Newspaper Page Text
"The Summerville News, Thursday, January 22, 1987
8-A
from front page
students may quit going to the county
schools weeks or months later and end
up as county, rather than Trion,
statistics, they think. Trion school per
sonnel say, however, that Trion's selec
tivity isn't as stringent as commonly
believed and the system's restrictive
policies are based more on space than
on academic achievement.
IMPOSSIBLE
But state, Chattooga and Trion
education officials tend to agree on at
least one major point: the role of the
home and parental emphasis on educa
tion are prime factors in determining
whether a student will graduate from
high school or drop out of classes. They
also agree that it's almost impossible for
a teacher or counselor to convince a
youngster to stay in school after he's
decided to quit. Logic and facts seem to
have no impact on educational decisions
by youngsters.
In 1984, workers with a seventh
grade education made an average of
$13,375 per year nationwide. High
school graduates averaged $17,672 and
college graduates earned $25,390 that
ear.
g “They (students who decide to quit
school) can always come up with ex
amples of people who quit school and
now make $60,000 a year," said Bill Kin
éy‘ superintendent of the Trion City
ystem and newly installed president of
the Chattooga Chamber of Commerce.
What dropouts ignore, he pointed out,
is that for every exception to the rule
there are thousands who are stuck in
menial jobs without futures. **We've got
to convince kids to play the percen
tages,”’ he added.
“The thing that determines the
dropout rate is economic conditions,”
i?eculated Chattooga School Supt. Don
ayes. "'lf you have a good economic
cendition, you have a lot of kids who
drop out and get a job."" But when jobs
aren't plentiful, he added, youngsters
tend to stay in school and more even go
to college.
ANALYSIS
Billy G. Alred, a Georgia Depart
ment of Education statistician, produc
ed an LlnderFraduate paper on the
dropout problem in the spring, 1985.
While it was based on state statistics,
it is not an Education Department
document.
Although the dropout rate in
Georgia — and in Chattooga County —
has dropped steadily since the turn of
the century, the current concern over
students quitting school comes when
the schools’ “*holding power™ is at its
highest. But, Alred said, ‘it is the alar
ming number of school dropouts which
Erompts a current focus on the pro
lem.”
To many individuals and groups, a
nationwide study found “‘the causes and
effects of the dropout problem lie sole
ly in the hands of administrators and
teachers.”” However, Alred said his and
other national research has indicated
that dropping out of school *‘is symp
tomatic of many underlying factors.
These factors besides schools (instruc
tion and administration) include socio
economic, academic, geographic and
other external variables ... many of
these variables...lie outside of
school.”
Alred's study involved only secon
dary schools during the school year
1982-83 and included Chattooga High
and Trion High.
FAMILY VIEW
“In my research,” Alred told The
News, "I think it boils down to ‘how
does your family feel about education.’
The socio-economic factor is a major
determinant, he concluded.
The importance of education to a
community and how a family em
phasizes the necessity tor an education
are prime factors in a school system'’s
dropout rate, Hayes agreed. I think
there is where we're having the
breakdown.”
The parental level of education and
reading material kept in the house ex
ert a fairly strong influence, Alred said,
while parental earnings don’t measure
as strongly as one would expect.
As the number of school guidance
counselors increases and as the ratio of
counselors to students decreases, the in
cidence of leaving school before gradua
tion decreases, Alred found.
COUNSELORS
The Chattooga system doesn’t have
any counselors in its elementary
schools. They aren't required by the
state. It hopes to add a counselor at
Summerville Middle School next year.
Georgia high schools must have one
counselor for each 500 students or part
thereof. Chattooga High, with a bit over
900 students in grades nine through 12,
has two counselors. Trion High, with an
enrollment around 400, has one
counselor.
Although it would be expensive,
counselors on the elementary school
level might help encourage youngsters
to stay in school longer, Supt. Hayes
said. Principals can usually spot poten
tial dropouts by the second grade, he
added, and counselors might be able to
encourage youngsters and let them
know someone cares about how well
they do in school.
Statewide, Alred found the highest
correlation with the dropout rate to be
“holding power converse.”" In other
words, the greater the number of
students completing the ninth grade
who graduated three Isq/ears later, the
greater the system'’s "holding power."
In his statistical survey, the lower the
number for a system, the greater its
holding power and, theoretically, the
lower its dropout rate.
