About The Advance. (Vidalia, Ga.) 2003-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2023)
She Ahuancg The ADVANCE, April 19, 2023/Page 3A Reid Gives Vidalia BOE Curriculum Update Photo by Makaylee Randolph KEEPING THE TRADITION - Vidalia High School has a tradition of having a successful Literary Team, as they have captured the last 10 Region Literary Championships. At the meeting on April 11, the students from this year's State Runner Up Literary Team were honored for their hard work. Front Row, L to R: Literary Coach Margaret Pournelle, Sage Powell, Dottie McDaniel, Shannon Collins, Autumn Harris, Jada Clements. Back Row, L to R: Landry Wheeler, Hudson Sumner, Alan Johnson, Andrew Davis, Cole Dean, Micah Davis Brown, Literary Coach Alton West. Not pic tured: Bralie Carey, Gregory Houston, Paradyse Jacobs, Jayla Phillips, By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail.com Vidalia City Schools Assistant Superintendent Sandy Reid provided the Vidalia Board of Educa tion with an update on recent curriculum discov eries and planning for next year at the Board’s regular meeting on Tuesday April 11. During her monthly curriculum report, Reid spoke to the Board about the school system’s recent Early Literacy Review, which revealed the trends of strengths and weak nesses with students from grades K-3. “We know that there are some trends that we are seeing that we could not quite understand in the data, so we actually sought the services of an outside consultant, Dr. [Tina] Anderson of An derson & Ward Education al Services, [who] also is a professor with the Univer sity of Georgia Education Division,” Reid explained. “She teaches their dyslexia and ‘Teaching Reading’ classes.” Reid said that she had requested that Anderson do an extensive literacy review for grades K-3. An derson spent three days with the students, admin istrators, teachers, and instructional coaches to perform a full needs as sessment of the literacy in these grades. “This helped us understand why we are seeing the trends and data that we are seeing,” Reid remarked. During this assess ment, Anderson ran focus groups, did curriculum analyses, and observed in struction to discover the areas which needed im provement in literacy cur riculum. “What she found makes so much sense, and I think it is going to be a huge help in the upcoming year,” Reid told the Board. According to Ander son, one of the areas which had caused some literacy issues with students was the inconsistency between teachers in each grade. Reid explained that these inconsistencies did not come from poor perfor mance by the teachers, but rather from the teachers’ variation of experience and professional develop ment. In an effort to ad dress this issue, a single literacy instruction coach will serve all students from grades K-2. “This creates an important bridge from one school to another [as the grade 2 students will have recently moved to Sally D. Meadows Elemen tary School] and will also bridge the transition from grade to grade in these vi tal years,” she emphasized. Another weakness found in the assessment was that some students’ lack of phonemic aware ness, meaning they merely memorize words rather than learning the phonics of each letter combination, which helps them to sound out multisyllabic or com plex words. To address this issue, Reid said that the teachers had recently com pleted a phonemic aware ness workshop in which they learned a deeper un derstanding of the concept and how to promote it to students. This knowledge and tools gained will be implemented in instruc tion. Remainder of Report Reid also spoke to the Board members on the re cent milestone data, and explained why the school system chose to compare the results from each year to the state average. “You cannot compare apples to oranges - grade 6 results cannot be compared to grade 8 results,” she em phasized. “Also, you can not compare the same group of students’ scores from grade to grade - cer tain grade level tests are historically harder than others. Thus, we compare our scores to the state av erage because if the test is hard one year, the state av erage will reflect it.” She commented on student performance based on milestone data. “When I did the trend analysis, in all areas, we were close to the state av erage. We drop in grades 4 and 5, we are consistent in grade 6, then start climb ing back up in grades 7 and 8,” she said. Reid told the Board members that she was hoping to work with the First District RESA for a comprehensive needs assessment of the entire school system, which will help administrators better understand how to im prove the district. Literary Team Recognition The Vidalia High School Literary Team was recognized at the meeting for its runner-up finish at the recent state competi tion. Superintendent Gar rett Wilcox began the recognition by telling at tendees that he wanted to point out two things. “Many moons ago, finan cially, the country wasn’t in as good of shape as it is today. You can go back and do the research, but we went through a period of time where we had to make a lot of cuts, and one of the things that I am most proud of is that we did not have to do any thing with the chorus and some of our fine arts pro grams at the high school,” he shared. “We were able to make it work, and part of that is probably because of the community more than you realize. We did have to get rid of music and art for our elementary- and primary-aged kids, but the great thing was, as soon as things turned around, we were able to put it back,” he continued. Wilcox’s second point was the auditorium and theatre facility that was built into