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Tracy K. Hall

Superintendent Walter Knighton gave his typical dashboard report. As an overview, the school brought in around $459,000 in SPLOST funds. As far as expenses, power bills were down, water and sewer were down and cell phone costs were down. However, the City of Americus energy costs were up. The COVID report was given. After its completion, Knighton remarked upon the flu being “rampant.” He encouraged good health practices to include a vaccination if deemed appropriate.

Associate Superintendent Kimothy Hadley prepared the BOE for upcoming results of the College Career Ready Performance Index. The CCRPI is a standardized test which school systems across the state take. An emphasis is placed upon content mastery, readiness and attendance. The CCRPI is typically administered every year, however secondary to COVID-19 the last two school years have not been measured. The results of the CCRPI will be released on Wednesday November 16, 2022.Whereas there is usually a summative rating, typically by giving each school a letter grade, this year other indicators will be used. Georgia Department of Education uses Milestones testing to factor into the CCRPI scores.

There are certain factors which will go into the CCPRI score to include academic scoring, the rating of students in how they are designated by the Georgia Milestones Testing, which gives us a snapshot on how many are performing under standard, at standard and above standard. The CCRPI has to be completed by 95% of the students and it must be taken in the school setting as it is a standardized test.

Another issue to be considered is what SCS is doing “beyond the core.” Some of these categories would be classes such as after school programming, art and PE. However, they also include offerings such as dual enrollment, work-based learning which is primarily housed in Ignite CCA.

Also, taking into consideration are demographics of the school to include those with disabilities and those who utilize English as a second language. Racial demographics were also mentioned. SCS is primarily made up of 76% black students, 13% Latino students, 7% white students, 2% biracial students and the remaining are of other origins.

While the CCRPI will not be giving overall letter grades, there will be indication how SCS is doing. There will also be determinations of who is in the top 10% of performing schools and who is in the lower 10% of the schools. Interventions for the bottom 10% will be applied.

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to business as usual with the consent agenda approved, with the exception of reviewing aspects of the superintendent’s job in the confines of executive session. The committee reports had nothing for board action.

By way of the personnel agenda, three were released from contract, three resignations were accepted, six transfers were made, and five employments were made. After an executive session, the meeting came into open session at 7:38pm. The meeting was then adjourned.

This meeting can be found on the Sumter County Schools’ Facebook page under the same name. All meetings of the BOE are open to the public and are held at 100 Learning Lane in Americus. To contact a school professional including your representative, please visit their website sumterschools.org or call 229.931.8500

The next agenda setting meeting for the BOE is on December 5, 2022, at 6pm. The voting meeting will follow on December 8, 2022, at 7pm.