However, that analysis apparently
didn’t hold true for the Chattooga or
Trion systems. Chattooga's ho%ding
power was listed at 40.74 while Trion's
was 48.38. Yet, Chattooga's dropout
rate was 11.59 percent while Trion's was
7.72 percent in 1982-83.
Afl'ed said he wasn't sure whether
the figures were the result of a data en
try error or an anomaly affecting only
the two systems.
FREE LUNCHES
Chattooga had 49 percent of its
Chattooga’s Dropout Rate Highest In State
students who didn't receive free and
reduced price school lunches in 1982-83
while 79 percent of Trion's students
didn't receive free or reduced price lun
ches. However, Alred said that variable
isn't a reliable predictor of the dropout
rate. He pointed to the Atlanta City
system which had a dropout rate of 5.23
percent but with only 19 percent of its
students not receiving free or reduced
price lunches.
“1 don't know,” Supt. Hayes said
when asked why Chattooga iad the
hi\f}hest dropout rate in the state,
“Whether it's been the economy and
Eeople leaving the county...l don't
now, I really don’t know."
Jack Herring, principal of Chattooga
High, said the state figures on the coun
ty's dropout rate may be somewhat
flawed because the county system's
method of reporting dropouts may not
be identical to that of other systems.
Alred said the reporting system is
su;g)osed to be the same statewide and
said that any errors would generally be
statistically insignificant, especially
over a period of several years.
DIFFICULT’
Herring also pointed out that it's dif
ficult to determine from spring to fall
whether some students have sropped
out, moved to another state or transfer
red to another school. For example, he
said, if the eighth grade had 275 on its
rolls at the end of one school year and
only 235 show up for the ninth grade the
next fall, it's dit‘:’icult for the system to
find out what hapgened to the 40
students who didn't show up for classes.
It's easier to account for students dur
ing a school year, he said.
Still, Herring said the county schools
do have a significant dropout problem,
even if state figures for the system
aren't entirely accurate.
Supt. Hayes said John Hayes, Chat
tooga's visiting teacher, makes a con
centrated effort each fall to find the *‘no
shows,’" using a computer and data on
the children's last known address. Some
are never located, the superintendent
said, although the number is usually
reduced to a half-dozen or so. Most of
the time, the system finds that the ‘‘no
shows'" have moved from the county, he
indicated.
In 1974, 448 students entered
kindergarten in the county schools, Her
ring pointed out on a chart. But in 1983,
only 277 of that number entered the
ninth grade. The missing 171 either
dropped out of school or moved to
another state or enrolled in another
system, Herring said. The only way the
high school knows a student has enroll
ed in another school is if it requests a
transcript of the student’s grades, he
added.
60 PERCENT
The 11.9 percent dropout rate in
1985-86 and the 12.8 percent in 1984-85
are misleading on the low side, Herring
said, because they are for only one year.
If the annual average holds for the five
year period from the eighth grade to the
12th grade, the accumulated dropout
rate would be almost 60 percent during
that period of time.
“Only 66 percent of those who
started in kindergarten in 1974 actual
ly got to high school,” he said, “*and onl
62 percent of those entering the nint%
grade graduated.” Of the 277 who
entered the ninth grade in Chattooga in
1983, 79 percent made it to the 12th
grade, he added. Eighty-eight percent of
the 277 got to the 10th grade and 80 per
cent got to the 11th grade.
Chattooga is becoming more of a
retirement area with young child
bearing couples more and more moving
to other areas, Herring said. In 1960, he
pointed out, 642 youngsters entered the
first grade but in 1986, only 402 entered
the first grade.
MORE GRADUATES
As indicated by national research,
proportionately more students are
graduating from high school than ever
before. For example, Herring said 118
graduated in 1960 and 150 seniors
graduated last year.
Several years ago, it wasn't uncom
mon to enroll between 950 and 1,100
students at Chattooga High, Herring
said, now the school considers itself
lucky if it enrolls 900 each August.
The percentage of students
graduating takes a dip every time
school standards increase, Herring said,
adding that the Quality Basic Educa
tion Act (QBE) will likely result in a
marked increase in the statewide
dropout rate.
