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.

Question:
Will the Charter system change the hours our kids attend school? I have seen where other Charter schools go to 5 and 6pm?

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your question about charter schools. We have no plans to change the hours kids attend school at this time. Operating our school system under charter system status would certainly give us the option to alter our hours but that is something that would be looked at with a tremendous amount of community involvement. Changing hours would impact students, parents, teachers and our entire community. One of the key aspects of charter system that appealed to the community group that recommended we pursue the direction for the future was the addition of local governance at each school and involving the community in school decisions. We call these Local Governance Teams in our application to be a charter system. These teams will be made-up of parents, teachers and community leaders. The application was delivered to the state on Monday for their consideration. If the state approves our application, we would begin operation as a charter school system next school year. We would look at any and all options that would improve our school system for the children we serve. If our charter system application is approved, we will include the Local School Governance Teams in the decision making process. If parents, teachers and the community determine that extending our hours would be academically beneficial for students, we certainly would consider the option. We look forward to working together with our parents, teachers and community under charter system status to provide the best possible education to the children of our community.

Question:
I would like to know who sets the admission fees to sporting events at all levels (Middle, JV, and High School games) I understand that it is important for those programs to raise money. However, I think with this economy the cost to get in such events is a little much, especially the student cost. I feel like there would be more support to the Middle and JV games if the admission charge wasn't as high, especially when you are paying for multiple members of your family to get in. I also understand that employees are admitted free to all events. I am asking on behalf of several sports fans. Thank you for your time.

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your email regarding ticket prices for sporting events. The Floyd County Board of Education determines the admission prices to all Floyd County Athletic events. Each year the middle and high school principals meet to review the admission schedule prices in relation to the expenses of their total athletic programs. This review is made after determining the admission prices of surrounding school districts in our playing regions in order to be competitive and in line with other school systems. The principals then meet with central office personnel and submit a recommendation through the Superintendent to the Floyd County Board of Education for approval. We try to hold down the cost of admission tickets as much as possible. Changes in prices took place in 2003, 2005, and March of 2008. Therefore price increases have not taken place in over a year. We do understand the economy is affecting everyone. It is making a major impact on us as well. However, the cost of operating the athletic programs has not decreased in any of our sports programs. This is the reason that boosters clubs are so important to the school programs. We will continue to review prices very carefully and hold down the cost of admission tickets as much as possible. However, we also have to review the cost of operating programs and try to establish a fair balance between the two entities. Our employees do receive free admission to athletic events held at our schools. This was an employee benefit added a few years ago. We wanted to encourage more of our school personnel to attend the athletic events. Many attend now who would not have in the past and also bring family members who do not receive free admission. The athletic programs in our schools must be self supporting. One of the many sources for raising the funds needed to operate these programs is admission fees. Without admission, the booster clubs would have to raise even more money to be able to offer these valuable programs to students. With your admission price, you are helping the young people you watch to participate in the activities they love.

Question:
what are the teachers email addresses?

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
We have several options available for securing teacher email addresses. You may check for your local school website, teacher web page or the system website. The one stop method to get email contacts for anyone in the school system would be on our system website. You will find a contact link under the 'Contact Us' option on the homepage. Once on the Contact Us page, look for 'Other Contacts' under my picture on that page. Click on the link 'email employee directory' to see a listing of employee emails. The emails are listed alphabetically with a selection option at the top of the page. I hope this helps. You can also click this link http://www.floydboe.net/address to access the page. Thank you for your question.

Question:
I've noticed that the Rome City School System has "Support Employee of the Year" Why doesnt the County have one as well? I have family members who are parapros and they work very hard to support thier schools. I know some schools have Support Person of the Year but not all do. Why not make this county wide to support the work of parapros?

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your suggestion. We very much value all of our system employees and seek to honor all levels including those who support our classroom teachers. Everyone in our system family impacts the children we serve in our classrooms. We do have a special recognition called the Distinguished Service Award that selects an Employee of the Year in eight separate categories and an over-all Floyd County Schools Employee of the Year. Five of the eight categories are specifically for support personnel. We have been honoring our Distinguished Service Employees for the past 16 years. Of those years, 12 of our Floyd County Schools Employee of the Year Awards have gone to support personnel. This past year, Frankie Oyler, a support employee at Armuchee Elementary School, was selected as the Floyd County Schools Employee of the Year. Awards in each category of the Distinguished Service program are presented monthly at each Floyd County Board of Education Meeting. The monthly winners are then eligible for Employee of the Year honors. If you know of an employee deserving of a Distinguished Service Award, I hope that you will nominate that person for a monthly award. You will find the form on the system Web site at http://www.floydboe.net/information/Forms/distinguish_nom_Fill-InForm.doc. You can also find the past winners of our system Distinguished Service Awards and Employee of the Year Awards at http://www.floydboe.net/information/whoIs/Awards/awardWinners.cfm. It takes a lot of dedicated teachers and those who support the teachers to educate the children in our community. We seek to honor all who distinguish themselves in the service to children. Thank you for your interest in our school system.

