Board of Education to make changes to teacher evaluations

Aiken County school system administrators at the district-level have begun spending up to two full days a week in classroom observations as a way to help improve teaching and learning.

At a Board of Education meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt released a draft of a letter explaining the project that will be sent out to parents.

As a result, Everitt said in the letter, administrators may not always be readily available for unscheduled visits or phone calls.

"This does not mean, however, that administrators do not value communication with you," she said in the letter. Everitt will ask parents to schedule a time to speak with them. Emergencies, however, will be handled promptly.

In other business:

* The school district will use the SAFE-T teacher evaluation procedure, which is part of the ADEPT process established a number of years ago. Human resources director Tomiko Smalls and the SAFE-T coordinator, Joyce Stanley, presented the new model to the board. It will primarily target first- and second-year teachers, as well as those new to the district.

Teachers will receive a minimum of two classroom observations from a two-person team, one of them in the teacher's content area or grade level - all in addition to the visits of school administrators. Those indicating the need for an improvement plan could get extra visits from team members to assist them in that effort.

Currently, there are 200 trained evaluators in the district, with about 191 teachers to be evaluated with the SAFE-T instrument, Stanley said.

* The school district has received a low bid of 0.91 percent for a $14 million bond issue for facility needs and maintenance, said comptroller Tray Traxler. That will save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the five-year repayment. A $13.8 million bond issue last year got a low bid of 1.49 percent.

* Four board members - interim chair Rosemary English, Wesley Hightower, Donna Wesby and Levi Green - were recognized for the training they have received through the S.C. School Boards Association.

English and Hightower received Level 5 awards, the highest possible.

Hightower also serves as the Region 10 representative with the School Boards Association - covering Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, Bamberg and Hampton school districts. He told Aiken board members that he has visited other districts and attended their board meetings.

"We can work with other districts and help each other out," Hightower said. "Let's find a way to get all the districts together and let's talk."

* The School Board members will work with district officials in looking at existing and potentially new duties for the Advisory Councils that serve each of the five attendance areas. One of the current duties of the councils is hearing student disciplinary appeals from the school and area level. However, that responsibility will be shifted to a tribunal panel structure, scheduled to start this fall.

* The School Board will host a work session on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., to discuss the district's five-year facilities plan. Board members had called for a $236 million bond issue to replace or rebuild six schools, but voters rejected the referendum in May. Those schools, and others with facility concerns, remain in the five-year plan.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.