Newspaper Page Text
They’ll Huff and They’ll Puff and
They’ll Blow Your Socks Off!
Check out the racing pigs at the Exchange Club Fair!
Vol. 131, No. 30 - Waynesboro, Ga. 30830
Established in 1882
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - $1.00
Fair weather
Fall is in the air and so is the annual Exchange
Club Fair. Coping with two days of rain, workers
Teen center vandalism
cuts deep for non-profit
CIS director Deandre Davis
surveys a damaged
widescreen television.
FIX IT FAST
To make a monetary or rec
room donation to the teen center,
call 706-554-7213. All contribu
tions are tax deductible, and ev
erything from game tables to elec
tronics are needed.
BY THE NUMBERS
CIS serves 2,052 students
through a number of programs,
including mentoring, tutoring and
after school care. The non-profit
also works with around 75 adults
through parent workshops.
KNOW SOMETHING?
TheTeen Scene burglar alarm
was activated around 10:30 p.m.
last Wednesday. Davis believes the
vandalism was the work of sev
eral teenagers, judging by the
large amount of damage done in
the few minutes before officers
arrived. Anyone with information
is asked to call Waynesboro po
lice at 706-554-8100.
By Elizabeth Billips
lizbillips@yahoo.com
The timing couldn’t be worse.
Just after Communities In
Schools (CIS ) of Burke County
lost a $60,000 federal grant, the
nonprofit organization’s Davis
Road teen center was broken
into.
Nothing appears to be miss
ing, but the vandals did $8-
$10,000 in damage.
"This really makes me mad,”
executive director Deandre
Davis said, pointing to the
kicked in 65-inch television he
needs for parenting classes and
this month’s teen movie night.
“I mean, what was the pur
pose?”
The gang symbols scrawled
across the walls may hold the
answer.
Davis shakes his head as he
surveys the misspelled gang
tags scrawled by markers meant
for student art projects.
He’d like to say it’s coinci
dental but knows there’s more
at play. When it comes to gang
prevention programs in Burke
County, CIS leads the charge.
And while the center may
have been targeted for just that
reason, Davis hopes the damage
can at least serve as a wake-up
call for a community that
doesn’t always acknowledge the
extent of its gang problem.
“This is not really a discour
agement,” he said as he righted
toppled computers and straight
ened overturned shelves. "This
is encouragement for us to push
forward.”
There wasn’t much time for
him to waste. Within minutes of
cleaning up the bulk of the mess,
nearly 25 teens walked through
the doors of the Teen Scene cen
ter to do homework, use the
computer lab and hang out in
the rec room. Good kids, Davis
said, noting that nearly all of
them were among the 60-some-
thing students who spent a good
portion of their summers in
CIS’s leadership camps.
“What we need to be doing
as a community is encouraging
these kids who are not involved
in (gangs) to make Waynesboro
better.”
put in hours after dark Monday to ready the mid
way for opening night. Fortunately for fair patrons,
the rainy weather began to clear out by Tuesday
afternoon. Fair week kicked off last night and will
run through Saturday. Gates open at 5:45 p.m.
through Friday and at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Admis
sion is $3.
The costliest
damage was
done in the
computer lab
Burke County High makes AYP
CHANGE AGENTS
BCHS pricncipal Sam Adkins pointed to a num-
By Anne Marie Kyzer
annemariek@thetruecitizen.com
After years of striving to
meet federal benchmarks and
overcome a number of chal
lenges, Burke County High
School marked a critical aca
demic milestone.
Administrators were notified
Friday afternoon the school
has met criteria for Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP), a set
of stringent requirements for
school improvement set forth
in the No Child Left Behind
Act.
The law has continuously
raised the bar for schools since
it took effect in 2003, making
BCHS’s achievement even
more notable.
BCHS had not made AYP
since the legislation was en
acted.
BCHS principal Sam Adkins
said he immediately made the
announcement over the inter
com to the entire school, rous
ing celebration from students
and teachers alike.
"They were giving high-
fives in the hallways,” Adkins
said, calling it an unbelievable
feeling to see such results. “I
honestly cannot tell who is
more excited, our faculty or
our students. Any change of
such magnitude is difficult for
anyone, but our faculty was
committed to the challenge
and worked to accomplish the
goals that were set. Seeing our
students embrace their accom
plishment has been
rewarding. Our students are
taking ownership in all aspects
of our school, and it is excit
ing to see.”
Superintendent Linda Bailey
called it an “accomplishment
that has taken massive effort
and dedication to achieve.”
"I am so proud of each and
every person who contributed
to this momentous occasion,”
she wrote in an email after the
news was shared at the central
office.
When AYP results were first
released this summer, state of
ficials indicated BCHS did not
meet requirements despite
soaring scores on standardized
tests. The school had allegedly
fallen short on its graduation
rate, although the rate has more
than doubled in the last de
cade. Local administrators
appealed the decision, citing
errors in the way the 2011 rate
was calculated. Some 29 stu
dents had been counted as
dropouts that had actually
transferred from the school,
not dropped out, according to
Burke County Director of Fed
eral Programs Allen
Kicklighter. Those corrections
coupled with summer school
graduates boosted the school’s
graduation rate to 79.6 percent,
enough improvement to make
the grade.
“We are absolutely excited
and the state is excited for us,”
Kicklighter said, noting the
benefit of the School Im
provement Grant the school
received last year. “There are
very few schools across the
state that have been able to do
what they need to do with the
money to achieve this level of
improvement in the first year.”
Waynesboro Primary School
and SGA Elementary also met
AYP requirements, as reported
over the summer. Blakeney El
ementary and Burke County
Middle schools did not make
AYP. Despite meeting require
ments for test scores among
the total population, the num
ber of passing test scores
among students with disabili
ties, who take the same test as
other students, flagged both
schools.
ber of factors that helped the school show marked
improvement, including:
• The School Improvement Grant (received last
year), which allowed the school to add person
nel, technology, and other needed infrastructure.
The grant also called for restructuring the school
and developing teams to address student behav
ior, student attendance, teacher attendance and
graduation rate data.
• Support from district personnel and Board of
Education members, who assisted on action
teams, conducted classroom observations and
supported changes requested by administrators.
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