March/April 2018
Food Clothing
Services h t l a He ervices ial S c So
Tributes to Dr. Allene Magill Honor Her Commitment to Students
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Contents
March/April 2018
Vol. 39 No. 4
Features 08 Schools Are Transforming into
14
Hubs for Community Services
14 Helping Hands Ending Hunger
Columns
Departments
6 From the President ‘Don’t Ever Say You’re JUST a Teacher’
Legislation 20 2018 Day on Capitol Hill Focused on Teacher Pipeline and Poverty
7 From the Executive Director PAGE Will Continue and Enhance Dr. Allene Magill’s Impactful Work
Special Section 4 Tributes to Dr. Allene Magill Honor Her Commitment to Students
Technology in the Classroom 25 Oh The Places You’ll Go … with Virtual Field Trips Legal 26 The Potential Legal Pitfalls of Sports Leagues PAGE Foundation 28 Letter to PAGE Foundation Donors and Friends Professional Learning 30 The Paideia School Wins PAGE Academic Bowl
20
PAGE One Official Publication of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators Providing professional learning for educators to enhance professional competence, confidence and leadership skills, leading to higher academic achievement for students, while providing the best in membership, legal services and legislative support. March/April 2018
26
EDITORIAL STAFF
NEW SOUTH PUBLISHING
Executive Editor Craig Harper
President Larry Lebovitz
Graphic Designer Jack Simonetta
Editor Meg Thornton
Publisher John Hanna
Production Coordinator Megan Willis
Contributing Editor Lynn Varner
Editor Cory Sekine-Pettite
Advertising/Sales Sherry Gasaway 770-650-1102, ext.145
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Tributes to Dr. Allene Magill Honor Her Commitment to Students The shock of Dr. Allene Magill’s unexpected death lingers even with more than two month’s distance. While the pace of life forces us to keep moving, it is with heavy hearts. Many people and institutions have paid loving tribute to Allene, and without fail, those words honored her insistence that the needs of students — particularly those in poverty who need the best we have to offer — must drive our decisions. As executive director of PAGE for nearly 14 years, Allene’s message never wavered or waned; that consistency, tied to determination, made her one of Georgia’s strongest advocates for public education, students and educators. She cared deeply about ensuring professional educators were prepared to meet the challenges of teaching all students, no matter their circumstances. That commitment, through PAGE’s professional learning work on student engagement in districts all over our state, will be her enduring legacy. Among the many statements recognizing her work, two of the most touching were written by Matt Jones, chief of staff to Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods, and Dr. Jimmy Stokes, her long-time friend and executive director of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders.
Georgia Has Lost its Iron Lady By Matt Jones, Chief of Staff to Georgia School Superintendent
P
ublic education in Georgia has lost its Iron Lady. For decades, Allene has fought alongside all of us in the trenches — a visionary leader and tireless advocate for students and educators in Georgia. All who knew Allene knew her by the enduring strength of her integrity and principles. Through her grace and class, she gave voice to thousands of educators who were on the frontlines, and that voice was grounded in the realities of the classrooms across our state. She had a true heart for teachers. Though sadness overcomes us by the sudden loss of public education’s Iron Lady, we must not let this mark the end to her efforts. Her legacy must be our continued work to realize real progress on the issues she was so passionate about: strengthening the teaching profession, elevating the voice of teachers, acknowledging and addressing the impact of poverty, reducing the weight and emphasis of testing, and realizing a fairer, more balanced accountability system that lifts up, instead of labels, our schools. During her career, Allene received numerous well-earned and well-deserved awards and achievements, but our greatest recognition of her must be the realization of her vision and completion of her work. True to being an educator, she leaves behind tens of thousands of individuals from across the state and from all walks of life. She leaves an enduring legacy of greatness — greatness we must find in ourselves during public education’s darkest hours and see in its time of triumphs. Allene truly gave her life to education — to educators and to kids. We lost a great leader, a friend, a colleague, a teacher — but Georgia gained much from the legacy she leaves behind.
