Happy Fall Y’all!

Greetings on this first day of fall from downtown Roberta GA!

I wanted to send out a brief blog today to let everyone know of the exciting things Crawford County has going on in the world of Sports.  This is a very busy week for our Fall Athletic Teams but we have several noteworthy games.

CCMS

CCMS Softball:  The CCMS Lady Eagles play cross river rival Taylor County, for the first round of the middle school play-offs, on Wednesday September 25^th at 4:30.  The Game will be played at the Crawford County Middle School field. Come out and make some noise!

CCMS Football:  The Middle School Eagles travel to Manchester for the final game of the regular season.  A victory will put them in the Play-offs.  Game is at 5:00 in Manchester.

CCHS

CCHS Softball:  The Lady Eagles Varsity Softball Team has two non-region games to start the week, at Mary Persons on Monday the 23^rd and at Peach on Tuesday the 24^th, both games starting at 5:00.  The BIG game for the week is on Thursday September 26^th verses Marion County.  Its Senior night but a victory against Marion has the possibility of moving our Lady Eagles into one of the Top 8 play-off spots which will give us home field advantage.  The game starts at 4:30 on Thursday and we need to pack the stands and the grass hill behind the field.  We want every student in our school there cheering our girls to victory.

CCHS Football:  The home opener and homecoming game will be played Friday September 27^th versus Hawkinsville.  This is an important region game and a packed house will show our boys we believe they will SOAR.  There will be Homecoming Festivities at Half Time and a parade on Thursday the 26^th, so after pulling the Lady Eagles through, please join us for the parade.

CCHS Band:  You don’t want to miss the debut of the new band uniforms.  There is a possibility they will be worn for the homecoming parade on Thursday, but they will definitely be worn during pregame and halftime performances on Friday Night!

I look forward to seeing you at all of our activities!

Good morning Crawford County faithful!  I would like to take a few minutes to update everyone on some things that have being going on this summer and even as far back as last spring in the Crawford County education world.

First of all, let’s talk about strategic planning.  We enlisted GSBA and GLISI to assist in updating our Strategic Plan.  We had a community engagement meeting in February, a planning team meeting in March, and an action team meeting in May to draft a revised Mission, Vision and Belief Statement(s) and to create a strategy map.  After the May meeting, each of the Strategic Goal Area teams met to create an Action Plan for year one with projected Goals out to year five.  At the July 23^rd Board meeting, the Board approved the following:

Mission:

The mission of the Crawford County School System is to provide our students with the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential to be successful members of their community.

Vision:

Crawford County Schools will unite with the community to be EXCELLENT in all we do.

Beliefs: 

We believe…

1.      Every child should have the opportunity to do what he or she wants to do when he/she graduates high school.

2.      Our teachers and staff genuinely care about student success.

3.      Public education can break the cycle of poverty.

4.      Teachers and staff should have the opportunity for professional growth.

5.       Our leaders have a responsibility to foster an environment for learning and growth for students and staff.

6.      Students and staff must feel safe in order for learning to take place.

7.      The relationship between the teacher/student (families) is as important as the lessons being taught.

8.       Partnering with our stakeholders will enhance our educational and economic opportunities.

We also approved a strategy map with the following five Strategic Goal areas:

•        Student Achievement and Success
•       Stakeholder Engagement and Communication
•       Organizational and Operational Excellence
•       Quality Workforce
•      Positive School Culture and Climate

These five goal areas will be the driving force that allows Crawford County Schools to SOAR to EXCELLENCE!

Secondly, I would like to give an update on our building project.  On June 25^th we approved Parrish Construction as the construction manager on our middle/high replacement project.  We had a meeting with Southern A&E, Parrish, and me to start looking at the special requirements for the new building.  We have a rough layout of the design of the school and in the next few weeks I will share this design on both the district website and on this blog.  We have a couple of spaces that have to be adjusted after our meeting.  We are looking at a Fall 2022 grand opening of the building, with a class of 2023 as the first graduating class!  We may also be able to start moving dirt as early as April of 2020.  There is a LOT of planning that still has to be done and we are corresponding daily with the architect and construction manager.  Our Goal is to provide an economical school that the students of Crawford County can be proud to call home.

Parents please, please, please talk with your children about the dangers around vaping. 

We had an incident at our High School on Wednesday where kids took a hit off a Juul, which is a type of vape that is easily hidden from parents and school officials, where two kids had to receive medical care and be transported in an ambulance.  As of Thursday, both students were fine and back at school, but the incident is having to be investigated by the school and by law enforcement.

