Steve Frey
Contributing writer
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, Radford High School Principal Jeff Smith shared changes in attendance procedures designed to address new regulations being assessed for accreditation.
Smith explained that in a small school system, if there are a few students who miss an exorbitant number of days, the division could fall under the attendance threshold that needs to be maintained to be accredited, which is 95 percent.
Smith reviewed critical points in a revised attendance policy designed to prevent excessive absenteeism:
1. Ten days of absences from school will be accepted with a verified parent call-in.
2. Beginning with the eleventh day, if a parent calls in for an absent child, it has to be for one of the following reasons and with documentation: there has to be a doctor’s note, dentist note, or other medical documentation for illness; a student’s court or probation appointment must have proper documentation; serious illness or death in the family of a sibling, parent, or grandparent; observation of religious holy days; parent or sibling departure or return to active military duty; a school related activity is, of course, excused; college or university visit (one per junior year and two per senior year allowed) with appropriate verification; a natural disaster; extended, documented medical condition or extenuating circumstances recognized by the principal, which gives some administrative leeway.
3. If those conditions are not met, and none of that documentation is provided, then those absences after 10 will be treated, even though the parent calls in, as unverified.
4. After a certain number of unverified absences, additional consequences begin: fifth—an Attendance Plan would need to be created; sixth—the student would have to go in front of the truancy committee; seventh—the student would go before a judge about the absenteeism.
The hope is that this regulation will prevent those students who are chronically absent from finding a loophole in the statute to be able to miss a large number of days of instruction. Smith said that the juvenile judge has been very supportive of this plan.
Additionally, social probation will continue. If a student misses over 10 days in a class, he or she is not eligible for any extracurricular activities until they attend night school.
If they make-up work and attend night school, they can get back within the attendance policy and attend and participate in extra-curricular activities. Night school counts for attendance.
For example, if a student is suspended from school, he has to attend four hours of night school to make up the work he missed. The state will allow the division to count the student as present, so it won’t count against the absenteeism rate.
Board member Jessie Critterton asked about calls after 9:30 a.m. Smith said the school would prefer a call first thing in the morning before attendance is run, but as long as the call is made and can be documented, it will be valid.
In other meeting activity, Jenny Zienius, Radford Education Association Vice-President, shared information with the board about the association’s First Annual Writing Contest.
These students were the winners of the Radford Education Association’s First Annual Writing Contest: Pictured are: (from left) Jianna Saunders, Shannon Wade, Sophia Gaither, Seth Dunbar and Caroline Bryant. The five students were recognized at Radford’s school board meeting Tuesday night.
Top entries were chosen for each school based on one of two topics: Tell about a teacher and how they influenced your life or Tell about how you would use your education to change the world.
Entries will be shared with teachers, so they can see how they influenced the life of the child.
Following are the winners, the teacher the essay was about and a quote from the student’s entry:
McHarg: Shannon Wade; Dana DeHart, teacher; “Thanks to Miss DeHart I know much more. That’s why I love her.”
Belle Heth: Jianna Saunders; Benita Davis, teacher; “She always told me that I could do anything I put my mind to, and that is exactly what I plan on doing.”
Dalton (Two Winners): Sophia Gaither; Frances Hunter, teacher; “Mrs. Hunter is my favorite teacher because she enjoyed the job she worked at, she made sure I was understanding the information and she was always super kind.”
Dalton: Seth Dunbar; Kimberly Luckett, teacher; “She always treated people equally and with respect. She always gave people chances to turn their wrongs into rights.”
Radford High School: Caroline Bryant; Fay Bowen, teacher; “She made sure every student who was willing to learn was never left behind.”
After the students read their essays, Superintendent Robert Graham said, “I think that shows just a great example of the type of quality students that we have and teachers that care about them, too.”
Jennifer Chasse, the publisher of NRV Macaroni Kid (nrv.macaronikid.com), presented second-grade teacher Gloria Boyd with a set of books for the three “Little Libraries” in Radford that Boyd maintains.
Earlier in the year, Boyd, also known as “That Book Lady,” was chosen for recognition based on a contest where parents wrote in notes thanking teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week.
In presenting the books to Boyd, Chasse said, “I want to thank you for all you do to encourage reading in and out of the classroom.”