Gentleness Combined with Steely Determination By Jimmy Stokes, Executive Director, Georgia Association of Educational Leaders
P
ublic education lost one of its greatest advocates and mentors on Jan. 27, 2018, when Dr. Allene Magill passed away. Allene was as good a friend as you could ever hope to have — offering praise and support when times were tough and providing just the right amount of redirection when things seemed to be going well but needed improvement. She was the former president of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders, superintendent of three school systems, and most astonishingly, the only superintendent or GAEL member that I have ever known who was appointed to the Board of Regents. That was a testimony to the political clout she had. Allene taught all of us some valuable lessons about how to deal with politicians and people in general. She combined her sweet, gentle character with a determination of steel, and those who had the privilege of working with her know how empowered and significant she could make us all feel. As her husband Charles told me, “She was something else.” She was easily one of the most powerful and most persuasive people I have ever known. But now we must move on without her. She did her best to prepare us to lead when she was gone; now we have to put the lessons to work. We must demonstrate her compassion and resolve for public education in all that we do; she would not have it any other way. Every one of you is an Allene Magill to students, teachers and fellow leaders in your network. The final lesson that she taught us is that you run the race all out to the finish line, never looking back, never slacking up. The children of Georgia now depend on us just as they depended on Allene Magill.
From the President
‘Don’t Ever Say You’re JUST a Teacher’
I
first met Allene Magill at the PAGE Summer Conference 12 years ago. I will never forget that initial meeting. As I was introduced, she turned toward me graciously with the kindest smile I had ever seen and welcomed me with her petite Steel Magnolia frame. Her eyes sparkled as she asked, “Where are you from and what is your job, Kelli?” In her eyes I saw warmth, but also something else — something akin to a light that melted my unease and made me want to drop the baggage of my doubt at her feet and absorb her wisdom. It was more than her vast experience of “I’ve been there and done it,” and more than the steely flint of her determination. What I saw in her eyes was an encompassing light that shone so brightly that I was at once drawn in, needing to know what that light was going to reveal — not only about her, but also about myself. However, standing there in the
6 PAGE ONE
Marriott foyer, I offered what I quickly learned was an unpalatable answer for this bastion of grace and education. “I’m just a teacher,” I offered quietly. The lovely brilliance that had drawn me in immediately changed to what I would later come to call the “stormy eyebrow and furrowed brow.” Her finger came up (you know the one) and I admit, I think I felt the earth shake a little beneath my open-toed sandals as she responded. “No ma’am! You are not JUST a teacher,” she said in her now-you-listen-to-me voice. “You are in the classroom everyday educating Georgia’s children. You are important, and don’t forget that! Don’t ever say you’re JUST a teacher. You change lives everyday, and you should be proud!” Then, even though we had only known each other a few seconds, she hugged me, and the funny thing was that in that instant I felt IT. I was
important because she told me I was, and I believed it Kelli De Guire down to my very core. Such was her magic. Years later, I have never forgotten that encounter. It has transformed my teaching career and made me desire to always be a teacher leader. Whenever, I needed help with a decision or just wanted an Allene hug, I went to her to talk, to plan and to laugh. To this day, I still hear her words as I introduce myself to legislators and superintendents, or more importantly, when I walk to the front of my classroom each fall and say, “My name is Mrs. De Guire. I’m your teacher, and together we’re going to change the world.” Dr. Magill will always be a part of me and my life as a teacher. Her voice lives through me, and I feel honored and proud to carry it with me everyday. Thank you Allene! I will miss you.