I am only telling you about our situation to let you know this is not an isolated Crawford County School problem, this is a society problem, and our kids are at danger.  I know for a fact of two additional school districts with specific incidents where the “vape juice” was laced with illegal drugs including synthetic marijuana, phenetole, and LSD.  These drugs are hitting the body and almost instantly causing effects.  Additionally, in all three cases, including ours, they were bought at a vape store by someone 18 years old as a legal transaction.  The point of that last statement is that you need to know that there is no way to know what chemicals are in the vapes that your child is using and this could be a very dangerous game of roulette.

As a school, we are going to continue to crack down on vapes and vape juice, this includes any devise that can be used, including but not limited to a Juul and Juul pods.  I truly hate that this is another distraction from the mission of the schools system, but we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure a safe and secure learning environment for our students.

I received an email from Deborah White, Executive Director of Georgia Association of Curriculum and Instructional Supervisors (GACIS), that outlined most of the educational bills working their way through the Georgia General Assembly.  I have listed them below:

HB 1 renames the special needs scholarship  to Senator Eric Johnson Scholarship Act.  Senator Johnson first got the scholarship passed.  Passed full Education Committee.

HB 12 requires all public schools to post the toll free number to report child abuse. 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Passed full Education Committee

HB 59 by Rep. Dave Belton would allow a student whose parent or guardian is on active duty and has received military orders to transfer into or within Georgia to be eligible to enroll in the local school district before actually establishing residency. Passed the House in the Senate

HB 68 prohibits accreditation association from being eligible to be a student scholarship organization. Passed by the House goes to the Senate

HB 69 waives the prior school year requirement in a public school for students who previously qualified for the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program or for student's whose parent is in the military and stationed in Georgia within the previous year.  Passed Education Committee and moved to Rules.

HB 86 allows tenured teachers to file a complaint and appeals on an unsatisfactory performance evaluation.  Passed Academic Achievement Subcommittee

HB 109 makes significant changes in the current Teacher Retirement System for individuals who become TRS members on or after July 1, 2019.  The Bill has undergone several changes. In the current version the mandatory contributions rate would be 6-8.5% and the "Rule of 85" which means the educator's age and years of experience must equal 85 to receive full benefits.  Passed the Retirement Committee 3-2

HB 130- authorizes the Georgia Foundation for Public Education to establish a nonprofit corporation  501c(3) to qualify as a public foundation and receive donations.  Passed House in Senate

HB 301 would establish the Education Savings Account (ESA) to create a private school voucher program. Heard in Ways and Means Committee. 

HB 444 makes changes to the Dual Enrollment Program.  It would cap the number of course credit hours to 30.  Passed Academic Achievement Subcommittee

SB 15  "Keeping Georgia's Schools Safe Act" would address recommendations of the Senate School Safety Study Committee.  Passed the Senate   

SB 48 requiring dyslexia screening for all kindergarten student was heard by the full Senate Education and Youth Committee on Wednesday.  Several students who struggle with dyslexia and parents of students with dyslexia spoke in support of the Bill.  The screening  would include testing expressive and receptive language and providing the results to parents or guardians.  GaDOE shall make available a dyslexia information handbook with guidance, technical assistance and training for implementation of evidence-based practices for teaching identified students.  The information handbook shall include information to address students in kindergarten through third grade who have been identified through RTI as displaying characteristics of dyslexia.  Passed the Senate (last week)

SB 60 to provide guidelines and materials to inform students participating in interscholastic athletic activities their parents or guardians,  and coaches about the nature and warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest and  to establish return to play policies. Passed Senate Education and Youth Committee

SB 64 would make terroristic threats a Class B designated felon under the Juvenile Code. Heard in Senate Judiciary Subcommittee

SB 83 public schools may offer an elective course in 9-12 on the history and literature of the Old Testament. Passed Senate Education and Youth Committee

SB 68 strengthen provisions related to financial management requirements for school districts identified as "high risk." Passed Senate

SB 108 beginning in 2021-2022 school year each school district shall provide at least one high in its system that offers a course in computer science and that all middle schools offer exploratory computer science.  By 2022-2023, at least 50% of high schools must offer a course in computer science.  To be heard at next committee meeting

SB 173  Senate education private school voucher bill.  Passed Senate Finance Committee The House passed the FY20 Budget.  The Budget includes a $2775. salary increase for all certificated educators, including school counselors, media specialists, special education specialist, school social workers, and school psychologists.  These positions were originally to receive only 2%; this will keep all certificated educators on the same salary schedule.

