Newspaper Page Text
Sept. 11 - Sept. 17, 2003
VOL. 22 No. 1123
FIFTY CENTS
www.augustafocus.com
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Visit JAPANfest
Sept. 20-21
DETAILS on page 1B
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Photos of Helen Levitt and
Angela West are on exhib
it at Jackson Fine Art in
Atlanta through October.
See STORY on page 1B
CSRA College
Night set for
Sept. 16
CSRA College Night will
be held at the Augusta-
Richmond County Civic
Center on Tuesday, Sep
tember 16, 2003, from 5-
8:30 p.m. The event is
free and open to the pub
lic.
College Night informs
students and their par
ents of college education
opportunities across the
U.S. Juniors and seniors
can register to win one of
13 SI,OOO scholarships
and a computer. Over 160
colleges will be present!
Visit the CSRA Classic
table, #l3B. For more
information, call
706.722.4222, ext. 202.
An Open Letter To African Americans From Latinos ~ See 8A
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Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South
Commuissioner uses obstacles
as stepping stones toward success
By Haley A. Dunbar
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Commissioner Lee Beard learned
years ago to use obstacles as step
ping stones. When a higher up in
the Richmond County Board of
Education told him he wouldn’t be
promoted because the county
already had one black in a similar
position, he set his sights even high
er. )
Now, some 30-years later, the
commissioner has to his credit a
successful career as an educator, an
entrepreneur and a public servant.
Born in Columbia County in 1935,
Laney feat defies the odds
Dramatic rise in SAT test scores
is unparalleled in system’s history.
By Theresa Minor
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
It’s an academic feat unrivaled
in the recent history of the Rich
mond County School system — a
106 point gain on the school’s
average SAT score in just one year
— and it happened at Lucy Laney
High School.
The news of the school’s per
formance caught some in the edu
cation community by surprise.
The reaction stems from the fact
that the student population at
Laney is predominantly from eco
nomically depressed neighbor
hoods coupled with a stereotypical
view that their socio-economic
challenges impede academic
achievement. The pundits routine
ly underestimate Laney students
according to Vanetta Lawrence,
assistant principal of instruction
at Laney High School.
“No one expects them to per
form. We have the same type of
students as they have at any other
school. So I don’t understand why
they don’t expect students to
achieve,” said Lawrence. “I think
my students feel slighted because
it seems that they have to always
prove themselves, prove what
we're about.”
The new school average is an
increase from 850 to 956. More
significantly, Laney has moved
from tenth in the district (last) to
the fifth highest score overall. Stu
Superintendent unveils anti-truancy initiative
ATLANTA
State Superintendent of
Schools Kathy Cox
announced the formation
of the Student Attendance
Taskforce following an
extended presentation on
the truancy problem in
Georgia before the State
Board of Education.
The taskforce, to be com
posed of superintendents,
legislators, school resource
officers, juvenile court
judges, district attorneys
and other education stake
holders across the state,
will provide guidance and
assistance to school sys
tems struggling with tru
ancy, review successful
statewide and national
models addressing the
problem, and make recom
mendations of necessary
policy changes to the State
Board of Education.
The announcement fol
lowed Deputy Superinten
dent of Policy & External
Affairs Stuart Bennett’s
presentation on the truan
cy problem in Georgia.
High truancy rates have
long been a problem for
Georgia’s schools, Bennett
noted, and were again the
subject of much attention
’ T
.
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I:ee Beard
dents are under
standably elated
by the school’s
academic attain
ment.
“It made me
feel happy
because most of
the time you
hear bad things
about Laney
and finally
we're on the
spot for some
thing good. And
it’s also academ
ic,” said Laney
senior Sherie
Gilford.
Gilford has
taken both the
PSAT and SAT.
She expects to
retake the SAT
and make no
lower than 1200 out of a possible
1600. That was echoed by fellow
students Frank Maddox and
Jamar Wright.
“It puts the pressure on us but
we're kind of used to pressure,”
said Maddox.
Students and teachers alike
attribute the elevated score to two
SAT preparatory courses, Triumph
and Princeton Review. Eleventh
graders are introduced to PSAT
test taking skills and concepts in
Triumph. As seniors they get addi
tional help in the course called
Princeton Review to prep them for
recently after the
announcement that many
schools across the state did
not meet federal accounta
bility standards under the
No Child Left Behind Act
because they did not have
enough students partici
pating on tests.
Under No Child Left
Behind, at least 95 percent
of students must partici
pate on state assessments
for all subgroups enrolled
in a school or school system
in order for the school or
system to meet Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP). Out
of the 846 schools across
the state that did not make
AYP, 536 did not reach
standards solely for failing
to reach the 95 percent par
ticipation threshold.
That number “should not
have come as a surprise,”
said Superintendent Cox.