March/April 2018
From the Executive Director
PAGE Will Continue and Enhance Dr. Allene Magill’s Impactful Work Craig Harper
T
ransitions are hard even when planned; much more so when unexpected. PAGE experienced a premature transition with the loss of Dr. Allene Magill as executive director. Her passion and energy around student engagement drove everything she did, and she did all that she could to impart educators with the knowledge and resources to build those relationships. Allene believed deeply that schools must be organized around the work of students, and that teachers, administrators and support staff must make that happen. To that end, she developed professional learning initiatives to bring educators together to design and implement student-focused work in their schools. Allene insisted that PAGE is about support for professional educators committed to student learning — and that this mission requires teachers, administrators and support staff to work together rather than in isolation or with distrust. PAGE benefitted from Allene’s leadership over the past 14 years as the organization grew from 54,000 to more than 93,000 members. She also made that sure that PAGE had people in place to bolster its strong advocacy for professional educators, public education and Georgia’s students. All of us at PAGE miss Allene’s presence, guidance and friendship. I know many of us still expect the phone to ring at a late hour for conversations about how to make something we do work even better, or to brainstorm about a new project
March/April 2018
or share information she’d learned from educators on her endless trips around the state. The PAGE staff in every area — professional learning, membership, legislative, communications, human resources and PAGE Foundation — is committed to honor Allene’s legacy by continuing and enhancing her impactful work. Beyond the Schoolhouse Wraparound services for students, schools and communities are the focus of this issue of PAGE One. When searching for effective support for students, understanding their needs and finding the right kinds of interventions is key. Wraparound services can mean many things, and as our cover story illustrates, their availability can be abundant to nearly non-existent. The more we understand about the negative effects of poverty, lack of resources and the insecurity it causes, we realize the devastating impact those burdens have on the ability to learn. On a related note, as we interact with legislators, education policymakers and advocates, we sense a shift in attitudes about educators and student outcomes. It seems that educators are no longer seen as having sole responsibility for student success. We aren’t nearly where we need to be, but there is a sense that the hard, difficult work that you do every day to overcome the deficits many Georgia students face is being recognized. This is evident in pushback on high-stakes tests in the federal Every Student Succeeds
Act (ESSA) and how Georgia’s plan was approved with less emphasis on testing and its inclusion of other factors, along with recognizing a school’s baseline “performance” to set improvement goals. It’s evident in the Georgia Department of Education’s encouragement of a pilot for innovative assessments that move away from Milestones. It’s evident in the First Priority Act with a change in language from failing schools to struggling schools, and the recognition that school improvement requires getting to know the situations of the students, families and communities those schools serve. Continue to do the hard work you do every day and share the stories — the big and small things you do that make a difference for individual students. Those stories force those who know little besides a number about schools and students to think more deeply about your important work. Day on Capitol Hill Growing Georgia’s teacher pipeline and advocating for public education were the focus of this year’s Day on Capitol Hill, co-sponsored by PAGE, Georgia Association of Educational Leaders and the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. During the annual event, educators were informed about key issues before the General Assembly and they lobbied legislators on pressing education concerns. A feature of the luncheon was a video highlighting the startling decline in enrollment in educator Continued on page 32
PAGE ONE 7
Schools Are Transforming into Hubs for Community Services
By Christine Van Dusen
A
shley Collier listened intently to the presentation by Marietta City Schools in January at the Georgia Association of Education Leaders’ conference in Athens. The district was describing how its partnerships with local businesses and organizations were allowing the schools to offer a vast array of on-site services, such as mental health therapy and a clothing/food pantry. These offerings, sometimes referred to as “wraparound services,” are allowing Marietta to address the underlying issues of student underperformance and to improve the students’ quality of life, attendance and test scores in the process. This all sounded great to Collier. But as the media specialist for Early County High School, she also knew that her district didn’t have any big businesses to help underwrite such a program. School budgets were tight, and family budgets were even tighter; hers is a rural south-
8 PAGE ONE
west Georgia county that suffers from third- and fourth-generation poverty. So, as she listened to the Marietta presentation, the wheels were turning inside her head, and she wondered: How can we take a similarly holistic approach to student care and, in turn, improve educational performance? It’s a question being asked by more and more Georgia school districts, particularly since July of 2017, when the state’s First Priority Act passed. The act identified low-performing districts and promised to help them not just by improving education but by addressing poverty, homelessness, mental illness and food insecurity — the root causes of academic underperformance. While some districts have been able to address these issues by tapping local organizations and businesses for wraparound services, other districts have struggled to access the doctors, civic groups and other service providers needed to address the basic needs
March/April 2018
Food Cloth ing Health Serv ice s a l i S c ervi So ce s
of students and set them up for success in the classroom. So far, officials from several districts say they’ve received very little in the way of concrete advice or support as a result of the First Priority Act. So in the meantime, schools — large and small, prosperous and impoverished — are trying to be proactive, and looking for creative ways to meet the needs of their students. This is not a battle of the haves versus have-nots; it’s an opportunity for districts to learn from each other, Collier said. “We know our students have problems, and we need to find a way to help,” she said.
