Question:
Although I have not met you, I appreciate the time, energy and hard work that goes into enhancing the education of children in Floyd County. I noticed that the calendar for the next school year has been recently set. At a time when we are trying to squeeze the most out of our tax dollars and put as many dollars as possible to work in our classrooms, I was wondering if the school board had ever considered changing the start date until later in the year and ending a bit later. With the average temperatures being significantly higher in August, it seems like we could save money with each single day of lower temperatures. Thanks for your time. Lowery May

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your question regarding the school calendar. We spend a great deal of time looking at calendar options in our school system. Each year, we try to step back and look at what we are doing and how we are using our time to make sure we are best serving children. The need to save money certainly does play into the discussion, and that is especially true in these times, but our top priority is still what is best for the academic growth of the children. We traditionally set our calendar in November each year. About eight years ago, we spent two years studying how we use the time we are given each school year and looked at ways we could better utilize the school days allotted for instruction. The study involved a cross section of representative from the community including parents, business leaders, teachers and school administrators representing all of our attendance areas. The group recommended a calendar very similar to the one we use today. The element the group liked most in the structure of this calendar was the inclusion of extra instruction days for students needing help in their academics. We call these Intersessions and traditionally have held these in the fall, winter and spring. Our students performance on standardized testing has shown that the calendar structure is working well. We were named an Outperformer by Standard and Poors in 2006. This award is given to systems that perform better than expected based on the poverty level of the community. Over the last few years, our free and reduced lunch participation rate has grown to over 50% of our students. Virtually all studies show, as a school systems poverty level goes up, test scores go down. Our systems performance has been just the opposite. As our free/reduced lunch numbers have grown, our test scores have continued to climb. That certainly must be attribute to several factors but the calendar is one of the elements helping us to bring brighter futures to the children we serve. We have looked at temperatures and energy consumption in the calendar question. Trading a later start in the beginning of the school year would result in extending the end of the school year. In essence, you would be trading days in August for additional days in June. Average temperatures over time in our community show there to be very little difference between the months of June (average temp. 73.6) and August (average temp. 76.5). Both are two of the three hottest months of the year. With that in mind, we look at other affects related to such a change. One factor is that the later start date would not allow us to complete the first semester for high school students until after the Christmas break. Our high schools have found it to be much better for student achievement for the semester to end at the Christmas break so that students do not have to deal with a two week break in instruction during the semester. It also allows us to hold one of our Intersessions between first and second semester. The biggest issue related to a later start date is the impact on student performance on standardized testing. The state has set testing dates for taking the standardized tests mandated for schools and those can not be changed by the school system. Changing to a later start would take instruction days away before the test and add them after the tests. That would mean that teachers would have two, three or four weeks less time to prepare students to take the tests. These tests impact how our system is judged by the public and the promotion of our students to the next grade level. If we reduce the time given to teachers and students to cover the necessary material on the assessments, we would be putting our school system and our students at a major disadvantage when taking these important tests. There are many elements we consider when looking at our school calendar each year. We understand that we will not be able to craft a calendar that everyone will be completely happy with when it is adopted. Every individual has personal preferences for certain start times, break times, ending times and holidays provided in calendars. I hope that it helps to understand that we look at many different factors from energy consumption to surrounding systems calendars during the development process but in the end we focus most on what will provide the best environment and opportunity for effective teaching and learning in our classrooms. We continue to work on the process of calendar development and in fact just started work on the 2011-2012 calendar with a Teacher Advisory Group. This will be the first step in our process to review the school calendar for the next adoption cycle. If you have ideas or suggestions, I am always open to new ways of doing things, as long as the ultimate goal is academic improvement for children. Thank you again for taking the time to send me your question.

Question:
Dr. Plunkett what are thye requirements for an administrator to be present for athletic events?

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thanks for your question regarding requirements for an administrator to be in attendance at athletic events. At school athletic events, the school is required to have someone on staff in charge at the event. The person in charge could be the principal, assistant principal or a staff member designated by the principal. As a system, we encourage our principals to be involved in all aspects of the school operation and to support the school and students in athletic events and other extra-curricular activities. We also understand that there are a lot of after school activities and athletic events, especially at the high school level, and it would be very difficult for a principal to attend all extra-curricular activities. Often, administrators at the school rotate the responsibility between the principal and the assistant principals on staff. If you have a specific concern regarding an athletic event, please contact me so that we can discuss those concerns. Thank you for taking the time to submit your question.

