The Greene County Board of Education met in regular session, Monday, October 16, 2023 with all board members in attendance. Prior to the meeting the board held a work session, in the Central Office at 3:00 pm, with the principal of each school presenting her plans for student academic success. Summaries of these plans are presented following the report on school board actions.
The board approved the following personnel items recommended by Superintendent Dr. Corey Jones.
Resignations: David Peterson III, Mechanic, effective October 6, 2023; Elroy Skinner, Math Teacher, Robert Brown Middle, effective June 30, 2024; Dr. Sharron D. Martin, Literacy Coach, Robert Brown Middle, effective September 30, 2023; Toneshia Bullock, Custodian, Robert Brown Middle, effective September 14, 2023.
Employment Robert Brown Middle School: Carlene Garnett, Long-term sub, effective August 18, 2023.
TEAMS Contracts: Victoria Moore – Greene County High, effective August 1, 2023;
Kaneeda Coleman – Greene County High; Dr. Dutchess Jones – Greene County High; Elroy Skinner – Robert Brown Middle.
Supplemental Contracts Robert Brown Middle School: Quentin Walton, Head Boys Basketball; Henry Miles, Assistant Boys Basketball; Quentin Walton, Head Girls Basketball; Jkia Carpenter, Assistant Girls Basketball; Tyneshia Fulgham, Cheerleader Sponsor.
The Administrative items approved by the board are as follows, with board member Robert Davis abstaining on the contract with Corey Morton.
* Contract between Greene County Board and Corey Morton to serve as technology assistant to provide technical support for the district.
* Agreement between Greene County Board and MSSI Staffing Agency to provide a Speech Language Pathologist for FY 2023-2024.
* Quote in the amount of $71,465 from Bagby for elevator modernization at Robert Brown Middle.
* Proposal from Bailey Education Group, LLC in the amount of $45,000 to provide professional development and on-site consultation for teachers and administrators.
Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll. (Financial Report for September and October will be provided at November’s board meeting.)
Principals Presentations at Board’s Work Session
Eutaw Primary School Principal Brittany Harris began with the school’s Motto: Every Child, Every Day. Her presentation included the following:
* Three Tiers of Classroom Instruction: Tier1 – Core Instruction; Tier 2 – Targeted Intervention; Tier 3 – Intensive Intervention.
* Small Group Instruction: Small Group times are embedded into the Master Schedule. Educators must provide small group instruction to scholars, including Reading and Math Interventionists.
* Coaching Support Reading: Kindergarten Team – Four Weeks Mini Coaching Cycle; First Grade – Six Weeks Coaching Cycle; Second Grade Team – Six Weeks Coaching Cycle; Third Grade – Four Weeks Mini Coaching Cycle.
Principal Harris noted that a Math coaching Cycle is currently being modeled and will begin when completed.
* Educators have analyzed scholars’ beginning of the year data. Data meetings are held during Extended Planning Times.
* Professional Development include: S.P.I.R.E; ARI/OMI; ENVISION; I-READY and LETRS.
* Academic Programs: After-School Tutorial with 155 scholars enrolled; Saturday School with 17 enrolled.
* Parent meetings are held monthly.
* Promoting Literacy: Book Vending Machine – scholars awarded with books for exhibiting excellent behavior.
* Popping Sight words Challenge – Scholars reading 109 sight words correctly are awarded a prize.
Next Steps include: Literacy Night; Math Night; and Benchmark Celebrations.
Robert Brown Middle School Principal Tammy Anderson opened her presentation with RBMS Mission and Motto: Mission is to provide a positive, safe, healthy, nursing and respectful environment in which scholars can learn and become productive members of society.Motto: The Harder We work, the Smarter We Get. She elaborated on the following:
* Building Relationships: Administration Team, Faculty, Staff, Central Office, Board Members and Community Stakeholders; Teacher/Student/Parent Involvement; Join all relationships to ensure all students succeed.
* Behavioral Plan: One-on One Counseling Sessions; Mental Health Coordinator on site and referrals; Good Character Plan with incentives; Peer tutoring; Full Support (4th – 8th Grades Administrative Team).
* Reconstructing Greene County’s Future Generation of Leaders.
Greene County High School Principal Andrea Perry opened her presentation with scholars’ ACT Data 2023 in Math and Reading and then discussed the following Next Steps.
Math: 45.72 % – In Need of Support; 29.64 % – Close; 16.05 % – Ready; 8.58 % – Exceeding 24.63 %- Proficient.
Reading: 36.04 % – In Need of Support; 33.58 % – Close; 17.29 % – Ready; 13.09 %- Exceeding.
Next Steps:
The Math Specialist will support and work closely with math educators
* Educators will participate in Instructional Rounds where they observe their colleagues and offer feedback
* The administrators will do walk-throughs and visit classrooms on a daily basis
* The district will observe classrooms, mentor, and support educators
* Educators will participated in on-going embedded Professional Development
* Scholars will work on Pathway from I-Ready Benchmark Assessment at a minimum of thirty minutes per week.
* Alabama Rural Learning Accelerator (ARLA) will collaborate and work with math teachers 1st and 2nd periods to help improve ninth grade math skills. Educators from UAB will work virtually with scholars for four days a week and face-to-face once a week. Power hours will be offered once a week during homeroom. Power hour is also intervention for the ninth graders.
* We will analyze data from Pre-ACT. Our focus will be on scholars who are closed and in need of support. Those scholars will participate in ACT Prep, Math and Reading Intervention, and After-School Tutoring. ACT Consultants will be working with scholars throughout the school year.
* Educators will implement ACT Bellringers (Mastery Prep) every day.
* Math educators will implement intervention time the last fifteen minutes of each class period. Educators will work with small groups.
* The PE educators will allow students to work on IXL one day out of the week.
* IXL ( I EXCEL)is a program that helps high school students at all levels learn math, reading, and english more effectively. IXL stands for Innovation, Excellence, and Leadership.
* All eleventh graders will have a free online ACT Prep account from the ALSDE
* Incentives will be provided for scholars who benchmark on ACT and WorkKeys.
* Students will also attend After School tutorial to focus on ACT standards.
* ACT BootCamp will also be offered one Saturday out of the month.
* ACT Practice test will be administered throughout the school year.
Superintendent Dr. Jones’ report highlighted many of the points presented in the principals’ presentation, for example Saturday School and the Book Vending Machine at EPS. RBMS will hold Conflict Resolution Workshops for 7th and 8th grade scholars. GCHS chartered a Science National Honor Society. He also noted that the CSFO Ms. Marquita Lennon would not present a financial report at this meeting. “We are in closeout at this time. The October and November financial reports will be presented at the next board meeting,” he said.