Students Voiced Their Needs
Here’s how Marietta Schools got started: In 2014, the district began polling students to find out what they needed, and though they pointed to educational support, they also said they were looking for assistance with Continued on page 10
March/April 2018
PAGE ONE 9
issues such as food security, housing, mental health and drug addiction. So, in 2015, the district created the Graduate Marietta Student Success Center in a wing of Marietta High School. The center has three pieces: • Academic support, with a writing lab, test preparation, mentoring programs, scholarship assistance, college search and application assistance, and career shadowing;
Graduate Marietta Student Success Center
Suspensions are down, attendance is up and student performance has improved since the Marietta Center opened.
• Behavioral support, with tutoring, yoga classes and assistance with bullying, wellness and job skills; • And community partnerships and services, with mental-health counseling and family support, a food pantry, showers , a washer and dryer, and a clothing closet. The center houses 15 staff members, 10 of whom are from agencies such as the Juvenile Court of Cobb County, the Department of Human Services, the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse, Communities in Schools, mental health providers, and LiveSAFE, a mobile safety communications platform. Other partners on the center’s list of 37 include AT&T, Clarke Atlanta University, First United Methodist Church of Marietta and the Marietta Police Department. These programs and partnerships are paying off, said Marietta Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera. Suspensions are down, attendance is up, and student performance has improved since the center opened. “There’s been an increase in the graduation rate and test scores and a decrease in discipline,” he said. “The center is acutely aware of the social/emotional needs of children, and is trying to proactively and reac-
“Many, many schools in Georgia have a Department of Juvenile Justice person coming in. They have a DFACs worker coming by. Those services are provided in virtually every community in the state. All we did was offer them an office in our building.” — Marietta Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera 10 PAGE ONE
tively address those needs.” Though Rivera acknowledges that some Georgia communities don’t have as many employers or support agencies as Marietta, he believes that much of what the center offers can be replicated at other schools. “Many, many schools in Georgia have a Department of Juvenile Justice person coming in. They have a DFACs worker coming by. Those services are provided in virtually every community in the state,” he said. “All we did was offer them an office in our building.”
