Newspaper Page Text
BOE approves E2020
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for a Title One school.”
The Glynn County Board of Educa
tion (BOE) first heard a presentation
on E2020 during their finance com
mittee meeting last Tuesday after
noon, July 22 and then a shortened
version at the full board meeting that
night.
The total cost to run the program
for the first year is $261,700.
That cost includes $134,400 for
two teachers for the computer labs
at each high school and $250,000 for
the first year of E2020 for a total of
$384,400.
Dr. Bull told the BOE that they
were discontinuing the Nova Net
program, which represents a budget
reduction of $122,700, which, when
subtracted from the $384,000 cost
of the E2020 program and teachers
leaves a net amount of $261,700.
After the first year, the annual
renewal cost of E2020 is $33,000.
Primarily used for what Kemp
called “credit recovery” for students
who fall behind in the number of
credits needed for graduation, E2020
is a computerized, virtual classroom
that will provide extra time for stu
dents to catch up and get the neces
sary course credits.
“It is aligned with the Georgia
Performance Standards (GPS) test,”
Kemp continued, “the CRCT test
Georgia now requires. It uses stan-
dards-based credit recovery and can
also be used with the Georgia High
School Graduation Test.”
All Georgia students must pass
the high school graduation test to
graduate. It is first given to stu
dents in their junior year in order to
determine what areas they need to
improve in to graduate.
“The E2020 pre-test tells us what
students don’t know, not what they
do know” said Kemp, “This way they
get an individually designed comput
er module, that is video and teacher
based, that is based on the student’s
individual educational needs. It is
difficult for a teacher in a traditional
classroom setting to do this on a large
scale.”
“This is about breaking the cycle
of poverty for economically disadvan
taged kids,” said Kemp, “All students
need to be prepared to graduate and
then either go on to college or enter
the workforce without the need for
any remedial education, graduates
that are ready to be citizens that can
contribute to their community.”
“Keep in mind,” explained Kemp,
“that with today’s technology there
really are no more low-skill jobs out
there. And we need to prepare stu
dents for today’s skilled jobs.”
“E2020 is one of the many tools to
work with students at their educa
tion level and bring them up to where
they need to be to graduate,” said
Kemp, “I’ve tried a lot of programs
and this one works. Credit recovery
students are different from students
who are on-grade. We have to prepare
these credit recovery kids for the next
level.”
E2020 will be used next school
year in Brunswick High School,
Glynn Academy and Risley Learning
Center’s (RLC) Success Academy.
Kemp said it will be in use at RLC
on "day one."
At Glynn Academy and Bruns
wick High, Kemp said the start date
depends on finding new teachers to
replace the experienced teachers who
move into the E2020 program.
“We need good, experienced teach
ers, who are qualified and can build
a relationship with these students,"
said Kemp, "We don't want to put
new, first year teachers in a credit
recovery situation, so we will have
to hire some new teachers to replace
the ones who move to the E2020 pro
gram."
Bull asked the school board last
week to fund E2020, along with sev
eral other items, from the growth in
the tax digest which came in higher
than expected at 9.24%.
Along with E2020 and its two teach
ers, Bull's other requests for expendi
tures from the tax digest growth were
in two tiers and included: two high
school test coordinators ($134,000)
and two high school intervention spe
cialists ($134,000) bring the tier one
total to $530,500.
The BOE approved Bull's Tier One
requests.
The Tier Two requests for Span
ish teachers for Altama Elementary
School and Burroughs-Mollette Ele
mentary School ($134,400) were not
approved. □
Military News
Baxter D. Tharin has graduated
from the Uniformed Services Uni
versity, F. Edward Hebert School
of Medicine in Bethesda, Md. The
graduate was promoted to the rank of
captain commissioned to serve in the
Medical Corps of the Air Force.
The university is the Depart
ment of Defense's military school of
medicine which educates students
for direct accession in the Medical
Corps of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air
Force, and Public Health Science. At
the school, students complete a four-
year course of study to be a military
THE ISLANDER, JULY 28, 2008, PAGE 9
physician. The curriculum includes
extra hours in epidemiology, health
promotion, disease prevention, tropi
cal medicine, leadership and field
exercises, medical effects of weapons
of mass destruction, and other sub
jects related to the military medical
career field.
The Uniformed Services Univer
sity is the nation's only fully accred
ited federal school of medicine and
graduate school of nursing, and has
a worldwide reputation as a center of
excellence for military medical educa
tion and research.
He is the son of Patricia A. Tharin
of St. Simons Island. His father and
stepmother, Dixon and Carol Tharin,
reside on Albany, Ga.
Christina, his wife, is the daugh
ter of retired Navy Capt. Fred and
Norma Girton of Macon, Ga.
Tharin graduated in 1994 from
Wheeler High School, Marietta, Ga.,
and received a bachelor's degree in
1998 from the University of Georgia,
Athens. □
Please Elect
Richard Strickland
County Commissioner at Large
• Experience: Nearly 50 years in public service. Retired U.S. Navy.
"My entire career has been based on respecting others. I treat everyone as I wish
to be treated"
• Dedication: To work toward goals that benefit all Glynn County residents.
"I will always endeavor to find the most fair way of funding the needs of our
community. Knowing we need to improve the old and provide new will require
informed evaluation of funding sources."
• Commitment: To be an open-minded, independent, full-time, commissioner.
"As an open-minded candidate, I listened to the straw ballots and heard the voice of
the people. I will vote in favor of reviewing the jail issue if elected. I am not
obligated or beholden to any group other than the citizens of Glynn County."
Please Vote August 5!
Paid for by Richard Strickland