Board Business Briefs: Board Hears Safety and Key Priorities Reports, Appoints New Leaders

The Cherokee County School Board on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 heard a report on current safety and security systems and practices and reviewed the school district’s progress in accomplishing its Key Priorities for elevating the excellence in all areas.

The meeting followed the new structure, adopted this summer, of a work session at 5:15 p.m. and a regular business meeting at 7 p.m.  The new structure promotes more meaningful discussion, greater transparency, and public awareness around the business of the board.  In addition to the regular business meetings, all work sessions now are livestreamed via YouTube, and the videos are archived on the CCSD website in the Board of Education area online here.

SAFETY AND SECURITY UPDATE

The School Board began both its work session and regular business meeting with a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the tragedy at Apalachee High School.

This moment of silence was followed by Superintendent of Schools Mary Elizabeth Davis acknowledging the gravity of this past week.  She and CCSD Police Chief Buster Cushing provided a video report that began with the Superintendent addressing the tragedy.

“It is during this time of unthinkable circumstances that Chief of Police Buster Cushing and I are prompted to address the CCSD community personally.  I realize that there isn’t one person who isn’t devastated by the tragedy experienced here in the State of Georgia, at Apalachee HS.  And while we grapple with this upsetting and unsettling time, our thoughts and prayers continue to focus on the victims, their families, and the students and staff impacted so closely,” she said.  

“It is with this heavy atmosphere that we are also prompted to ensure our families, students and staff in CCSD are aware of our daily efforts and commitments to keeping students, staff, and visitors safe at school and our campuses secure,” Superintendent Davis continued.  “In the Cherokee County School District, we believe there is nothing more important than our students having access to the highest quality education in the safest schools possible.  We have a three pillar approach to school safety and security — Preparation, Prevention, and Response — and every investment, process, drill, exercise, and plan is aligned to one of those three pillars.” 

The video report is a comprehensive overview of the daily efforts, commitments, and School Board investments in place to keep students and staff in CCSD safe each day.  To view the full video, click here.

Superintendent Davis concluded that she, Chief Cushing and the School Board will continue to evaluate ways to improve CCSD’s layers of security, daily routines, and communication protocols.

In addition to the video, Superintendent Davis introduced an updated Safety & Security section on the CCSD website.  The website, which is online here, includes a link to the video report screening during the meeting, as well as a chart of current systems in place aligned to our safety framework, and other useful information.  

During the regular meeting, School Board member Kelly Poole also shared the Inspiration remarks, which included appreciation of the CCSD Police Department.

School Board Chair Kyla Cromer also spoke to her commitment to safety and security.

While today, many safety and security systems and protocols are in place in CCSD schools, when her now-grown children started school, there were few such practices.  Parents, she said, could walk into schools and then into classrooms without anyone even asking their intention.  

“We have taken a lot of steps over the years to secure our buildings and the access that we have to our students.  We will continue to learn from these events,” she said.  “We need to do that in conjunction with our parents and our community.  We need to work together to maintain the safe spaces to learn, to teach and to work.”

KEY PRIORITIES UPDATE

The school district’s Key Priorities are based on Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis’s entry plan work in the spring to listen to the community and analyze financial, operational and student performance reports.  

The four Key Priorities informed by this feedback now are driving CCSD’s work as an organization for the next year to 18 months, with regular progress reports to the community, followed by the future development of a long-range strategic plan. 

Superintendent Davis during Thursday’s work session shared the first quarterly progress report, which is online here.  The report details the status of specific Action Steps that she set in the spring for each Key Priority.  For each Action Step, underlying activities now are being implemented to ensure measurable success.  

Her report included celebrating activities already accomplished, such as the introduction of the CCSD Teaching and Learning Standards that align with Georgia Performance Standards and have been packaged specifically for CCSD teachers; the reorganization of the district’s centralized departments, including decreasing the central office by 2%; and the successful implementation of new standards for appropriate student dress, new guidelines for student cell phone and personal smart device use, and new expectations for the timely submission of student work.

The report’s overview of progress in all four priorities also included an in-depth update on the second Key Priority, focused on effective governance, which was further detailed through a report specifically on its successes.

For that priority, “Elevate the Excellence in effective School Board-Superintendent Governance,” the School Board has embarked over the past few months to accomplish significant work in shaping its tenants of governance.

School Board members have participated in three trainings to accomplish three major initiatives: developing communications protocols; defining their core beliefs for what CCSD must do to meet and exceed community expectations; and setting specific student performance goals for the next three years.  As the School Board complete this work, CCSD will publish a new section on its website to share this important information with the community as a whole.

During Thursday’s work session, the School Board’s newly developed Core Beliefs were shared for the first time, as were the specific student performance goals they set together.