A Focus on Teacher Wellness
Early County Schools looks to Marietta as a shining example of what’s possible when attempting to take a holistic approach to student care and education. But when your district is saddled with extreme economic and emotional poverty, it’s tough. Consider this: Two years ago, the rural county was aware of six homeless families in its district. Last year, that number rose to 20; this year, it’s 67. “If a child is homeless and doesn’t have the resources, and doesn’t have a roof or electricity or food, how can they possibly come to school and learn?” Collier asked. To get started on offering wraparound services, Collier says, Early County began with the teachers. In the past few years, the district has been offering its educators fitness challenges, yoga, outdoors programming and nutrition services. “We feel like, if the teacher is whole, then she will help the child be whole. Then we moved on to the students.” To assess the students’ needs, Early County held quarterly community meetings in local churches, where students would play literacy games while the parents discussed the district’s goals. From these meetings the district determined that the schools needed help with student engagement, healthcare, homelessness, mental health and other issues. So Early County now brings in mental health professionals from nonprofit Aspire Behavioral Health & Developmental Disability Services in Albany. The district also is talking to a local pastor March/April 2018
about creating a community center at his church. “He’ll write the grant for the center to be used for tutoring, art, basketball,” Collier said. “It will be a place to come together.” The district is looking at participating in the Two Georgias Initiative, a Healthcare Georgia Foundation program that seeks to expand access to quality healthcare in Georgia’s rural communities by fostering partnerships. And, to address homelessness, the district created a steering committee that is gathering data on the reasons for the
“Our discipline rates are improving, our graduation rates are going up, and the outcry from schools — calling all the time to ask for support — has lessened.” — Tammie Workman, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, Atlanta Public Schools problem and how best to solve it. “We’re coming up with an action plan of what we can do as a community,” Collier said. “In our next meeting, it will
be more like a community café, where we’ll meet with the city and the county and other services, and have questions Continued on page 12
Gov. Nathan Deal and General Assembly End K-12 Austerity Cuts
S
ignificant underfunding of Georgia’s K-12 education budget formula and the recession dealt serious blows to local school districts during the past 16 years. Gov. Nathan Deal inherited the austerity reductions enacted by Gov. Sonny Perdue. While the reductions were eased as the economy improved and some additional monies were committed to education, the funding formula was still in the red by about $167 million per year the past two budget terms. On the penultimate day of the 2018 session in a move heralded by PAGE and education advocacy groups, Gov. Deal eliminated the remaining $167 million of austerity. The additional funding resulted from a more positive economic forecast that indicated state revenues would come in $195 million over projections. “Ongoing education funding cuts began before Deal’s tenure as governor and have impacted millions of Georgia students since they began 16 years ago,” said PAGE Executive Director Craig Harper. “Finally achieving full
“Finally achieving full funding of Georgia’s education formula is an important and welcome achievement for Gov. Deal and his legacy.” — Craig Harper, PAGE Executive Director
March/April 2018
funding of Georgia’s education formula is an important and welcome achievement for Gov. Deal and his legacy. “Educators greatly appreciate this wise use of the increased revenue estimate,” Harper said. “PAGE hopes that our next governor will continue Gov. Deal’s legacy by supporting Georgia students and public schools through state education policy and the state budget.” The most significant decrease in austerity cuts occurred in the past four years, with $300 million added back to K-12 budgets in 2016 and 2017. Education advocates were hopeful that the final step in the reduction would occur in the current year budget, but the reduction stalled out the past two years at $167 million. “We applaud this education funding milestone as great news for Georgia’s schoolchildren,” said Claire Suggs, senior education policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “We look forward to working with lawmakers to get the state’s public schools all the resources needed to move beyond meeting the basic needs of students to one day make Georgia a national education leader. “With this critical milestone attained, the next step is a comprehensive assessment of the cost of educating all of our students to today’s high standards,” Suggs said. PAGE appreciates Gov. Deal and state legislators for realizing and acting on the resource needs of Georgia’s students, educators and schools.
PAGE ONE 11
Some Atlanta schools now have washing machines, and through community partnerships, the schools provide eye exams and eyeglasses.
Graduate Marietta Student Success Center
and answers about the hopes and dreams for our community.” Collier recognizes that change sometimes begins with little things, so she’s pushing for the creation of a food pantry and a clothes closet in one of Early County’s schools. “We’re looking at little things we can start,” she said.
