Friday, December 11,2015
Lake Oconee News
Page A5
Letters to the Editor
Letters must be signed and include your full address and phone number for verification; only name and town are printed.
Submissions may be edited for content and length. The deadline is 1 p.m. Monday. Send to news@lakeoconeenews.us
Georgia Milestone Test Scores —
The Rest of the Story
To the Editor:
In recent articles in the local newspapers, Ms.
Rotonya Rhodes, Assistant Superintendent of
Curriculum and Instruction for Greene County
School System, described the process of ad
ministering Milestone Testing in schools across
Georgia but did not give the scores for Greens
boro. Dr. Philip Mellor, Superintendent of Greene
County Schools, posted an article showing the
Greensboro Schools test results compared to
neighboring counties, but did not give the actual
scores. Dr. Otho Tucker, Superintendent of Lake
Oconee Academy, provided a summary of LOA
test results compared to leading schools in the
state but did not give the local scores.
The Georgia Milestones Assessment evaluates
students’ proficiency in a variety of subjects and
reaches conclusions at various levels. Data is col
lected for each school system showing what per
centage of students achieve a test result of “pro
ficient” or “distinguished” in each subject. The
charts to he right show the Milestone results for
GCSS including LOA.
The chart speaks for itself and paints a positive
picture of what LOA has been able to achieve. At
the same time, it paints a sad picture of what’s
happening in the rest of Greene County Schools...
continuing evidence our children attending
Greene County Schools are not receiving the edu
cation we are paying for. And it is not their fault.
The results at LOA did not occur overnight. It
took 8.5 years of dedicated effort to get this out
standing result. It took an undying dedication to
implementing a comprehensive learning curricu
lum and to improve instruction constantly. It took
selection of teachers with excellent qualifications
and a track record of success in other schools. It
took convincing and coaching parents about their
role in their children’s education. It took a coordi
nated effort by administration at LOA, teachers,
and parents to make learning a high priority for
the children and to create a student mindset not
only that they could learn but that they must
learn to prepare for a successful life.
So if we want learning in GCSS to improve, we
need to ask;
• Who is setting a curriculum to challenge the
students?
• Who is in charge of hiring (only) qualified
teachers, and eliminating any who are not
doing the job?
• Who is responsible for getting parents involved
and effective in managing their children’s edu
cation?
• Who is holding everyone involved accountable
for results?
And perhaps most importantly, where are the
leaders who can make this all happen?
In that we have had poor results in Greene
County Schools for years, it is clear the current es
tablishment is not up to the task at hand. I believe
we have a highly qualified superintendent in Dr.
Philip Mellor.
However, the environment fostered by the
board of education is not conducive for him to
lead change. The LOA model works and can be
applied to benefit the children throughout Greene
County, if only the BOE would stop holding it
back.
Gerry Giesler
Greensboro, GA
100
9th Grade Literature & Composition
CD
LOA GCHS PCHS MCHS
110
Analytic Geometry
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
LOA GCHS PCHS MCHS
Biology
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
LOA GCHS PCHS MCHS
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
Physical Science
Parable III - The Stranger
Editor:
I speak of the parable of
a wise stranger visiting a
remote village once called
Anatevka who when asked
about her plans for the long
weekend replied: “Every
day and every weekend is
long when you’re a stranger
in a remote village search
ing for the truth among
the villagers you meet in a
school, a shop, a restaurant,
on the street, or read about
in the local newspaper.” And
so the parable of the long
weekend of a wise stranger
seeking the truth was re
counted among all those
strangers who visit another
remote village named....
The Elder Sage
aka Bob Landau
Eatonton
SEE MORE OPINIONS, PAGE A7
GCSS, LOA and
the taxpayers
While working for the
past 15-plus years with
Greene County children,
I have been involved with
many education-related
issues and interfaced with
a number of elected and
appointed officials. Based
upon that experience I
offer the following personal
opinions and recommenda
tions.
Greene County School
System
Far too many students
have been cheated out of
the education they deserve
for far too many years.
Though there have been
some notable recent im
provements, the academic
results continue to be
inexcusably lower than
most other Georgia public
schools.
Three suggested priori
ties that could make a short
term difference:
• Implement a plan that
would significantly
improve the retention
rate of current good
teachers and the recruit
ment of additional good
teachers.
• Dramatically improve
the overall learning en
vironment, with special
emphasis on consistently
and in some cases per
manently separating the
few constantly misbe
having students from the
many who want to learn.
• Work with committed
parents and community
leaders to encourage a
much larger percentage
of other parents to take
more ownership in and
responsibility for the ed
ucation of their children.
Greene County Board of
Education
All eight boards elected
over the past fifteen years
have been dysfunctional.
Tom
Kelly
Guest Columnist
Some recently involved
residents would have you
believe that the multitude of
problems are solely the fault
of our current BOE, which
has been seated for less
than one year. Nonsense,
the blame and dysfunction
goes back many years and
continues unabated.
Our current BOE should
focus much more time on
improving the academic
product, supporting Su
perintendent Mellor and
working as a team, with
much less pot stirring and
grandstanding.
Superintendent Philip
Mellor
Mr. Mellor is the sixth
school superintendent I
have worked with and is the
most capable by a very wide
margin. He needs and
deserves support from the
community and the BOE
and a reasonable amount of
time to dig GCSS out of the
huge hole inherited from
his five predecessors.
Lake Oconee Academy
LOA has been one of the
best additions to Greene
County in the past decade.
This high performing
charter school has provided
a greatly needed educa
tion option for some of our
children.
SEE SCHOOLS » A7
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