QBE'S EFFECT
Trion's Kinzy agreed, saying many
students won't accept the cKallenge of
QBE and will opt, instead, to quit
school. In the 19605, there was a lot of
concern about the dropout rate and, as
a consequence, career and vocational
education programs were started and
many academic programs were
“watered down'’ in Georgia. Now, there
is more concern about academic achieve
ment than about the dropout rate, Kin
zy indicated. But that concern about
academics will likely lead to a higher
dropout rate.
Sugt. Heg'es agreed to a certain ex
tent that QBE wfil cause the dropout
rate to increase initially. However, after
QBE is in place awhile, the rate should
level out and then drop off, Hayes
believes.
Herring pointed out that when the
state in 1983 increased from 270 to 315
the number of units a student had to
have to graduate, the percentage of
graduates decreased in 1984. On the
other hand, when the school instituted
career education classes in 1972, the
number of graduates rose the following
year, although it took another dip the
next year and rose again the next two
years.
GRADUATES UP
Chattooga High became a com
prehensive fiigh sciool in 1969, he said.
The system showed its largest increase
from 1968 to 1969 in the percentage of
students graduating.
The dro‘i)out rate is ‘‘a very com
licated and very intricate type of dpro-
Elem in our society,” Herring said.
JOBS, CARS
One symptom of that problem is the
number of students who get after-school
and weekend jobs, he indicated. Some
students are able to maintain a good
grade average and hold down jobs, he
said, but many find it difficult to han
dle the increased pressure.
Acknowledging that some may have
to work to h::ip their families, other
students work simply to be able to buy
and maintain a car and new clothes, the
veteran county principal indicated.
“When they get jobs and a car, they
come first over school in a lot of cases,”
he said. Some parents, too, are glad that
their children are able to obtain better
material possessions than they had at
the same age.
FIRED
It would be helpful, Herring mused,
if local businesses and industry would
employ school-age youngsters only as
long as they stayed in school. Then, if
a student tried to quit school to work
fulltime, he'd find that his job no longer
existed. Hardship exceptions could be
worked out for students, he added.
“*There needs to be a working rela
tionship between the schools and in
dustry so if a child doesn't attend
schooi he loses his job,"” Supt. Hayes
said. Such a policy would Eelp both
youngsters and industry.
Chattooga High counselors Emily
Bolton and Martha Durham also men
tioned the problem many students run
into while trying to work and go to
school. Sometimes they are so tired at
night or on weekends that they don't
study and, as a consequence, their
grades start to drop.
Both counselors, each of whom has
three children, have been at Chattooga
High for at least four years.
Another problem involves working
single-parent homes and ‘‘latch-key”
children who rarely see their parent or
parents, and then for only short periods
of time, they said.
PREGNANCY
Unmarried teen-agers getting preg
nant is another reason for dropouts,
they added.
The selectivity of the Trion system
may also help explain the county's
dropout rate, they added, echoing com
ments made earlier by Herring. A coun
ty student may enroll in Trion High,
find he can't make it and transfer to
Chattooga High, but drop out later in
the year from Chattooga.
Kinzy said Trion's *‘selectivity’’ is
based more on the amount of space
available in particular grades than on
gre-admission academic re%uirements.
ome students who attended Trion last
year were denied admission this year
because of a lack of classroom space —
a problem which should be remedied by
the addition of several more rooms in
the immediate future. at the present
time, he said, the system need% more
sixth graders.
NO EXPLANATION
As to why the dropout rate is
markedly higher in the Chattooga
system than in Trion, Kinzy said, *'l
really don't have an explanation for
that.”” Trion has a limited course offer
ing while Chattooga has more interest
group classes, he said. Chattooga has
good teachers and he doesn't think ex
f)ectations at the county schools are
ower than those in the Trion system.
Parental attitudes about education
seem to be a greater determining factor
than any other as to whether a student
graduates from high school, according
to a concensus of views expressed by
education officials.
The median education level of
residents in Chattooga was 7.5 grades
in 1950. It had risen to 8.1 grades by
1960 and to 9.1 grades by the I%Le 19705.
IN CHARGE?
Most parents want their children to
get an education but many don't *‘get
behind them and push,” according to
Mrs. Bolton. “‘Some say they can't tell
their 16-year-old what to do or that they
don’t want to make them do what they
don’t want to do . . . Some parents say
they have talked to their children. Some
say they can't get their children out of
bed on school days. It kind of makes you
wonder ‘who’s in charge?
