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Dec 18th, 2018 - 09:50:11 |
Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your superintendent of Bleckley County Schools.
This mid-year report is provided to inform and engage the public regarding the first half of the 2018-2019
school year. I will focus on our student achievement and notable accomplishments, strategic plan, finances,
security, and a peek into the future.
Student Achievement/Notable Accomplishments
Our school district enjoys a tremendous reputation all over Georgia for its success in the classroom. Despite
being ranked one of the poorest districts in the state (169th of 180 districts), our students continue to
outperform wealthier and more affluent districts.
We had one of the highest district CCRPI (College and Career Readiness Performance Index) scores in the state, ranking 9th, an improvement from 13th last year! The two
tables below reflect how our district has led not only in our local RESA service area, but also in the entire
Middle Georgia area.
We had a great fall. The BCHS Lady Royals softball team made it to the Sweet 16, while the competition
cheerleaders finished fourth in the state. The defending-champion girls cross country team had a “three-peat,”
winning the state championship for the third consecutive year! The boys cross country team placed first
in the region and finished fifth in the state. The middle school won its first region championship in football!
The BCHS FFA Ag Mechanics Team had won state earlier in the year and competed at the national convention
in Indianapolis in October. They won at nationals, and the four team members had perfect scores on one part
of the competition. Only two other FFA teams from BCHS had ever won national championships, one last year
in FFA Forestry and the other in Ag Mechanics a decade ago. All schools, regardless of size, compete together
in state and national FFA, making this accomplishment even more impressive.
The Bleckley County Board of Education was recently named a Top 10 Finalist in the Governance Team of the
Year Award by the Georgia School Boards Association. Even our school nutrition department continues to
shine, winning the highest level award, Platinum, in the Golden Radish Award Program for farm-to-school
activities. They also were the only district in the state to win the inaugural Baby Radish Award for Pre-K farm to school activities.
Strategic Plan / Balanced Scorecard
We continue to follow our Strategic Plan that was adopted last year, and each month we report on how we
are doing compared to our targets established earlier in the year. We continually review our targets and adjust
as needed. Check out our Simbli (formerly eBoard) site: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Bleckley.
Click on “Meetings” on the top left of the screen, select the meeting from the drop-down, and you will see the entire agenda for each meeting. Typically Item F or G is the Strategic Plan / Balanced Scorecard Update.
Finances
This school year, Governor Deal and the Legislature fully funded the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula for
the first time since 2002. While we are thankful for the funding; unfortunately, we are now being funded at 2008 levels, meaning funding has not kept up with rising costs. Nevertheless, your school system remains financially strong. We thank the property owners who provide local funding through property taxes. Thank you for shopping locally, too, as the sales taxes collected in Bleckley County help fund the debt service on our schools.
We continue to allow non-residents to attend our schools if they adhere to our high expectations, but they are
not granted the privilege of utilizing student transportation. We do not charge tuition, as we currently feel the state funding we receive on these additional students is adequate to cover the cost to educate them.
Security
We have met regularly to discuss school security, and we are implementing new procedures to insure students
and staff are safe in our schools. Naturally, we do not publicly discuss the exact measures taken, but rest
assured that our local law enforcement agencies are aware of our plans.
We must constantly balance security
with keeping our schools as inviting as possible because we do not want our schools to become prisons. We
added a School Resource Officer (SRO) this year, and we are focusing on prevention and improving school
climate at all schools, too.
The Future
Last year at this time, I stated that our vision for the future is to make Bleckley County Schools a top-ten
district in the state. As I mentioned earlier in this article, we are now ranked ninth! We want to see just how
far we can achieve, but as I tell our staff often, one test does not define a student, a teacher, nor a school.
Our Strategic Planning Committee was comprised of community members, parents, teachers, staff,
administrators, and board members. They recommended that we construct a new primary school on the site of the old high school, and we have chosen a construction manager.
This delivery method allows local businesses to bid on some of the work, and we will be sharing more information about those opportunities in early 2019.
We plan to pay for the new school through a continuation of our SPLOST, which uses one penny of sales tax to pay for buildings, buses, bonds, and books. We plan to hold this referendum in March 2019, which would not be a new tax but merely continue collecting the sales tax to pay for the new construction.
We also plan some athletic renovations and improvements to the HVAC systems at our schools. We will be conducting
a public forum to discuss this project in February or early March.
We are entering into a partnership with Central Georgia Technical College and a company called Vizitech to
create a pathway in artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). We are excited about the prospects this partnership holds for our students and our community. I believe this arrangement will eventually create high-tech jobs in Bleckley County, and we will share more with you as this partnership continues to develop.
More of our students are taking advantage of dual-enrollment opportunities with Middle Georgia State
University, the technical colleges, and classes offered on our campus through Georgia Military College. The
classes allow students to receive both high school and college credits that can be transferred to any college in
the University System of Georgia without using any of the lifetime HOPE Scholarship credits. This means
students who change majors are less likely to run out of HOPE eligibility during their senior year of college.
THANK YOU!
We appreciate your support of Bleckley County Schools. I tell people all over the state that our success is
attributable to parents who expect their children to behave and learn, great teachers and staff who constantly
go above and beyond, a board that puts children first, and a supportive community. Thank you for all you do
to make our school system one of the best in the state! If I can ever be of service to you, please do not
hesitate to call on me. We look forward to 2019, and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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by BleckleyProgess.com
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