Atlanta Addresses Student Health Atlanta Public Schools has been trying the community-schooling approach for several years now, offering some basic
wraparound services via social workers and nurses. But students still were falling through the cracks, said Tammie Workman, the district’s assistant superintendent of student services. “We had some supports, like partnerships with local food banks. But mental health was really lacking. So we started looking at all of this more comprehensively, and pulled together a needs assessment,” she said. “We know that we are a district of haves and have-nots — from Buckhead to Bankhead, that’s who
Proportion of Economically Disadvantaged Students in Georgia’s Public Schools Increased from 2002 - 2017 60%
60% plus
50% 40%
we serve — and we lacked some real supports.” With data collected from students, families and staff, the district was able to devise a game plan to address issues related to student health, social and emotional learning and mental health. “Some schools now have washing machines brought in through Home Depot,” she said. “We also try to help families enroll and re-enroll for health insurance with help from partners. We also have a partnership, funded by the Atlanta Hawks, to provide screening and comprehensive eye exams and eyeglasses.” Additionally, the district has expanded its partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, to not only help children get food during the school day but also on days off. “They can choose to use the school food pantry or a mobile
Higher Poverty Schools More Likely to Receive Grade of D or F with the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement
99% more likely 79% more likely
45%
30%
40% more likely
20% 10% 0%
5.4% more likely
202
2017
EXTREME POVERTY
HIGH POVERTY
MODERATE POVERTY
LOW POVERTY
Source: Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, December 2017. 12 PAGE ONE
March/April 2018
food pantry. We have this at about 14 schools and hope to expand this to other schools,” Workman said. “We also have health clinics. Three of them are school-based, and they offer comprehensive health services and behavioral and mental health supports.” Atlanta Public Schools is seeing the benefits, she said. “Our discipline rates are improving, our graduation rates are going up, and the outcry from schools — calling all the time to ask for support — has lessened. That’s anecdotal, but it’s still important,” Workman said. “We’re on the upswing.” Her advice to districts with fewer resources: “It takes time. But you’ve got to stick with it.”
Bibb Creates a Truancy Task Force
In attempting to offer wraparound services in Bibb County, the district — one of those identified by the state as being in need of turnaround — has zeroed in on the problem of attendance and partnered with numerous agencies and stakeholders to find solutions. One strategy: Creating a truancy task force, with representatives from River Edge Behavioral Health, DFACs, the Bibb County Sheriff ’s Office, the school board and Navicent Health. “When a student has missed more
“One of the problems with high poverty is that parents are not able to get their kids to the doctor, so we have a facility right on campus.” — Jamie Cassady, Bibb County Assistant Superintendent of Student Affairs
than five days, we bring them and the parent in before this panel,” said Jamie Cassady, assistant superintendent of student affairs. “The parents are able to see, right in front of them, the resources available to help them. Whoever can help takes the parent outside afterward to give them the help that’s needed.” In another effort to address the issue of missed school days, the district has opened a medical clinic in its IngramPye Elementary School. “One of the problems with high poverty is that parents are not able to get their kids to the
25.4%
doctor, so we have a facility right on campus,” Cassady said. The results have been positive, with the number of students missing 10 or more days going down by 800 in 2017, he said. Another way that Bibb County attempts to offer wraparound services is with the help of the Business Education Partnership, a collaboration between the district and One Macon, a collective of more than 40 local businesses and organizations. Together these groups are raising money and providing services for students, Cassady said. Bibb County also has received a grant to provide mental health services at two schools. “Kids of poverty have usually experienced trauma in some form or fashion, and what we are finding out is that when they come to school, if we’re not able to help those kids and get to the root cause, then learning is not going to take place. Kids will have behavioral issues. We need to attack the root causes of the issues that kids are coming to school with.” Though the district is clearly making strides, Cassady acknowledges that his district — like many others in the state of Georgia — still has work to do. “Do we have all the resources I would like? No,” he said. “We’re not there yet. But n we’re tackling these issues.”
Poverty Rates in Georgia’s 5 Largest Cities
Percentage of Impoverished School-Aged Children in Georgia
Macon - 32%
Source: U.S. Census
Savannah - 25%
“Without a doubt, the most powerful predictors of academic achievement occur outside of the schoolhouse. Poverty is the most reliable predictor of these challenges.”
Augusta - 25%
— Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield told the Gainesville (GA) Times in January.
