Minutes - 20050926 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Superintendent Pedersen said that they are at a 26-1 ratio in grades 4 and 5, which is the average. The issue for them is that the County is following a capacity formula in K-3, which is 23-1, and the schools have to abide by the law that says that it needs to be 21-1 ratio and they cannot comply without using non-classroom space for classrooms. Chair Carey said that they would be discussing this in the collaboration task farce group. Everyone he has spoken to is in favor of lowering class sizes. The issue is how do we get there based on resources that we collectively have to employ to achieve that goal. 3. Cross-District Collaboration John Link said that the first item is a report from the school systems Superintendent Carraway said that these are the ten identified areas of collaboration that were discussed before and this is an update an those ten items. They will be glad to respond to any questions ar comments. Commissioner Foushee asked about the Middle College program and said that basically there is disappointment about the number of students participating. She asked each Superintendent to describe marketing efforts that were employed to recruit students for this program. Superintendent Carraway said they did a variety of things but basically the program started late and by the time they were able to begin the process most of the students had already made plans to attend other schools. After the principal was hired for the Middle College, staff from both school districts began to work toward providing information to students, introducing the students to the program and introducing the students to the new administrator. Working through the summer, a survey was done in both districts to see who would be interested in the possibility of participating in the program. During this time they actually worked almost one-on-one with the students. In the OCS district, transportation was a problem but now they provide stops within the district. Mostly the low numbers were due to the newness of the program and these numbers should increase next year and perhaps even next semester. Superintendent Pedersen agreed and felt their school district experienced the same problems and the same problems with collaboration classes. They were dealing with something new with the Middle College, and it was not located in their normal school district. He feels it is a great environment and a great opportunity for students. He said that the transportation issue is challenging but doable. Durham faced the same problems. Superintendent Pedersen said that the marketing for this program was very professional. He said that the best way to recruit is one on one -face to face by the principal or guidance counselor. He spoke with people in Greensboro and they faced the same problems. They are very concerned about the numbers, but need to keep working on this next year. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the total amount of money that the two school districts contributed to the middle college program. Superintendent Pedersen said their portion is $55,000 and Shirley Carraway said that theirs is greater due to transportation. Commissioner Halkiotis commended them on their joint College Night. He said that this is much easier on the recruiters and easier on the parents. He asked about the new paradigm for school resource officers (#4}. It is intriguing that in the second paragraph "they" (he assumes this refers to staff from both districts) discussed the possibility of a special tax to fund resources of common interest such as SRO's (Student Resource Officers). Commissioner Halkiotis wanted to know what this special tax is. Superintendent Pedersen said that this is in reference to a proposed countywide tax to support additional resources in both school districts such as nurses, SRO's and the paradigm