the Vidalia High School, as he felt that addi tion was imperative for the school. “There was a lot of support to do what we did in the auditorium to sup port what you guys have just done - that made me happy. You never had to experience moving the caf eteria tables so you could have One Act Play prac tice in the old lunchroom, so thank your lucky stars,” he told the students with a laugh. “I am still proud that we have a new audito rium and a new building, and that you guys have a place to call home.” Vidalia High School Principal Bruce Mulkey then took over the recog nition, sharing his prior experience with budget cuts and fine arts. “Hav ing been to other places as a high school principal and having to see some of these cuts that Dr. Wil cox was talking about, and then having been here, I can tell you first hand that those cuts are deep and impact our children and our families. It’s a tribute to you guys that you were able to pull that off, and I think that you’re going to see that there has been a return on that investment,” he stated. “When I first got to Vidalia High School, one of the first things that [For mer Principal John Sharpe] did was walk me down the hall and show me the Lit erary Region Champion ships. There are 9 of them in a row. And as we looked at them, [Sharpe] said, ‘Mr. Mulkey, if this doesn’t happen this year, it will be your fault,”’ Mulkey remi nisced with a laugh. “The pressure was on - I had nothing to do with their wins, but their potential loss was on me.” According to Mulkey, the recent change in re gional divisions had wor ried the Literary Team, as two larger schools with impressive fine arts pro grams were now in the lo cal team’s region. Yet, the team prevailed. “They did not only win the Literary Region Competition - they dominated it,” he em phasized. “Out of 12 total events, we took first place in 11 of them.” Upon that region vic tory, several competitors qualified for the State Literary Competition, in which two state titles were won, and the team came in second behind a single private school. Alan John son took home the gold for humorous interpreta tion, while his duo inter pretation performance with Dottie McDaniel also landed a state champion ship. “We are very, very proud of them,” Mulkey told the Board. Vidalia High School Literary Team Advisors Margaret Pournelle and Alton West also spoke on the accomplishment. “What is so wonderful about this situation is that the students still main tained what was started with them early on in their school experience,” West told the Board. “They are self-motivated, and it can’t get any better than that because they’re just like a self-cleaning oven or a frost-free refrigerator - they work on their own, and that is the highest level that we can expect for them to accomplish. I am glad to have been a small part of what they have done.” Pournelle added, “I was just thinking about those days that Dr. Wilcox was talking about - our sets were in the back corner of my room and we’d haul them through the hall ev ery single day to the cafete ria for practice. So, to have our own space to rehearse and to have the arts valued at Vidalia High School is such a blessing and I am so grateful for it. I’m so proud of our kids. They have the best work ethic of any kids that you will find and this would not happen without that, they work so hard, they care about it, they’re passionate, and they are leaving a legacy behind for those that are coming up.” State Champion Alan Johnson then addressed the Board and attendees on behalf of the team. “Thank you to the parents, to everyone, and especial ly, to the team I have, the team we all have. Without us seeing each other as family, we would not have been able to accomplish this, it’s from the help of everyone here.” “No matter if it’s liter ary or fine arts or JROTC, the hope is that everyone finds somewhere to get plugged in, something to work out,” Wilcox con cluded. “Our administra tors do a good job at giving our kids the opportunity to do that. Thank you all!” Personnel Resignations, which will be effective at the end of the current school year, were accepted for Sally D. Meadows Special Education Teacher Esther Quintanilla and Vidalia High School Audio/Video Teacher Jackson Sharpe. The following new hires were made for the 2023-2024 school year: Rachel Paradise - Sally D. Meadows Elementary School, Ashley Weinberg - J.D. Dickerson Paraprofes- sional, Jay Cravey - Vidalia High School Marketing Teacher. Elizabeth Harvey was also hired as a JROTC paraprofessional, effective immediately. Action Items Board members ap proved to continue con tracting Uniti Fiber for the school system’s wide area internet network and Pineland for the back-up internet access, which is used when the wide area network is down. Rep. Leesa Hagan to Speak At Wheeler Chamber Banquet C WHEELER COUNTY STATE BANK Member FDIC 49 W. Main St.. Alamo. GA • 912-568-7191 District 156 State Rep resentative Leesa Hagan, R-Lyons, will be the key note speaker at the Wheel er County Chamber of Commerce’s 27th annual banquet on Friday, April 28. The banquet will be gin at 7 p.m. in the James Stapleton Gymnasium on the campus of the Wheeler County School in Alamo. Tickets are $20 and are now on sale at the Cham ber office in Alamo or from any member of the Cham ber Board of Directors. The evening will include a catered dinner and door prizes. The public is invited to attend. Highlights of the meeting will include rec- Representative Leesa Hagan ognition of the Wheeler County Man and Woman of the Year, as well as rec ognition of the Wheeler Youth Academy. For more information, call 912-568-7808.