Graham recognized Jessie Critterton, who will now be serving on the Radford City Council, and outgoing board member Carl Mitchell.
Mitchell was not present, but Graham told Critterton, “We appreciate everything that…you and Mr. Mitchell have done for the school system during your time.”
Graham went on to say that Mitchell and Critterton will be receiving a print of Arnheim in recognition of their service.
Graham said free and reduced lunch figures continue to rise: Radford High School—40 percent; Dalton—44 percent; Belle Heth—50 percent; McHarg—57 percent. The division average was 48 percent.
The state has agreed to provide the division a waiver not to increase prices for breakfast and lunch, which the school system requested due to the food service embezzlement investigation.
The budget will be adjusted with additional funds. The division received $75,672 more than expected, which will be very helpful due to additional personnel needs.
The division will update membership for budget purposes to 1535, so the total for additional money will be $97,094.
Funds will be reallocated to a band assistant, the pre-school program and other areas to balance the budget.
Later in the meeting, Ellen Denny, Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction, elaborated on those personnel needs. She reminded the board that four new classes opened at the high school: environmental science, anatomy and physiology, geography, and a computer course.
All of those classes have high enrollment numbers. She explained that when a section is created, you have to hire a new teacher, a part-time teacher, or pay a teacher a stipend for teaching an extra period.
A half-time science teacher has been added since the end of school. There will also need to be a full-time video production position because of increased numbers.
Under member’s items, board member Adam DeVries shared information about attending a school law conference and reviewing Title IX regulations as well as issues concerning staff downloading apps and terms of use.
Joe Hester discussed a tour of McHarg Elementary with Principal Brown to review the needs and challenges there.
Lynn Burris shared information about a “Buddy Bench” made out of recycled plastic that is designed to encourage children to reach out to others to read, play, or just be friends.
In action items, Becky Dangerfield presented the Gifted Annual Report. It included the slate of members for the advisory committee for next year.
Radford is offering more AP courses and encouraging more students to participate, which may have caused a slight dip in scores. Still, 69.4 percent of the students scored at a 3 or higher. There were 98 students taking dual enrollment courses.
Charleen Jordan reviewed the Title III Grant application. Funds are provided for English Language Learners. There are nine ELL students, and the number should be decreasing next year.
Denny reviewed the Title I Grant application. This grant supports five full-time title teachers and two part-time teachers who provide assistance for students struggling in areas such as reading. The budget is for $360,722.
Denny discussed the Title II Grant application, which is used to increase the academic achievement of all students. It is used to help with the student-teacher ratio at the primary school level.
Denny also reviewed the Title IV Grant, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Application, which is for $10,000 and will be used to provide supplies and equipment for AP Biology, AP Chemistry and Anatomy.
The High School Innovation and Implementation Grant will be used mostly for professional development activities. The grant total is $50,000, and items include areas such as the high school schedule planning, business apprenticeship activities and joint activities with Radford University.
Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt is the math textbook series being adopted for all elementary/intermediate grade levels and various high school courses. Committees were unanimous in choosing this series.
This is a description of the HMH Expressions math series for elementary school from its website: “Mastering math is not just about knowing the numbers. It’s about looking beyond them to understand how and why they work, and learning to ask the questions that lead to a thoughtful, informed approach to solving problems.
“Based on National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research, Math Expressions…helps children make sense of math by exploring, discussing, and demonstrating their understanding of key concepts.”
Additionally, with this program, “Students develop an understanding of mathematics through real-world situations and visual supports. [They] learn multiple ways to solve problems, including algorithms based on reasoning.”
Charles King, the principal at Dalton Intermediate School and CTE coordinator for the division, reviewed the Perkins Grant application, which is for Career Technical Education. The grant is for $28,457, with all of it going to capital outlay and equipment except $5,000 that will be used for professional development. King said that 80 percent of the approximately 500 students at Radford High School take a CTE course before they graduate.
All grant applications and the math textbooks were unanimously approved.
The board also approved a waiver for students who qualify for reduced lunch to receive it free.
The school board approved for first reading a large number of policy revisions due mainly to general assembly changes. They will come up for final approval at the next meeting.
In new personnel matters, Katheryn R. Leeper has been hired as a speech and language pathologist at Belle Heth Elementary.