Record of 5,100 Pupils Expected: System to Operate on Total Budget of $45.4 Million

By Harry Franklin, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Ga.

Jul. 30–Harris County schools should begin classes Aug. 8 with a record 5,100 students and some 850 employees, operating with a total budget of $45.4 million, Superintendent Susan Andrews said.

School officials expect nearly 1,700 students at Harris County High School; some 2,400 students at the county’s four elementary schools; and 1,000 students at Harris County Carver Middle School.

Students will discover that 800 new computers installed this summer are ready for use throughout the system. They are part of a three-year computer rotation under a lease program. These computers will cost the school district $270,000 a year for three years, she said.

Charter Communications also has been installing fiber optics technology at each school this summer, Andrews said, calling it a huge technology upgrade. Five large new school buses also will go into service.

Students will find no major changes in this year’s student handbooks.

Construction

No new schools will open this year, but construction has taken place on some campuses. A $3.5 million air-conditioned gymnasium is being built behind the middle school that should be completed in December, Andrews said. It will feature standard-sized basketball and volleyball courts and will have four classrooms upstairs. Torrance Construction Co. of LaGrange is the contractor.

A new wing with six classrooms and a computer lab has just been completed at New Mountain Hill Elementary School. Bids will be opened at 3 p.m. Aug. 9 on a new air-conditioned physical education facility to be built at the school. It is expected to be completed in January.

With the student population continuing to grow, the district is moving quickly to complete an intermediate school for grades 5-6 by summer 2009. It will be next to Mulberry Creek Elementary School off Ga. 315. Bids could be advertised in September, Andrews said, if the Georgia Department of Education approves the plans in time. The school is expected to cost $14 million, with nearly $6 million coming from the state and the remainder from special purpose local option sales tax money for education, said Andrews. When the school district finishes selling bonds this fall, $10 million in bonds for this school and other small projects will be available. Those projects include lighting baseball and softball fields, building a field house and refinishing the track at the high school.

Sites for future elementary and middle schools also are being made available off Ga. 315 at Interstate 185 by developers of a huge residential/business park/commercial development.

Andrews confirmed that the district is looking for 100 acres in north Harris County for a second high school that she said will be needed in 7 to 10 years because Harris County High already is overcrowded. Opened in 1999, the high school has had 16 classrooms added and still will need two double-portable classroom units added for this fall.

“We’re outgrowing the lunchroom and media center,” she said.

By the time the district is ready to build a high school, she said the cost to complete it could be $50 million. That means it could require funds from two or more SPLOSTs to help pay for it. That project likely will be in the next five-year facilities plan. A new facilities plan was approved last year that includes the new middle school.

Personnel

Growth also means new personnel. Twelve additional teachers will be on board across the system this fall. That includes four teachers at the high school, three each at Park and Pine Ridge Elementary Schools and two at New Mountain Hill Elementary.

Other new positions include an assistant principal at the high school, bringing the number of assistants to four. This assistant will work with ninth graders. Also: a graduation coach at the middle school; two parasecurity workers, one each at the high and middle schools; a central officer staffer to handle benefits; instructional technology coordinator to help teachers integrate technology in instruction; and a central office administrator to help with special education and visiting homebound teacher.

The county has hired former sheriff’s department investigator Glen Presley as a parasecurity worker to focus on safety at the high school. Andrews said he will train a similar worker for the middle school.

For the first time, the district has outsourced custodial services to a private company, which Andrews said should save $200,000 annually. The county contracted with Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Southern Management, which has a regional office in Columbus, for $1.3 million, to provide custodial services in the system. The contract requires the firm to keep the nearly 100 school system custodians on their payroll at the same pay rates.

Curriculum

“We’re trying to get the Georgia Performance Standards rolled out and people trained,” Andrews said. “Teachers asked that we not introduce new courses until we complete that. This year we’re rolling out grades 9-12 math; kindergarten-12 science; and kindergarten-5 social studies. We were under the state’s Quality Core Curriculum last year.”

She explained that under the state’s new standards, courses and testing will be tougher, and that it will take time for teachers and students to get acquainted with them.

Operations

The school system also is working to become more paperless in operations, Andrews said. “This year, maintenance requests, technology requests, leave forms and field trip requests will go online.”

The administration also will work this year to develop a plan to make sure financial data, including payroll and budgeting, and the technology system have a reliable off-site backup in case of disaster, Andrews said.

“We want to make sure we can continue operating the system if there is a disaster,” she said, noting that companies are available to provide backup for such technology.

Leadership

The school district is conducting a leadership academy this year for 21 assistant principals and teachers to prepare them to fill important leadership roles as key positions become available in the system. A number of district officials could become eligible to retire in the next few years, including the superintendent, who has begun her 31st year with the school district.

Andrews’ contract would expire June 30, 2010, but she could retire earlier. She said she hasn’t decided when shewill retire. She would have to give at least 90 days notice when she would leave the $140,000 position.

The leadership class will begin Aug. 30 and will meet one day a month through May.

Strategic plan

Work to develop a strategic plan for the school district will begin this fall, with an estimated 30 people participating, made up of parents, teachers and administrators. Each of the seven school board members will name a parent to serve. They will meet one day a month starting in September. Their plan will be presented to the board in May, Andrews said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Ga.

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