Benjamin Roundtree, Special Assistant to the Superintendent, presented the Quarter One Quarterly Report. Quarterly reports are designed to communicate our progress towards implementing the Board’s priorities for the year. To that end, quarterly reporting is an important tool that we use to ensure that our community is aware of the district’s performance and current organizational status. Within the Quarterly Report document, each of the Organizational Priority categories are coded by color: orange for Academics, blue for Operations, and dark orange for Culture and Engagement. Each category also has a progress designation – which defines the work in a stage of research, planning, implementation, or monitoring. A few of this year’s goals do not reflect these designations, however. There is a set of discrete goals that are simply defined by whether they were achieved or not.
Each of the aforementioned organizational priorities and sub-components were initially provided to Superintendent Dr. Bradley for further examination last fall. Dr. Bradley subsequently produced a 90-Day report with findings and recommended priority actions. These findings were affirmed as key areas of focus and were coupled with the approval of corresponding goals. Together, both the priorities and the goals provide guidance for the district’s current work, and the first formal progress report was presented during the November school board meeting.
Three specific priorities have been identified in Academics.
- Develop a clear and comprehensive literacy strategy.
- Strengthen the instructional core by clarifying common expectations for curriculum usage, instructional planning, instructional delivery, academic intervention, and assessment.
- Implement clear and consistent systems of support while also investing in the development and support of key instructional leaders and support personnel.
School board members identified literacy as the area requiring the most focus. As a result, district staff responded by developing a comprehensive literacy plan, which establishes a district-wide
K-12 literacy strategy grounded in the Science of Reading. As part of this initiative, all K-5 teachers and leaders are participating in comprehensive professional development on evidence-based reading instruction. Additionally, state approved instructional materials aligned with the Science of Reading and compliant with House Bill 538 are being implemented to support the delivery of explicit literacy instruction.
The creation of an Instructional Framework is integral to this work, and the framework for each content area provides teachers with a structured sequence of essential components and strategies to ensure high-quality, standards-aligned instruction in every classroom.
Complementing all the afore-mentioned initiatives is a system for continuous development, which is intended to strengthen instructional leadership at all levels. Principals’ meetings, assistant principals’ meetings, and an Instructional Coaches’ Academy all have a focus on professional development. Also, the Teacher Advisory Council has been launched to lift the voices of the district’s teachers, who are vital to the success of the school district.
Under Operations, the school board has prioritized heightened efforts to improve staff compensation, improve core business functions, and increase community transparency. To date, a full-scale classification and compensation study has been successfully completed. This study includes recommendations for salary enhancements for every job family throughout the district. The potential implementation of this scale will make salaries in Newton County Schools competitive with other districts in the region, and in some areas, position the district to be an outright compensation leader.
Improvements have been made in other areas as well, including making our employee benefits package more attractive. Two new elements of the Newton County Schools comprehensive employee benefits package have been added - accident insurance and hospital indemnity insurance. Additionally, the district is transitioning from a dental and optical reimbursement plan to traditional dental and vision insurance plans.
An emphasis has been placed on achieving more organizational transparency, with the primary goal being to provide improved clarity and awareness for the community. During Quarter One, a new and improved Board Notes document was launched. Traditionally, Board Notes had been used to summarize action taken by the school board at its meetings, but now the document has been expanded to include comprehensive board meeting summaries. Also, board meeting agendas have been restructured to align with overriding Organizational Priorities, while also adding standing agenda items for E-SPLOST and Construction Reports and a monthly financial report.
Although not visible to the community, internal practices also are being refined. Each division now operates pursuant to Operational Management Plans with corresponding Key Performance Indicators. This new structure helps to better organize and monitor our work, with a business-like cadence for enhanced productivity.
In the area of Culture and Engagement, the Quarterly Report highlights the district’s desire to elevate and modernize its brand, increase opportunities for employee recognition, and better clarify mental health support. Regarding elevating branding, significant strides have been made in this area. A new district logo has been released, each division has received its own customized branding marks, and a general artistic framework has been designed to accompany all internal and public facing designs.
Recognition programming also is an area where much work this quarter is in the advanced planning stage. With an elevated Teacher of the Year program during Quarter One, the HERO Award and the SPORTY Awards have been added. The HERO Award recognizes outstanding classified employees, and the SPORTY Award honors the contributions of the district’s outstanding support professionals, including Counselor of the Year and special acknowledgement of school psychologists and social workers.
Prioritizing the development of programming that removes barriers to student learning, with a specific focus on mental health, is paramount. Much of the district’s first quarter work has centered on articulating and communicating the mental health resources that are currently in place and evaluating programming to assess impact. Students’ academic goals cannot be achieved unless the full range of their needs are addressed.
Progress was made during Quarter One initiating expansive professional development opportunities for the district’s leaders. Dr. Bradley launched Cabinet, a gathering of leaders which is comprised of the district’s Directors, Executive Directors, Chiefs, and other select personnel. This group is focused on cultivating strong executive level leadership while also defining the qualities, habits of mind, and competencies necessary to function as high performing district office executive leaders.
All the items mentioned in the Quarter One Quarterly Report align with the board’s priorities. Mr. Roundtree reminded stakeholders that this year represents a period of foundation building – not implementation.
