. Ferrell said. In the 2021-22 school year, RSHS students missed over 112,000 classes, and in the following school year, it dropped to about 70,000.
Dr. Ferrell also pointed to a new position at RSHS, a student-support advocate, who will work with students to reduce suspensions and address absences. He added that they're working to implement a fifth-block class at RSHS, as well as the return of an Evening Academy to the county.
"I felt good that before that public debate started, we were already thinking about those things," the superintendent said.
In conclusion, Dr. Ferrell reiterated his main takeaways from the published article — that they need to work to improve student attendance, raise the graduation rate and lower the number of homebound students.
"We have worked already to significantly reduce [homebound students] and get our students back in the building," Dr. Ferrell said. "Because we know — they're are always going to be some students on homebound, let's be clear about that — We have a much greater shot at doing good things for students when we have them within our walls."
Dr. Ferrell said he would ask for the Daily Journal to consider publishing a story about RCS efforts to improve student outcomes, specifically their student-support advocate and dropout prevention roles, not as a response to the article, but to "turn it into a positive."
No other school board members expressed any other comments before or after Dr. Ferrell's address. The only social media post by a board member in regards to the original article was a post by the Scotty Baldwin Richmond County School Board Facebook page that read — "These are very serious allegations that warrant a full investigation by a disinterested third party. I hope to see exactly that. Transparency is key!"
In conclusion, Dr. Ferrell said he has talked with RCS Executive Director of Communications Kylie DeWitt about flooding the community with positive stories, pointing to the RCS School Scoop newsletter. In reference to that publication, Board Member Bobbie Sue Ormsby said she is a big advocate for being positive about Richmond County Schools.
"It's not Richmond County that this is unique too...," Dr. Ferrell said in conclusion. "One negative thing happens and a hundred really great things happen at the same time or within a few days of each other and the thing that ends up getting the press or the attention is the negative. I just think we have to, on our end, keep pushing the positive out there."
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