Most of the students who drop out
didn't gain the necessary skilfs in
elementary or junior high school and
sxmily can't keep up with high school
work, Mrs. Durham added. About 10
percent of the CHS student body could
be classified as slow learners, she add
ed, but that 10 percent accounts for
around 50 percent of the school's
dropouts.
REFLECTION
“The high dropout rate in Chattooga
County is a very accurate expression of
the emphasis people in the county place
on education,”’ said Herring. “Don’t
blame the schools for the il%s and at
titudes of society. Attitudes are
developed at home."
**Schools are a reflection of the com
munity,” Kinzy said in referring to
schools in the area and statewide.
“If you have parents who are very,
very interested in a child's education,
they'll call and see how he's doing, or
when they get the report card, they'll
call the teacher; they won't wait for the
teacher to call them,”” said Kinzy. **You
hardly ever see a dropout with a parent
like that.
“Whatever is emphasized at home
and the expectations at home that a
child will go to college means that a high
percentage will go to college,” the Trion
superintendent added. “‘lt's the same
with finishing high school. ..
Anytime a community has high expec
tations of schools, the schools will rise
to the challenge and try to meet those
expectations.”’
COMMUNITY EFFORT
“The entire community has to work
together toward changing attitudes
regarding a high school education for all
kifis that are truly capable of achieving
that level,”” said CHS's Herring.
“We're trying every way we can to
keeg every child in school,” Supt. Hayes
said.
“You have to communicate to the
kids that a hi%h school education will af
fect the rest of their lives and their stan
dard of living,"" said Mrs. Bolton. *'The
more skills you have, the more upward
ly mobile you are. A kid can get a job
for $3.35 an hour but he'll be stuck there
for a lon(f time."”
Asked about Alred's conclusion that
more counselors would help reduce the
dropout rate, Mrs. Bolton said addi
tional helg at CHS would give her and
Mrs. Durham more time for individual
work with aKoungsters but that once a
student makes up his mind to quit, “I'm
not sure anything can change his mind."
Mrs. Durham said counselors in the
lower grades might help reorient a stu
dent's attitude toward obtaining an
education.
ACKNOWLEDGE
PROBLEM
Parents and leaders in the communi
ty have to acknowledge that a dropout
problem exists, say so publicly and
determine to resolve the issue, Mrs.
Murray Has Innovative Program
Citizens in Murray County
looked at the number of
youngsters dropping out of
school in late 1984 and decid
ed they didn't like what they
saw.
Too many were quitting
classes to go to work in the
local carpet mills.
As a result of the concern
expressed by those local
businessmen and the
Chatsworth-Murray County
Chamber of Commerce, a task
force to study the problem was
established in February, 1985.
TASK FORCE
The 60-member cross sec
tion of the community
developed a booklet about the
Pregnancy, Jobs Among Reasons
from front page
want a GED, that's the main thing,” Marie said. She works
second shift at a mill but her supervisor has told her that when
an opening on the first shift becomes available, Marie will get
the job so she can attend night classes.
“I always wanted to be a model,” she said. “I was always
in a lot of pageants in school.” When she gets her GED cer
tificate, Marie hopes to head to Atlanta where modeling jobs
are more plentiful, and where she hopes to continue her educa
tion beyond the high school level.
GOT TIRED
“I just got tired of it,”’ said 16-year-old Jonathon, who quit
attending classes before Christmas in the middle of the school
year. He was doing ‘‘pretty well” in school except for two
courses, he said. “I know I was doing bad in history and
geometry."’
AA A A AAL NN NSNS IS IS
“I just got tired of it. .. I know I was do
ing bad in history and geometry.
— Jonathon, 16
I AN A A AN AN NI NGNS NN NI NI NGNS NI NSNS NSNS NSNS
Jonathon failed the 10th grade and was repeating it when
he quit but he was emphatic that that was not why he dropped
out of school.
His counselor and teachers all tried to talk him out of quit
ting. “'I told them I was going to quit anyway.” His parents
also told him he needed to obtain a high school diploma. So did
his two older teen-age sisters who have graduateg and are now
working. So did a close friend who's still in school. “I'll pro
bably just stay out,” he said, however.
}{e has filed applications for jobs in numerous locations
throughout Chattooga County but hasn't had any luck so far.