Atlanta - 24% Columbus - 21% 0
10
20
30
Source: U.S. Census March/April 2018
PAGE ONE 13
Helping Hands Ending Hunger
Inventive School Program Feeding Hungry Families of Students Gets Green Light from State and May Become a National Model
By Meg Thornton, PAGE One Editor
O
n Friday evenings in 2015, while Trion City residents cheered on the high school football team, a local family routinely dug through the stadium dumpster seeking food to sustain their school-aged children for the weekend. School volunteer Carla Harward learned of the family’s plight just after Thanksgiving, and it caused her sleepless nights. But it also got her thinking. Harward asked the cafeteria staff: “We have so much food waste in our cafeteria alone. Why aren’t we distributing unused food instead of throwing it away?” The answer was disheartening: It’s against the law. A non-practicing attorney, Harward devoted herself to understanding the logic behind the food service rules in an effort to change or circumvent them. Thus, the following summer, armed with an iron-clad, food-safe operational plan,
14 PAGE ONE
Harward and Trion Elementary School teacher Tina Lee, operating under the name of Helping Hands Ending Hunger, got the go-ahead from the local health department to redistribute unopened, uneaten and unused cafeteria food to hungry families. Their success was short lived, however. They had to stop the program when the Georgia Department of Public Health issued new “share table” guidelines, which were locally interpreted as preventing food repurposing. Still, Harward persisted, even though states all over the country had similar rules in place. Then she uncovered a legal loophole: Once food is classified as “donated” it no longer violates Georgia law regarding the transfer of unused food. The state of Georgia agreed, and in October 2017 the Georgia Department of Public Health even issued a statewide memorandum to district health directors. It states that “any school in Continued on page 16
March/April 2018
March/April 2018
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Teacher Tina Lee and parent volunteer LeeAnna Millican
37,791
Number of Homeless Students in Georgia K-12 Schools Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education. Includes unsheltered and sheltered children, as well as those in motels and shared housing in 2014-2015
Georgia … that wishes to partner with Helping Hands Ending Hunger, Inc., would not be in violation of the Georgia Food Service rules and regulations so long as the food service permit holder or staff for the cafeteria does not take repossession of any food once it has been served or sold to the students, staff or any other patrons at the facility.” “That was the greenlight we needed because we’re going statewide,” stated Harward, CEO of the nonprofit, which now has expanded into eight schools in northwest Georgia.
Student Performance Noticeably Improves
In addition to the unused food from school cafeterias, Helping Hands receives 20-30 pounds of fresh produce and baked goods per family per month from the food bank. The cost to the nonprofit is $4 per receiving family per month. As an agency partner of the food bank, Helping Hands also can purchase additional non-
perishable, shelf-stable food at an additional cost of $4 per family per month. The organization further collects donations of more canned and boxed food from community members. The weekly grocery bags, which are sent home with students each Friday, include the makings of full meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Recently, new school chapters of Helping Hands developed the idea of distributing food for themed meals, such as spaghetti or tacos, and let donors know each week on their Facebook pages the types of food they are seeking. The idea is that families will have multiple, complete nutritious meals over the weekend, the most common time children go hungry. Some skeptics question the need for such a food program in light of community food pantries and school backpack programs. But those efforts fall far short, insists Harward. Food pantries, which Continued on page 18
What Hunger Looks Like in Georgia
In Georgia, 1,659,710 people are struggling with hunger — and of them 580,830 are children.
