Henry High getting $3.6 million for improvements

Henry Daily Herald:

Henry County High School has been awarded $3.6 million in federal funding, through the state Department of Education.

The school improvement grant will be delivered over a three-year period, beginning this school year, in order to pay for improvement initiatives at the school. “We’ve been blessed with a resource that will help us address our weaknesses, and celebrate our successes,” said Principal Scott John, who replaces retired school leader, Andy Giddens.

The grant is awarded to schools that are among the lowest-achieving, non-Title I high schools in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Education. It is a component of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and is funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Student Achievement and School Accountability.

“The grant does not mean we were an unsuccessful, or poor school,” Principal John said. “The grant is an extra resource that will allow us to be an even-more-successful school.”

Henry County High has struggled over the past couple of years to maintain the level of academic performance it had in years past, according to the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Report. AYP is a measure of year-to-year student achievement on state-wide assessments, as prescribed by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Henry County High last met the standards of AYP during the 2007-08 school year, said Greg Benton, Henry’s assistant superintendent for learning and teaching services. School improvement grants help fund school-level, improvement initiatives to lift student achievement. Benton said the initiatives are outlined in the grant program’s Transformation Model, which Henry County High will be implementing this coming year.

The Transformation Model notes areas of support schools should focus on, in order to improve student performance. Some of those areas include: addressing particular student needs, providing professional development, increasing learning time for students and teachers, and building up community involvement.

“We have submitted a three-year, detailed budget to the Georgia Department of Education for their review and approval,” Benton said. “Upon approval, the funding will be used to support student learning opportunities, development of a parent resource center and community outreach initiatives, professional learning and training for faculty members, contracted services with external education providers, and other types of programs to support the students and faculty of Henry County High School.”

Funding will also be used to create, or expand, programs in extended learning, reading, and technology, added Principal John.

“We hope to bring Henry County High School back to the spotlight where it should be,” John said. “We’re going to use that school improvement grant as a great extra resource on top of what the school system has already provided us ... to work for student achievement and student success.”

This will be John’s first year at Henry County High, and in the Henry County School System. He was previously principal at Pike County Middle School, where he served one year. John said he has a total of 22 years in education, including a combined four years as an administrator in the Pike County School System. He spent a year as an assistant principal and athletic director in the Fayette County School System, and he served 17 years as a physical education, and health instructor, in the Clayton County School System.

“Henry County High School is an outstanding high school,” he said. “It needs to take its spot back as a leading, and achieving, school. The only way that can happen is if the stakeholders all come together and set attainable goals. Parents need to play a supportive role in that academic success.”

Posted via email from Jim Nichols for Senate Blog