The Core Beliefs are: 

1. All students are highly engaged in their education and capable of reaching their full learning potential.

2. Employees are trusted and supported as professionals and provided with resources to elevate student outcomes.

3. Families and our community are involved partners in student success and can expect all students to receive the best education possible.

4. Schools create positive and welcoming environments as well as have clear expectations and accountability in all academic and operational areas.

These beliefs will guide the School Board as they move forward in not only their governance, but also in their development of new School Board Policies they will draft together beginning this fall.

To set their first student performance goals, the School Board began by accepting shared definitions of student performance and accountability. 

Student performance in CCSD is defined as: “Students are learning more, growing more, and achieving more in a CCSD classroom than they could anywhere else.”  Accountability is defined as: “In CCSD, our goals are clear and when we achieve those goals, we celebrate. When we fall short of achieving those goals, we adjust our practices, that we either inherited or developed, to achieve new outcomes for students.”

For these first student performance goals, the School Board together set three-year goals in reading on grade-level and English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and American Literature, as measured by Georgia Milestones Assessment scores.  To aid them in setting these goals, School Board members reviewed three years’ of testing data for CCSD students, state averages and data from comparable school districts statewide.

The School Board set goals of students improving by 6 percentage points over three years for all grade levels tested, with the exception of seventh grade, for which the goals were set as 4 percentage points for reading and 9 percentage points for ELA.

To implement these goals, CCSD’s Accountability department will be working with School Leadership & Operations assistant superintendents to support school principals in analyzing their school’s student performance data and setting aligned School Improvement Plan goals.  The Accountability department will be regularly sharing student performance reports with the community on its website online here.

As these school-level improvement goals are developed, school principals will engage their faculty in best practices for elevating classroom instruction and use of data to increase student performance. 

After the state releases Georgia Milestones Assessment student performance statewide data on the math portions of the annual test, with an anticipated release later this month, the School Board later this fall will conduct the same goal-setting work for the same grade levels for math.

Ms. Cromer thanked her fellow board members for their dedication to the additional training and collaboration.  “We really think this is going to continue to elevate the excellence in the county.”

Also during the meeting, the School Board reviewed the CCSD’s American Rescue Plan Final Close‐Out Report, which is online here.  The report outlines how CCSD effectively used all federal pandemic funding awarded to the school district over the past four years.  This report is designed to bring public awareness and organizational accountability to the completion of this temporary grant program.  The intentional management of these one-time funds has resulted in excellent preparation for the sunset.

Ms. Poole thanked Chief Financial Officer Ken Owen and his team for their successful planning and leadership to ensure effective use of this temporary funding to support teaching and learning and safety and security.

NEW LEADERS

From left, Dr. Brian Blanton, Joshua Malcom and Dr. Tiffany Watson.

The School Board, as part of its approval Thursday of human resources employment recommendations, appointed three new leaders.

Dr. Brian Blanton will serve as CCSD’s new chief information officer, filling a position recently vacated by retirement.  A 31-year educator, Dr. Blanton began his career as a high school teacher and then library media specialist. His tenure as a Technology leader started in 2007, serving as Henry County Schools’ instructional technology coordinator and advancing to assistant superintendent for technology services in 2016 and to chief information officer in 2018.  

Joshua Malcom will serve as CCSD’s new executive director for capital planning and facilities.  A 27-year construction and facilities professional, Mr. Malcom began his career as a construction project manager and then architectural firm contract administrator. He joined Henry County Schools in 2008 as a facilities supervisor, advancing in 2015 to serve as its Chief Operations Officer, overseeing facilities, maintenance, custodial services, and transportation.

Dr. Tiffany Watson will serve as CCSD’s new early literacy specialist. A 13-year educator, Dr. Watson began her career in private schools as a language and math specialist, classroom teacher and then curriculum coordinator, and currently serves as an assistant professor of education for the University of North Georgia.

The School Board also:

• Heard the monthly financial report, which is online here;
• Heard the monthly capital outlay report, which is online here.  All projects, including construction of the new replacement Cherokee HS campus and Free Home ES campus, are on schedule and within budget;
• Recognized Chief Financial Officer Ken Owen and his team for earning the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Financial Officers Association for its Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.  This report is considered the gold standard in financial reporting, and the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting.  The report is posted each year, along with numerous other financial and operational records, in the Open CCSD transparency section of CCSD’s website online here.  
• Recognized Little River Elementary School as a National PTA School of Excellence Award winner.  Learn more here;
• Recognized Creekview High School FFA as a National Three Star Chapter Award winner.  Learn more here;
• Unanimously approved a proclamation to honor Constitution Week.  Learn more here; and,
• Unanimously approved the renewal of the Partnership Agreement with the Service League of Cherokee County.  Learn more here.