Important Dates

Hello All,

I hope everyone is staying warm on this chilly Friday.

I wanted to share a little upcoming news with everyone.  First of all, the Crawford County Board of Education has agreed to use GSBA and GLISI to guide us through an updated Strategic Plan.  The GSBA Strategic Improvement Planning Service brochure can be found here.  We will follow this process and get plenty of input from the community as well as staff and students and we should have an up to date strategic plan before the 19-20 school year. Some upcoming dates that are important in this process are:

February 19^th  6:30 CCMS Cafeteria – Community Engagement Meeting

March 18^th-19^th  TBD – Planning Team Meeting

May 1^st-2^nd TBD – Action Team Meeting

We will have action steps and monitoring instruments in place before the process is complete.

Secondly, we have had our first official meeting with Southern A&E about the new Crawford County Middle High School.  This meeting was to establish how many instructional units (Classrooms, Labs, Office Space, etc…) is needed and how much is over what the state has allotted.  The Architect will take this compiled list and start putting spaces with the units and come back with some ideas on design.  Once we get the designs started, we will be asking for input from the community and schools.

Not a lot has come out of the gold dome this week.  Most of the week was spent in budget hearings.  I do want you aware of a situation that is once again brewing in regards to teacher retirement.  There is an AJC article that gives a little information but some possible bill changes are:

• Modifying the annual 3 percent cost-of-living raises that pensioners receive. The audit said that in 21 of the past 26 years, the cost-of-living increase for TRS retirees has outpaced inflation. An independent actuarial analysis found that modifying the COLAs could save $17 million to $700 million, depending on how it’s done, such as by reducing it for new hires and/or those previously hired after a certain date.
• Cutting the interest rate credited on employee contributions into the system. The change could save the state several million dollars, depending on the new rate.
• Basing the pension on the highest five years of salary, rather than two years, as is currently the case. Doing it over five years would likely mean a lower average salary would be used in the pension calculation. The change could save $50 million annually.
• Changing the minimum age at which new hires would be able to draw a pension if they worked less than 30 years. Raising it from age 60 to 62 could save $48 million annually.

If you are a Facebook person there is a group called Teachers Rally Against Georgia Insurance Changes (T.R.A.G.I.C) that you may want to follow.  They are a grassroots organization that has a strong lobby in Atlanta.

I will have the opportunity to hear Governor Brian Kemp, Senator Lindsey Tippins, Representative Mike Dudgen, and Representative Tommy Benton on Sunday the 27^th.  I will relay any news from them or other legislators in my next blog.

Welcome 2019

Welcome Students and Staff to the second half of the 2018-2019 school year.  I hope you had a wonderful and restful Christmas Break and are revived and excited about the second semester.

Before the 2019 Legislative Session kicks off, I want you aware of some issues taking place under the gold dome that may affect you:

First of all, there has been Special Session throughout the fall to address a number of concerns, with the major concern for Education being a mandated school calendar.  School Districts across the state agree that the school calendar should be a local decision, but the Senate Study Committee on Evaluating the School Calendar thinks the legislators should tell the local boards when they should start and end.  The Final Report is available for your reading pleasure.  You will see that no school system is represented on this committee.

A second issue that will be talked about is Governor Elect Kemp’s promise of a $5000 raise for all teachers. Please know that this will get kicked around substantially before some final decision is made.  If every teacher in the state gets a $5000 raise then every system will incur a cost of about $1000 per employee in TRS alone. The devil is definitely in the details for this.

These are the two main issues we know will be addressed, but once the legislators get in session, the bills will flow like the water in the creeks and rivers of GA right now.

Closer to home, we will have an initial meeting with Southern A&E on January 15^th to start looking at number of instructional units as well as CTAE lab space in the new Middle High School.  This will initiate the planning stage of the new Crawford County Middle/High School.

We are currently analyzing the Beginning of the Year and Middle of the Year MAPS data to determine growth and concern areas throughout the district.  This is in an effort to know where our student achievement level is prior to the Georgia Milestone spring tests.

In county news, the Community Leaders for the Betterment of Roberta Crawford County met for the inaugural meeting on January 8^th.  The purpose of this meeting was to get the community leaders sitting at the same table to collaborate and address issues and concerns in Roberta and Crawford County as a combined entity.  

“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do.  The hard part is doing it.” –Norman Schwarzkopf