School board members learned there are 47 more students in the Starkville School District this year than last, and 36 more students enrolled in early September than were enrolled when school began in Aug. 5.
Superintendent Judy Couey gave this report to the board at Tuesday night”s meeting. Afterwards, Sarah Coleman, a parent who has spoken at other board meetings, talked about problems she said her family and others are experiencing with the school district since school began.
Couey said there are 4,105 students in the Starkville School District. There were 4,058 for the 2009-2010 school year. She said historically, the district gains a few more students after Labor Day, and those numbers were not available as of Tuesday night”s meeting.
“The biggest increase was in tenth grade, then seventh, fourth and fifth,” Couey said.
She said 15 have withdrawn to attend home school or non-public school options. Coleman suggested that number is greater.
There are fewer employees in the district. Teachers number 340 this year, down from 345 last year, and teacher assistants dropped from 87 to 55.
“We have shared assistants in first and second grade, and kindergarten has TAs in each class,” Couey said.
There are a total of 737 school district employees, down from 791 employed in the 2009-2010 school year.
Couey praised the technological tools available to help teachers and principals do their jobs and track individual students. Teachers now have the ability to instantly access data on each of their students that provides classroom grades, iSTEEP information, state testing results and more.
“They can make instructional decision based on this data, and they can evaluate their own instructional level by looking at whole classes,” Couey said.
She said a curriculum council has been convened to standardize grading processes across the district to create “authentic” grades for each student. She said school uniforms are working fine, and adjustments have been made to release times, carpool arrangements and bus routes to ease the process of getting students home from school.
Coleman”s picture was not so rosy.
“This year has not gotten off to a good start for myself, my children and many of the parents I know,” she said.
She said involved parents who have participated heavily in their children”s classrooms and schools in the past have dropped out of the school district, having “lost faith and trust” in the schools. She said she and other parents feel shut out of the decision-making process, have received misinformation and are displeased with “unpopular policies” the district has enacted.
“It can”t be normal for so many families to withdraw heir children from the school district,” Coleman said.
She said her family is among many who are seriously considering pulling out of the school district for these and other reasons.
When board president Bill Weeks asked if Coleman has talked to Couey about these issues. Coleman said she has e-mailed Couey, but did not say and was not asked whether Couey had responded. Weeks suggested she try a face-to-face meeting to address these concerns.
“E-mail is good, but a sit-down is better,” Weeks said.
Lee Brand asked what misinformation she spoke of, and she gave an example of confusion over the changed release time at Henderson Ward Stewart.
The board took no action on her comments. However, it is unusual for them to ask questions of a person who appeared before them with a complaint.
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