Lithia Springs High To Meet Federal Grant Deadline

teachers who are able to meet established achievement goals could earn up to an extra $2,750 annually if the Douglas County School System is approved for a .

Catherine Magouyrk, associate superintendent of student achievement and leadership, told the Douglas County Board of Education at Monday night’s board meeting such performance-based incentives would come with the grant if the district’s application is accepted. Magouyrk assured the board the grant would be turned in by Friday’s deadline.

“If everyone does their part, there’s an incentive,” she said.

The school improvement grant could be worth as much as $6 million over a three-year period if the school system were to receive the grant’s highest award each year. The lowest award a school can receive is $50,000 annually.

Magouyrk said the grant’s first year of implementation would focus on teacher training to coincide with the higher student achievement expectations placed on the district. In fact, she said teachers will need to sign a contract to ensure that the district’s investment in staff training isn’t lost if they leave the high school.

The five-person board unanimously passed several items at the 105-minute meeting. These included:

• Spending $74,819 for purchasing 112 iPads tools for school system administrators for formal and informal observations and instructional walk-throughs. Magouyrk said teachers were previously using either the district’s or their own iPhone or BlackBerry to perform the abovementioned tasks. The program would be paid through Title IIA federal funding.
• Spending $1,585,591.40 from SPLOST funds to purchase 20 buses. The district currently has 300 buses and hopes to replace another 15 to 20 older buses next year due to their age, mileage and maintenance costs.
• Spending $37,273.08 from general funds to purchase a new automated calling system. The old system takes over two days to reach parents and the new calling system would accomplish that task in 20 minutes or less. The new system will also have the capability of conducting surveys using either a phone or computer. Following the vote, Board Chair Jeff Morris said: “I think a lot of people will be happy about that.”
• Using $27,710.09 from general funds to purchase a continued license of Test Trax for the 2010-11 school year. Test Trax provides schools an opportunity to view historical test scores for all students.
• Spending $88,230 from Title IIA federal funding for Professional Learning Online License and Training Support.
• Using $755,489.38 for 13 elementary schools from the general fund to use Reading Street K-5 textbooks and materials. Magouyrk said the district’s last purchase was in 1999.
• Spending $771,265 out of the general Fund for purchasing English/language arts textbooks for the use in middle and high schools.
• Using $183,821.30 from general funds to pay for AimsWeb’s Universal Screener. The program identifies underperforming students in reading and math. The district will conduct universal screening in the fall and spring. Magouyrk said this program will allow the district for the first time to compare its students to other students in the nation.
• Using $37,254.70 from SPLOST funds to replace the hallway floors at Beulah Elementary School.
• Renewing the Brighten Academy Charter.
• Increasing adult lunch prices from $2.50 to $2.80. The last price increase was from $2.35 to $2.50 during the 2008-09 school year.

In other board business, the board plans to possibly update its mission statement as part of next year’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation process.

District 1 Board member Mike Miller closed the meeting by stating that he was given “erroneous” information at the board in-house retreat. Miller said the board isn’t required to build Mount Vernon Elementary, which was approved in a 2007 bond referendum. The item will be debated at the next meeting, which is set for 7 p.m. on Monday.

Correction: This story originally said Mount Vernon was approved in the 2005 SPLOST vote. It was actually approved in a 2007 bond referendum.