Question:
Dr. Plunkett I am concerned about why 3 schools in this district have yet to receive their flu shots for the students. I do not understand why if the parents have paid in advance and were given an approximate date of the shot, why this happens. Last year Pepperell High School was the last school to receive flu shots and we waited for them for our son and he got sick with the flu not once but twice while waiting for this vaccination. I paid early in the school year for a vacinnation shot and did not take him to the clinic because I thought we would have his shots way before now. Now I am thinking seriously about taking him to the clinic and getting a shot anyway. I should not have to do this. Thank you for your concern with this question. Sincerely Billy W Morgan

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your email regarding the flu shots. I am also concerned that several of our schools have not received the vaccine to provide regular flu shots for students. There are three schools outside of the Pepperell area also waiting to get the vaccinations. The vaccination program is coordinated by the Floyd County Health Department. I have worked with the Health Department to allow the vaccinations at school to make it easier for many of our students to get the shots but the school system does not control the schedule or supply. Even though the shots are administered in the schools, the Health Department schedules and administers the program to provide the vaccinations for our students. I understand the Health Department expected enough vaccine to arrive in Floyd County to provide the vaccine for the students in our schools. The last shipment did not arrive as scheduled and this has delayed vaccinations at six of our schools and the Central Office. I discussed this situation with Dr. Charlotte Roberts, assistant superintendent of Floyd County Schools, this afternoon to get the latest update on when the Health Department expects to complete the vaccinations in our schools. Dr. Roberts was informed by Judy Fellers of the Health Department that the shipment of vaccine would arrive after the Thanksgiving break. The remaining schools would then be rescheduled as soon as possible. Again, the schedule is controlled by the Floyd County Health Department and not Floyd County Schools. It is our hope that the remaining schools will receive the vaccine within the first two weeks of December. I would completely understand any parent taking their child to another location where the vaccine is available to get a flu shot. If you decide to get the shot elsewhere, I have been told that the Health Department will refund the money paid in advance for the shot at school. I am very sorry for this inconvenience but the situation has been completely out of my control. My intent was to make this process easier for our school families and to keep our students healthy. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with the Health Department to provide the vaccine for our students as soon as possible.

Question:
If Floyd Country School System is approved as a Charter System, would the system consider going back to a traditional high school math curriculum or would they continue to use the new math program (Math I, Math II, etc)?

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your question regarding charter system and the math curriculum. Floyd County Schools will have flexibility regarding some curriculum issues under charter system status but we will also have some limitations due to federal requirements and the content of state standardized testing. One area that the system will not have flexibility under charter system status is with anything related to federal No Child Left Behind requirements. In Georgia, math is an indicator that determines AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for a school or school system as a part of No Child Left Behind requirements. I am sure you have heard of the term making or not making AYP. For the last two years, all of our schools in the system have made AYP. Scores from state testing are used to make that determination. Since all of Georgias math testing will be based on the state sequence of Math I, Math II, etc. it would not be possible for our students to be on a totally different math curriculum and be successful on the state testing that will determine our AYP status. While we may have the flexibility to alter the curriculum, it may not be good to do so and have our students tested on different material than they are studying in the classroom. To do so would result in our students not testing well on state math tests and could certainly keep our schools from making AYP.

Question:
If we do garner charter school status, how will that directly affect teachers? Will our pay grade change? Will we work fewer/more school days? Will we still be required to acquire PLUs? Will it change the curriculum or standards in any way? For something that may go into effect as early as next year, I feel like I know absolutely no specifics about it. This concerns me as a teacher and a parent.

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your questions regarding charter status. You have some very good questions regarding changes that may come with charter system status. One aspect of the change is that the system will be given flexibility to make more decisions regarding the type programs and services we provide to the children of our community here at the local level. Another is that we will develop a process to involve the schools, teachers and community in those decisions. Therefore, how charter system affects teachers and students will be determined by our teachers and parents coming together to make the best decisions possible for our children. The members of the Flexibility Committee made up of teachers, school administrators, parents and business leaders that recommended the school system pursue charter status were excited about the possibility of us making more decisions locally instead of being told how to educate our children from the state level. The common misconception with charter is that we go into the process knowing all the answers. This is a journey we are just beginning. Charter system status just provides us with a new landscape on which to paint the direction we will take for the future. We have not written our charter to include any reference to changing pay grades, working fewer or more school days, or a change in PLU requirements. With charter system status, any change along those lines could only be considered with input from each schools governance team  again involving teachers, administrators, parents and community leaders. Everything considered has to be targeted to the ultimate goal of improving student achievement. The first year under charter system status will involve setting-up and training our local school governance teams as a top priority. Once the governance plan developed by our Flexibility Committee is in place and the people have been selected by teachers and parents to help make those decisions, we can then begin to address how we make changes to the way we structure our education setting to be most beneficial for children in our schools. I hope you see that we have just begun the process to put our community more in charge of developing the answers to the questions you pose. You, the teachers at your school and the parents of the students you teach will all be a part of writing the answers. I am confident that we can provide much better educational opportunities for our children than could be handed down from those creating legislation or policy at the state level. Thank you for your questions and for sharing your concerns.