PWSB to open daycare on elementary campus

The Palestine-Wheatley School Board this week unanimously voted to open a daycare on its elementary campus. The board also heard stories from a book that was recently published by the district’s elementary Gifted and Talented students as well as updates from both principals regarding an increase in student growth scores and a mock trial held Monday. The board hired several new teachers, including Allen Hilsdon, pending approval from the state as a special education and math teacher; Slayton Wheeler, high school teacher and coach; Jessica Haynes, English; Kamden Skinner, English; Will Carter, social studies and coach, and Kimberly Ponder, Jessica Caldwell and Sara Catlett as teachers for kindergarten through sixth grades. The board also accepted the resignations of Robin Jumper, Brooke Wells, Cleann Brown and Becky Lee. Board member Gunner Simpson was absent. PW School District Superintendent Ryan Halbert told board members the total cost for upgrading two buildings to serve as the paid Pre-K option for the district would be $188,225. "We are wanting to move forward with expanding our Pre K to a paid option," said Halbert. "In your packet, you kind of have the bones of a fledgling handbook. It is not ready yet, but everything we need to vote on is in that. We are going to be upgrading two of our buildings to serve as our paid options for Pre-K. The total cost will be $122,120 for building one and $66,105 for building number two. I recommend that we approve this quote so we can begin construction as soon as possible." Halbert told board members the school will also provide half price tuition for three and four year-olds who belong to district faculty and staff. "We are looking to charge $130 per week for children ages six weeks to 36 months and $145 a week for three and four year olds," said Halbert. "We want to offer half price tuition for three and four year olds to all school employees. They will get that half-price tuition on days we are in school. When we are out on Mondays, their child cannot come on that half-price rate. We are also going to offer wraparound service for our ABC students at $50 per week." Halbert said payment for the new Pre-K will be due each Monday, with no refunds offered for missed days or early pickups. "That means that ABC will be shut down sooner than the paid option will," said Halbert. "If they want to keep their child on campus for that time period, it will be $50 per week. Also, anyone who picks their child up 30 minutes after hours will be charged a $20 late fee. Payments will be due each Monday, which will be applied if the student attends at least one day. No refunds will be applied for missed days or early pickups." The board unanimously approved Halbert’s recommendation to begin construction. Board members heard from PW Elementary Gifted and Talented teacher Johna Burchett about the book students published, called "Beyond the Horizon: Stories and Discoveries of the Gifted Minds." "This year, I decided that one of our projects would be to write a book," said Burchett. They had their choice to write about challenges, obstacles, successes or how they felt about being gifted. It is really neat when you can get third through sixth graders to really reflect on how they feel and know that somebody is going to read it." According to Burchett, if one student was struggling with how to write something or what to draw, other students would help them. "I had 33 kids do it, so it was quite a lengthy process, but we went through the whole writing process,” Burchett explained. “They chose the topic they wanted to write about. What was really neat was how they celebrated each other. If one student was having trouble writing something, the other one would help them. Or, if they had trouble with the activity, or picture, that they wanted to go with it, they would help them." Burchett said two fourth grade students, Lucy Hall and Leia Scarbrough, one sixth grade student, Anna Bulkina, and one third grade student, Mason Caldwell, would be reading their stories to the board from the book. "They were really proud of the work they put out," said Burchett. "I wanted you all to listen to them instead of listening to me. I have three kids who have been a part of the program and one who was newly added to the GT program. When the new ones came in, they told about what it felt like to be selected to be in the GT program." After the students shared their stories, the board heard from PWES Principal Tiffany Caldwell about growth scores at the elementary. "I wanted to highlight our GT students tonight," said Caldwell. "They worked really hard together to publish a book that details what it means to them to be gifted. For teacher highlights, we have a spreadsheet showing teacher growth scores. When we look at a student's expected growth score for a year, we want that average to be at an 80 or above. If it is below an 80, that means they did not reach their expected growth level. Each student's expected growth is going to be different. It is based off of where they tested in the past." Caldwell said teachers throughout the elementary campus saw growth beyond their grade levels. "We want our teachers to have an 80 or above for their average," said Caldwell. "That means that the majority of their class had a year's worth of growth or more. Ms. Morgan Albers' composite is for science and math. She is over an 80. Mrs. Terri Jo Knowlton is for her ELA and math composite and it is 83. Tate Lawson, with the entire fourth grade English class, had an 82. Ms. Kern in math had an 81. She was not with us last year, she is a new hire for us this year, so that was a good hire." According to Caldwell, Knowlton's growth score in math for her classes was at a 91, showing a two-year jump in growth. "I asked Mrs. Terri Jo if she would come tonight for this," said Caldwell. "Look at her score. Her entire class for math is over a 91. This is huge because what we usually see is a growth of three and four. She grew all of her kids, level ones, level twos, every child in her class grew over one year of expected growth. That is beyond what we hope for. It is very big. I am so proud and thankful for all of my staff, and I am so impressed with how far she went and what she did for our kids." Halbert explained that Value Added Model scores have been emphasized by the state recently and that he would bet that Knowlton's 91 is one of the best in the state. "The state has really put a lot of emphasis on VAM scores and that is what we are looking at right there," said Halbert. "So, basically, if you are a fourth grade teacher and a student comes to you on first grade level, that means they left you on a second grade level. That would be an 80. The same can be said if the student comes in on a fourth grade level and leaves on a fifth grade level. If they score an 81, that means that they grew more than that one grade level. When they score a 91 – we don't have everybody's scores across the state – but I would be willing to bet that is one of the top scores in the entire state. Mrs. Terri Jo, we are very proud of you and proud of all of the teachers and students." High School Principal Dustin Dearman told board members that high school students showed "big growth" in math and ELA between September 2024 and March of this year. “We grew in every grade level in every subject," said Dearman. "Some more than others, I would highlight seventh grade English with a growth of 68 points. Basically, each 100 is considered a grade level. So 700 is a seventh grade level score and a score of 800 is eighth grade level. We are seeing our September scores and our March scores. We had big growth in ninth grade in ELA and in math. From September to March, we grew over a grade level with our ninth grade math students. Math has been an area where our achievement may not be where we want it to be." According to Dearman, 33 ninth grade students grew a year or more, and seventh and eighth grade students are showing good and consistent growth as well. "How do you make the achievement where you want it to be? You look at growth and trying to grow students," said Dearman. "That has really been our focus throughout this year– finding a way to celebrate growth and motivate students to grow. We also have the number of students who have shown one-plus years of growth through that time of September through March. In ninth grade, 33 students, that is 41% of our students, grew a year or more in that time frame. Eighth grade and seventh grade are also showing good and pretty consistent growth." Dearman explained that 66% of all students between seventh and 10th grades are on or above grade level at the high school.

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