• academic achievement
• boe / school administration relationships
• caring, dedicated staff
• class size
• community support
• competitive coursework
• continuity in services
• cooperation of staff to benefit students
• drive to establish student / teacher connections
• effective special education programs
• fiscal management / financial stability (3)
• great teacher retention
• meeting needs of every child
• positive connections with community
• pre-k and psi programs (3)
• quality facilities (3)
• quality staff
• reputation
• small town feel
• technology focus

• adult mentor for each student
• attendance
• behavior
• certification as opposed to passion
• enhance student motivation
• helping families without technology
• increase critical thinking in students
• increase parental involvement
• limited access to funds
• more tutoring and mentoring disadvantaged students
• not enough multi-cultural exposure
• opportunity to be competitive at national level
• personal technology
• pre-k lottery limits (2)
• provide varied afterschool programs
• teacher / parent engagement
• technology / staffing (3)
• time management (2)

• Growing Population (3)
• Increased Access to Online Courses (GAVS)
• Strategic Waiver System / Flexibility
• New Funding System
• Post-Secondary Options (3)
• Business Partners (4)
• STEM (Producing Qualified Graduates for a Workforce) (2)
• Increase Positive Communication through the Media
• Continued Positive Relationship between Board and Administration
• Continue to Grow and Improve Opportunities with Local Colleges
• Move On When Ready (MOWR) / Dual Enrollment

• Availability of Qualified Teachers (2)
• CCRPI
• Change in Funding
• Changing Demographics
• Changes to Accountability System
• Child Support Network
• Constant Change in Curriculum
• Economy / Tax Base
• Fuel and Transportation Costs
• Georgia Milestones
• Growing Population (3)
• Lack of Knowledge (Small vs. Large Picture)
• New Funding System
• Online Schools / Voucher Systems / Charter / Home Schooling
• Ranked Well in State, but National
• Parental Perception and Involvement
• Residential Property as Opposed to Commercial / Industrial (Property Tax)

Community Focus Group Work Product, September 17, 2015

1. To become the best school district in the country, what should Effingham School System preserve/keep?(Colleen Bowerman, Vikki Beech, Kathy Elridge, Phil Kieffer)
   • Commitment to hiring and retaining well-trained, high quality teachers with passion for life-long learning that can be passed to their students
   • Stakeholder involvement in funding/obtaining technology and keeping technology updated
   • Resources/opportunities for parental involvement including access to materials to support student success as well as learning opportunities for parents; focus on attempting to involve parents at all levels
   • Emphasis on success for all students, college-bound or not; vocational training opportunities to keep young people living in our county by attaining good, well-paying jobs in our area
   • Diversity in curriculum to allow students to “taste” many different interests
   • Balance between academics and athletics; our county emphasizes academics as the priority and athletics as extra-curricular
   • Communication from schools – email notices, remind 101, etc….
2. To become the best school district in the country, what should the Effingham County School System change/do differently?(Clint Holcombe, Monica Jones, Joe Tallent, Shannon Johnson)
   • Identify children with learning gaps early, i.e. Reading Recovery
     • Reading Recovery
     • Class sizes too large
     • Re-evaluate AR (Reading Levels)
     • Teach critical thinking skills
     • Different learning styles
     • Preschool intervention
   • More education on HS pathways
   • Protection plans – education (safety) (parent communication)
   • Drivers Education
     • Parent Liaison
   • Additional funding
   • Recommendation to change vision – From GA to Globally
3. What do you think are the top challenges faced by the Effingham School System?(Nicole Smiley, Kim Lee, Chris Hickox, Michael King)
   • Growth/Diversity – We feel that growth is a major challenge in areas or diversity, socio-economic, and general space in our schools. Since Effingham is a higher performing school district, people are drawn to our county, and with it comes change and a need for more teachers, more buildings, etc…Effingham has begun facing these challenges.
   • Accountability – We feel that teacher accountability raises questions of comparing teachers to each other even when they are not comparable (i.e., support teachers, GT teachers, EIP teachers.)Are they comparable when they are teaching to a wide array of students with different learning abilities and styles? We think the amount of time teachers spend at meetings, on standardized tests, etc… takes away from instruction and classroom time. We feel there is a high turnover rate and that their [sic] should be more accountability, evaluation and support for teachers from administration. Also, we feel that Effingham can be more competitive in teacher pay to recruit those “awesome” teachers.
   • Standardized testing – Teaching to the test is a concern among our group in all grades.
   • Technology – We feel there needs to be a balance with technology use in classrooms. We feel that inter-personal skills are lacking due to the high use of technology. Technology can be used in a negative way and their [sic] is little way to police that. We feel that communication skills and inter-personal skills are lacking. Also, children are not learning general typing skills and only typing in text.
4. What do you think are the top challenges faced by the students in the Effingham School System?(Elizabeth Christmas, Scott Hendrix, Jennifer Reiser, Bob Farrell)
   • Work Ethic – lack or parent role modeling; “home training”; sleeping/texting during school/work/internship hours; perhaps their increased electronic device skills are taking the place of interpersonal, social and written skills; citizenship/getting along with each other/community service (examples: former SEHS Ag Ed teacher used to operate a Bethesda pals program, high school students serving as mentors to elementary school students)
   • Personal needs – poverty, nutrition, learning disabilities, lack of mentoring, identifying candidates for preschool intervention (PSI) via parent education
   • Stifling factors – state government control, dress code punishment interferes with instruction time, little time left for striving for excellence or encouraging creativity
   • Environment – traditional/rural setting (career choices), lack of summer camp opportunities, lack of clubs and programs that encourage modern skills and fast-changing technology

      

5. As a community, what do we want our public schools to provide for our students?(Lisa Giavatto, Destiny Bradshaw, Carrie Thompson, Rodney Miller, Joe Marchese)
   • Technology resources to meet classroom and educational requirements
     • Calculators required for specific classes
     • Internet access
     • Chrome books
   • Universal access to pre-K opportunities
     • Current system is lottery-based
   • Tutorial resources
     • Potential for after-school access to school facility resources (could also help with challenges involving access to needed technology resources)
   • A safe environment for learning
     • Physically safe
     • Emotionally safe

1. NOTE: Concerns regarding some students’ lack of resources needed to provide them with access to items listed above (calculators, internet access)

1. NOTE: Positive impact of early learning opportunities and resources on long-term student success

1. NOTE: Potential use of background checks as needed to achieve the objectives listed above

• Community service opportunities as part of students’ educational experience and a graduation requirement

Effingham County- CCRPI