“They asked me what grade I quit in and when I quit,”” he
acknowledged.
“I don’t know,”” Jonathan said when asked if he would go
back to school next fall if he can’t find a job in the meantime.
Referring to the possibility of studying for a GED certificate
examination, he said, ‘lf it's not too much harder, I might try
to get it. If the math is not too hard; I'm not too bad in math
if it's not too hard.”
GOT MARRIED
Jan quit school to get married at age 14. She’'s still married
to the same man and now, at age 31, she hopes to get her GED
certificate.
Although she was only 14, she was able to get weekend work
at a restaurant after she married. Why didn’t she continue to
go to school during the week? “‘I just got lazy, I guess. It was
too easy not to go.”
She has worked some on and off during the years, some in
an office and another time at a local mill. “‘l've said that if I
had it to do over, I'd still have gotten married but I'd have gone
on to school,” she said. She figures she could have advanced
in her office job if she'd had a high school diploma.
As for her own two children, both of whom are in elemen
tary school, Jan said, ‘‘l encourage them to do the very best
that they can and to stay in there.”
GIVEN GRADES
Dawn *‘coasted” through elementary school, junior high and
the ninth grade without putting forth much effort but when
she %ot to the 10th Bgrade. she found academics tougher than
she had expected. Before reaching the 10th grade, she said,
“teachers gave me the grades an§ I didn’t do nothing.”” But
when she needed help as a sophomore, ‘‘they yelled at me.”” She
continued to get in trouble in class and ended up in the prin
cipal’s office for disciplinary action on more than one occasion.
She married at age 16 while in the ninth grade but planned
to finish high schoo% at the time. When she quit a year later
did her parents try to get her to stay in school? ‘‘My mom
wanted me to and my grandparents wanted me to . . . my sister
made good grades but I wasn't that smart.” As for her hus
band, ““It really didn’t matter to him.”
Now Dawn is 19 and she’s found it tough to %;zt a job without
a high school diploma. ‘‘l've been looking for jobs all over Sum
merville, LaFayette and even Menlo an§ they all said I needed
a high school (fi,ploma." A relative obtained a GED certificate
and then got a job, Dawn said, ‘‘so I made up my mind. Nobody
asked me to. I just decided I wanted to see if I can do it.”
HELP AT HOME
Lorna quit school at age 16 to help at home. Her father was
ill and her mother was the only one in the family working. With
younger brothers and sisters, Lorna had to forego her educa
tion to care for them and the home.
When she was 18, she began wishing she could have com
pleted high school but all her original classmates had graduated
so she didn't want to try to go back to school. :
Lorna married when S;e was 20 and during most of the time,
Bolton suggested. **And that dr?flng
out is ... not acceptable,” added Mrs.
Durham,
A lot of parents would be proud to
see their chfidren iraduate from Chat
tooga High, ‘‘but the expectation' that
thc{’ will do so "‘is not there."
arents have to be involved in educa
tion, both counselors emphasized.
“They can always say ‘turn off the
TV, " Mrs. Durham said.
A better determination of why Chat
tooga's dropout rate is so high might be
made by comparing the socio-economic
background of the county with that of
other systems of similar size, Mrs.
Durham said.
FACT OF LIFE
It's an unpleasant fact, they said,
but some students aren't capable of
graduating from high school regardless
of the effort put forth by the pué)ils,
their teachers or their parents. And for
those students, it's good that some Lobs
exist that don't require a high school
dropout rate that urged local
businesses, in effect, not to hire
students who dropped out of
school.
Since that time, the school
system has obtained a grant
from the federal Appalachian
Regional Commission (ARC) to
set up a program designed
specifically to fight the dropout
problem. A Eflltime coor
dinator has been hired and a
new booklet designed for use
with students in the Murray
County school system.
Murray and Whitfield
County are the only two in
Georgia who have obtained an
ARC grant in an effort to help
solve the dropout dilemma.
see MURRAY, page 9-A
Special Report
By The News
What Can Be Done’
About Chattooga
County’s Dropout Rate?
has stayed home with her children, with the exception of about
a year and one-half. ‘ :
She has three children. One is in elementary school. One is
attending junior colle%)e and the other will enroll this Sfirmg.
Lorna may not go back to work but, at .aig 41, she hopes
to obtain her GED certificate. ‘‘l've been thinking about it for
quite awhile,” she said.
