About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2017)
Friday, February 17,2017 Lake Oconee News Page A3 GREENE COUNTY Greene’s cost per student well above state average ST. MARY’S Stylish and Affordable Mark Engel engel@lakeoconeenews.us lift recliners in a variety of fabrics that complement every home and decorative style. 9 Buildings of Furniture • Downtown Eatonton 706-485-2261 John Hammonds arrived at St. Mary’s with extreme weakness and arm pain. Emergency diagnostics revealed that he was having a “widow-maker” heart attack. His strong heart had kept him alive long enough to reach the hospital, but time was running out. St. Mary’s rushed him to treatment, re-opening the blocked blood vessel in his heart and saving his life. Now, he is free to return to the life he loves. When heart attack symptoms arise, call 911. St. Mary’s is your heart hospital. See John s story at www.stmarysathens.org There it was. Up on the screen at the Greene County Board of Education work session on February 9. The bar graph showed that in 2016, the average cost of educating a child in the Greene County school system was $12,706. The state average for school systems with more than 500 students was $9,015. School Superintendent Chris Houston pointed out that the figures came from the Georgia Department of Education and did not include the cost of capital improvements, debt servic ing, pre-Kindergarten and nutrition. Broken out separately, the average cost per pupil at Lake Oconee Academy was $11,016 while the remain der of the Greene County system spent $13,426 per child, according to Hous ton’s “State of the System” presentation. At the same time, the state rated the quality of education at Greene County schools last year as below average on the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). The eval uation considers student achievement and progress as well as the school’s learning climate and grad uation rate. The Greene County com posite scores for elemen tary and middle school grades, including those at Lake Oconee Academy and Union Point Steam Academy, were evaluated as slightly lower than the state average. The Greene County composite for high school students, including LOA, was more than 15 percent lower than the state average. If separated out, Lake Oconee Academy was given near perfect scores in all grade levels. School board chairman Mike Lynch noticed that no actual test scores had been presented. “Did Georgia milestone tests show any difference compared to state and other county scores?” he asked Houston. “It does show we have a long way to go for achieve ment,” Houston admitted. The superintendent’s report was requested by the Board of Education to show a wide shot of the key problems that must be tackled by the new board and staff. Houston, five of the dis trict’s 7 principals and about 40 percent of the teachers are new since January of last year. Three of the five school board members started just last month. From time to time Mark Engel/Staff The Greene County Board of Education discussed school performance a Monday's monthly meeting, (left to right) John Heinen (Dist. 4), Clarence Hunt (Dist. 3), School Superintendent Chris Houston, Board Chair Mike Lynch, Joe Bashore (Dist. 2) and Board Vice-Chair Velicia Cobb (Dist. 1). 2016 Operating Cost Per Student By GA School District Schools with 500+ Students $14,000 $13,000 $12,000 $11,000 $10,000 $9,000 $8,000 $7,000 $6,000 2" d Most $13/426 $11,229 49% Greene Ex. LOA LOA Greene Avg. State Avg. Morgan Putnam GA Department of Education Graphic shows how Greene County spends more money, per pupil, on education than most of the school systems in Georgia. throughout Thursday’s where we need to be as a work session, it was obvious the old and the new Board members are still trying to adjust to each other. Lynch, Joe Bashore (Dist. 2) and John Heinen (Dist. 4) are six weeks into their first term. Lynch, and to a lesser extent Bashore and Heinen, seems anxious to move ahead with new ideas to improve the school system. “When you look at the advantages this county has in terms of dollars ... size, we’re not Atlanta,” Lynch said. “We have volunteers that we can tap. We have a model in the county that is outstanding ... and I think we have a board that is basically ready to try new things. One of the things we need to do as a board and as a school system is to agree on what our objectives are, where we want to end up. And I personally don’t want to end up where we are now.” Clarence Hunt (Dist. 3) is serving his third year on the board while Vice- Chair Velicia Cobb (Dist. 1) has been on the board for seven years. They also want Greene County schools to get better but Cobb wants the new staff and teachers, hired by the previous Board, be given a chance to show what they can do before big changes are made. “Do I think that we are school district? No,” said Cobb, “but we need to ac knowledge any growth that we are seeing from our students.” “Have you seen any growth?” she asked Houston. ‘We’re doing well moving students from year to year,” responded Houston. “We are teaching the right subjects. Talking about the right things. But the depth of knowledge ... whether we’re going to problem solving, strategic thinking or even long range strategic thinking ... that’s where we need to do a little better.” Houston’s report also documented a 2 percent overall loss in the number of students from 1998 to 2016 while education property taxes soared 400-percent in the same period. 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