“It was clear when Georgia
first began its work on our
AYP plan that the partici
pation rate would pose a
challenge because of our
struggles with high truan
cy rates and a 40 percent
dropout rate. This rule
shows how important
attendance is. We don’t
need to improve the partic-
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Lucy Laney High School students earn the title
of “whiz kids” after pumping up the school’s
SAT average by 106 points in just a year. Pic
tured in front, Frank Maddox. From left to
right, Sherie Gilford and Jamar Wright. Photo
by Theresa Minor
ipation rate alone; we have
to improve the attendance
rate and the dropout rate,
as well. Truancy obviously
plays a significant
role in both of those
issues.”
Attendance rate is one
among a list of additional
indicators on which ele
mentary and middle
schools are measured
under No Child Left
Behind. The additional
indicator for high schools is
graduation rate. The par
ticipation rate issue has
renewed interest among
schools and school systems
to develop programs that
prevent and reduce truancy
and the juvenile court
problems that often result
from student absenteeism.
In his presentation, Ben
nett outlined several state
and national models for
success in dealing with the
problem.
Fannin County, one of
the success stories men
tioned, made a presenta
tion of its own. A partner
ship between the school
system and the district
juvenile court, Fannin
County’s truancy program
has been extremely suc-
the 12th of 13 children, Beard was
sent to Augusta to live with an older
sibling at age seven when his moth
er died. He graduated from Immac
ulate Conception High School
before earning a Bachelor of Science
degree from West Virginia State
University and a Master’s in Guid
ance Counseling from Indiana
State. .
I wanted to be a lawyer when 1
started college — my degree is in
political science. But at that time,
in the late ‘sos, black kids were
graduating from school and going
into teaching because there was
nothing else for us to venture into,”
the SAT. The standardized test is
used widely by colleges and univer
sities to determine student admis
sion.
“It teaches us to break down the
question. We’re learning that the
answer is right there in the ques
tion,” said Wright about the prep
courses.
As for next year, school officials
say the bar’s been raised and
there’s no turning back.
“Expectations are still high. We
have the same standard as any
other school and we enforce those
standards,” said Lawrence.
cessful in encouraging the
community to take truancy
seriously. Five years ago, 38
percent of the children in
Gilmer County missed 10
King’s widow reaffirms his vision
b
Yy T ~ i
3 f’ f..i-" H ,“ i 6
Coretta Scott King reaffirmed the vision by the late
Martin Luther King Jr. in his “} Have a Dream” speech.
She spoke that all should have the quest for not only
racial justice, but also for the use of nonviolence as the
best way to achieve social reforms. “’Again and again,’
he said, ‘We must rise to the majestic heights of meet
ing physical force with soul force,”” she quotes her late
husband. Photo by Lillian Wan
PRSRT STD
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PAID
AUGUSTA GA
PERMIT NO 302
Beard told the Augusta Focus in a
recent interview.
While many would have given lit
tle energy to a career chosen by cir
cumstance, the commissioner
worked hard, teaching at schools all
over Richmond County, and by the
age of 33 he was appointed principal
at Weed Elementary School. A year
later, the young Beard had the
opportunity to play an integral part
in Richmond County history.
“They elected two schools to take
part in the school integration —
that was Weed Elementary and Ter
race Manor. Those were the first
two schools integrated in Richmond
County,” said Beard.
The integration meant much to a
man educated in a segregated Rich
mond County school system. And
while it may have opened doors for
African-American students, black
educators were still falling victim to
racist hiring and promotion prac
tices — practices experienced first
hand by Beard.
“In the early ‘7os I was told, ‘You
have the ability and the experience
to be an assistant superintendent
but you can’t be promoted because
we have one black up here already,””
said the commissioner.
But determined to advance in
spite of that, the commissioner and
his wife Betty, whom he married in
1960, began acquiring real estate
and opened two package stores. In
1991, one year before he retired
from the Richmond County school
system, the couple purchased two
radio stations that they would suc-
See BEARD, page 3A
Book Signing for
Focus columnist
Watkins promotes new book
at Borders
Dr. Ralph Watkins, a sociology
professor at Augusta State Univer
sity, will be at Borders Books Music
& Case on Friday, September 12,
2003, and Saturday, September 13,
to speak and sign his new book, /
Ain’t Afraid to Speak My Mind.
Dr. Watkins will be available to
sign books from 4-7 p.m. Friday,
with an author’s talk beginning at
5:30 pm. For Saturday, a book
signing will be held 2-6 p.m., with
an author’s talk at 2:30 p.m.
As faculty at ASU, Watkins teach-
See WATKINS, page 6A
or more days of school a
year; this year, that figure
had dropped to 22 percent.
See TRUANCY, page 3A