Last night, January 12, 2016, the Crawford County Board Members took some time for whole board training.  The agenda was centered around two main areas: 1) Characteristics of effective boards, self assessment, and visionary thinking  2) Strategic waiver district planning.  It is important that every stakeholder realize the board is adamant about the success and progress of Crawford County Schools and are truly looking at student achievement as a measure of success.

I want to give you some background and future planning opportunities regarding our Strategic Waiver School System (SWSS).  State law required every school system in the state of Georgia to declare one of three options by July 1, 2015.  These options were: Charter System, IE2 (now known as SWSS) and Status Quo (now known as traditional or traditionally funded school system).  Charter and SWSS provided the school some flexibility from state regulation with an increase in accountability; whereas,  Status Quo meant the system would have to follow the strict state set guidelines, with NO flexibility or waivers. Crawford County chose to be a SWSS.

Choosing to become a SWSS means that by July 1, 2016 Crawford County Schools will contract with Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) and also give the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) oversight power.  The contract will give Crawford County Schools the ability to waive certain state laws and regulations to better fit the needs of our students. Over the next few months some very important work will be done to insure this agreement is exactly what the children of Crawford County need.

Here is a very rough timeline of the process:

February

• Administration will meet with District Staff to come up with a unified Vision, Mission, and Belief
• Administration will meet with stakeholder groups to get input on the District Strategic Plan
• Each school will form committees to create a school level plan that is in line with the overall district plan
• Waivers will be decided with stakeholder feedback
• Possible work session with the board to go over the V, M, & B

    March

• The Board will hold a meeting to get input from the community
• All plans will then be finalized and board approved
• The District will draft a contract with the help of GADOE
• Contract will be submitted for State board approval. (This could take a couple of months)

We are at a Defining Moment in the history of Crawford County Schools, and I look forward to going through this process with the staff, board, and community.