WANTED JOB :
““About the main reason I qéjit,” said Burt, “‘was I wasn't
doing too good and I knew I'd be there (in school) longer than
I wanted to be. I wanted a job and all the jobs were on the first
shift.”” The-then 17-year-old dropped out of classes after he had
started the 12th grade. He knew his classmates would graduate
that spring but t%;t he would have to attend school the follow
ing year to gain enough credits.
Atter quitting, he workerd at a grocer()(r store and then went
on to a discount store before going to work at a local mill, where
he remains employed. One of his first acts was to buy a car.
“I don't think that either one (of his parents) wanted me
to quit, but they knew I wouldn't be interested anyway if I went
on,” Burt said.
Did any school officials try to keep him from quitting?
‘“Naw. Nobody tried to do anything. That's what made me
mad . . . I believe my guidance counsefior did but it wasn't at
school. It was just in the store one day,” Burt said. He is now 18.
One older g)rother also quit school but went back later and
obtained a GED certificate. Another brother and a sister
graduated. Burt himself obtained a GED certificate before he
got his latest job. ““I thought I might need it for some job in
there or somewhere else . . . I'd like to go to technical school
and you have to have it (diploma) before you can go.”
FRUSTRATIONS
In addition, several Chattooga High School students ex
pressed their views toward school recently as part of a class
project. They explained in writing why they don't put forth an
effort in class or attempt to complete their homework
assxr‘gnments.
ollowing are excerpts from those papers:
“When we are stuck in classes that fiave no interest to us,
we become bored and careless . . . " wrote one youngster. **Some
of the classes, I don’t know how I could ever use them after
I graduate from school and college. I Probably wouldn’t lose
a secretarial job, for instance, if I didn’t know what ammonia
was made of, or what the slope of a line was.”
““We have busy schedules and a lot of other things on our
minds,” said one student.
Another confirmed that viewpoint, adding, *‘Kids now days
have so mandv things going on around them that sitting down
at a desk and reading and studying a chapter . .. is almost bor
ing, almost! Especially if there is a basketball game outside,
squirrels to be shot, TV to watch, etc., etc.”
WWWWWW
“I've been looking for jobs all over Summer
ville, LaFcQ/ette and even Menlo and they all
said I needed a high school diploma.”
— Dawn, 19
mmmm
“SICK OF SCHOOL”
‘... Most of the time, at least in my case, the students are
sick of school,” said another. “‘I know Kow important it is but
sometimes I don’t care what I make . . . Anot?mer thing is I'm
too lazy and don’t have time to do homework. I really have the
time but I enjoy doing other stuff more than learning.”
“The problem is that teachers don't realize the pressure some
of us have at home. That we don’t have time for homework . ~ '
added another student.
... Wehave alot of other homework to do or that we have
better things we'd rather be doing . .. " said one pupil.
Referring to the amount of work from all classes, one high
school student said it was *‘a little hard to handle if you want
to keep ¥oul_' grades up. Not to mention your responsibilities
to your family or your work . .. It's just a little too much all
atonce . .. I was up 2 nights in a row until 12:00 a.m, studying.”
“VERY TIRED”
Another referred to the difficulty of going to school and
working. ““ ... A lot of students go straight from school to work
and are very tired and it is usually very late. They just don't
feel liké doing anything.”
School officials said none of the students who vented their
frustrations about school aEpear to be potential dropouts,
however. But educators s? the students’ feelings illustrate the
difficulty of keeping less dedicated youngsters in school until
they graduate.
diploma. 3
But generally, more and more skills
are being demanded by industry and
business.
“If a community doesn't place a lot
of emphasis on education, you'll have
students who don't place a lot of em
phasis on education, ' said Kinzy. “'lf
you're to reduce the dropout rate, the
community has really got to get involv
ed. You can't just blame it all on the
schools.”
“CAN'T DO IT ALL"
“Schools and teachers are not
resgected as much as they used to be,”
said Mrs. Bolton. ‘‘Parents expect too
much — for us to be a mom, dad and
nursemaid and fix all their (students’)
problems and we can’t do it
Kinzy said as Chamber president
this coming year, he hopes to review ef
forts made by other communities to
solve the dropout problem and if
something workable can be developed in
Chattooga, he hopes to present it to the
Chamber board E)r consideration.