Question:
The Floyd County parents and employees have been receiving a newsletter in the mail for the past 6 months to a year or so, and it has ads in the envelope with it. In reading inside the newsletter, I see that the company prints the letter free in exchange for being able to enclose their advertisements. My question is this...did the FCBOE sell our information to this company? Does this company now have the names and addresses of everyone who has a child in the school system? A lot of people are concerned over this.

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thank you for your email and for sharing your concern with me. This is something that we checked-out very carefully before becoming a partner in this newsletter project. Let me assure you that the school system has not sold any information to the company printing our newsletter or any other company. Floyd County Schools controls the information related to our students and their home addresses. 1st Hour is a company that partners with us to provide valuable information to our parents, employees and community. The company prints the newsletter and secures advertisers to help pay for the printing and postage but they do not control the content of the newsletter or the data for delivery. Floyd County Schools controls the content of the information in the newsletters and the data related to where the newsletters are delivered. 1st Hour nor any other company has been given the rights to use any Floyd County data for any purpose other than to deliver the system newsletter to the homes of our students. The data is not the property of 1st Hour or any other company and can't be shared with any other company including any advertiser that may appear in the envelope with the newsletter. We have been a partner with 1st Hour for a little over a year and we have had no problems related to our work with the company. 1st Hour is very good to let us know the content of ads before every delivery and we have the option to request any ad we feel is inappropriate be removed from a delivery. To this point, we have had a very good working relationship with the company and have not had to pull a planned advertisement. Business partnerships with companies such as 1st Hour allow us to provide valuable information to our parents and community without having to expend precious tax dollars that we need to target to the classroom. With the budget cuts of recent years, we would be unable to provide needed communication to our parents and community without the cooperation of companies such as 1st Hour and the sponsors who advertise in the newsletter delivery envelope. The participation of 1st Hour allows us to get a high quality print product delivered directly to your home that provides you needed information related to what is happening in your child's school. We place a high priority on communication with our parents and community. That is why we have partnered with 1st Hour to provide this newsletter for our parents and why we provide this forum for you to ask questions and get answers to your concerns. Over the past year, I have had numerous positive comments about the mailed newsletter and I must say that this is the only concern that I have had expressed to me. I understand your concern with information being sold to other organizations. That is a valid concern in these days and times. Please be assured that Floyd County Schools has not sold any information to 1st Hour or any other company. Thanks for sharing your concern and for helping others to better understand our partnership in this important community communication to our parents, employees and concerned citizens.

Question:
Dr. Plunkett, Could you share what the status of our recycling program is? When I ask around, I get different answers, some say we aren't recycling anymore, others say we are. Is there a system wide policy or is it up to individual schools? If we are recycling, could I offer a suggestion? I think we all need to be periodically reminded of what we're doing and why it is important; it's human nature to get lax without reminders, at least it's my human nature! Thanks.

Dr. Plunkett's Answer:
Thanks for your question and for your suggestion. We are indeed still recycling as a system. There may be some confusion due to moving from separate containers for paper and aluminum several years ago to one container for all recycling. Some may have thought we stopped but we have only changed the method for collection. Waste Industries, the company collecting the recyclables, has the technology to separate the items after collection making it a much easier process for our schools. We have in fact been very busy with recycling in the last few years. According to reports from Waste Industries the recyclable materials, we are making an impact with our efforts. The average recycling rate for Floyd County Schools is 28 to 30% of the volume of waste generated. Comparing that to other programs, the City of Rome curbside program averages an 8% rate and Floyd County remote sites average 7%. Floyd County Schools has recycled 7,240,000 lbs of material in 10 years. According to Waste Industries, that equates to: 24,360,000 gallons of water saved, 13,920,000 kilowatts of electricity (enough to power 3,480 homes for 6 months), 1,611,240 gallons of oil (saved $2,000,000 at $52 per barrel price), 11,484 cubic yards of landfill space for a savings of over $367,000, 2,042,760 pounds of air pollution and 59,160 trees. We recycle office paper, mixed paper, cardboard, junk mail, old books, aluminum cans, steel cans and plastic bottles. Not only are we enjoying these savings and making our planet a better place to live but we are also setting an example for the children in our schools. Floyd County Schools recycling program was one of the first for school systems in Georgia and the first 'single stream' institutional program on the East Coast. 'Single-stream' means that all materials can be collected in one container. We have saved over 900 acres of forestland with our recycling efforts. We can certainly do more and your suggestion is appreciated. We will take the information I have provided you and begin a new section of our website for green initiatives. This will include our savings from recycling and our savings from our energy management program. I will also work with our principals to make sure our schools are promoting this important effort to use, reuse, recycle and turn it off when not being used.