1 IN 6 PEOPLE STRUGGLE WITH HUNGER
1 IN 4 CHILDREN STRUGGLE WITH HUNGER
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March/April 2018
And we wonder why some children are ‘off the chain’ By Charles Richardson
W
hen I was growing up, there were things I never worried about. I always had food in my stomach. It may not have been exactly what I wanted, but being a picky eater wasn’t an option in my mother’s house. And while I always dreamed of having an Ozzie- and Harriet-type home rather than the projects where we lived, I always had a roof over my head. I don’t remember having to live in extremes with the exception of summer’s heat. The old swamp box just couldn’t keep up after we left Los Angeles for Stockton’s Big Valley. Food and shelter were givens. I had a sense of security that I carried long after leaving home. I always knew I had a place where I could, if need be, come back to. That is unfortunately not the case for too many young people today. Too many young people have no home. The total number of homeless American students, identified as such by local educational agencies, was more than 1.2 million for the 2014-2015 school year. And that number only accounts for students enrolled and doesn’t include dropouts or children too young to be enrolled in school. I’m sure there were homeless children in the 1950s and ’60s, but I didn’t know or see them. According to America’s Promise Alliance, to be considered homeless, a student has to lack “a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence. This definition specifically includes children and youth living in emergency shelters and transitional housing; cars, campgrounds, and other places not meant for human habitation; hotels or motels due to lack of adequate alternative arrangements; and sharing the housing of others temporarily due to loss of housing, economic hardships, or similar reasons.” This is not a problem of somewhere else. The area school systems generally know who the children are who are living out of motel rooms, and in some cases, the school systems are paying for the rooms. Hard to believe, isn’t it? According to the alliance, 37,791 students in Georgia’s public schools are homeless. That’s 2.1 percent of the student population, and that number has risen 18.8 percent since 2010-2011.
March/April 2018
The Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness reports that about two in every 10 extremely poor 6-17 year-olds are homeless in Georgia. What does that mean? It means there are children living at or below 50 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of three, that’s $11,740 annually. Some folk wonder why school districts such as Bibb County provide summer meals at more than 70 sites across the county. Boys and Girls Clubs provide meals for participants in its programs, too, because if they didn’t, children would go hungry. According to the Annie E. Casey Kids Count report, the number of children in poverty in Bibb County was 41.6 percent in 2015. I want everyone to be armed with the information so that the next time you hear a politician pontificate about what a school is or is not doing, ask them what are they doing to address some of the root causes of poverty. When a child has no home, they have more pressing problems than trying to memorize multiplication tables. And as Gov. Nathan Deal ramps up his program for saving “failing schools,” I would submit that unless his part of the plan is designed to address conditions outside school walls is robust, success inside the walls will be limited. Students who have nowhere to lay their heads at night are chronically absent, have more disciplinary issues and fail more courses. The longer they are homeless, the longer these issues persist — and get worse. And we wonder why some children are off the chain? Not having a place to put your stuff plays havoc with one’s sense of security. Widespread poverty is all the more reason teachers and school administrators need to know the family situations of their students. Allene Magill, head of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators always called it, “Knowing your who.” That’s more important now than ever before. This editorial originally appeared in the July 1, 2017, edition of the Macon Telegraph.
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operate under strict regulations, require recipients — some of whom struggle with speaking English — to fill out detailed paperwork about their finances or residency, and they limit food offerings to once every 30 or 60 days per recipient. “We give out in one week what they provide to a family in a month,” notes Harward. Plus, recipients need transportation to a food bank; whereas Helping
Hands, working with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank and other community partners, sends ingredients and recipes for nutritious family meals, including fresh produce, directly home with students. Backpack programs, on the other hand, tend to provide single-serving snacks, small canned items, or sugary cereals. “It’s enough for one child, but it sure doesn’t feed a family,” added Harward.
Georgia Counties with the Highest Child Poverty Rate
Taliaferro 45% Warren 42% Hancock 49%
Richmond 44% Burke 46% Jenkins 49%
Treutlen 44%
Emanual 50% Macon 44%
Treutlen 44% Evans 44%
Stewart 44% Quitman 47%
Sumter 54%
Statewide Expansion in the Works
Crisp 49% Randolph 45% Terrell 45%
Clay 56%
Turner 46%
Ben Hill 44%
Dougherty 45%
Early 43% Baker 43%
Echols 45%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 18 PAGE ONE
As of February of this year, Helping Hands had provided 1,438 individuals (320 families) with weekly bags of groceries. And in the first 100 days of this school year alone, children in participating schools have repurposed nearly 45 tons of food. Teachers and students track the environmental impact as well: In that first 100 days, they calculated that more than 25 tons of CO2 emissions had been reduced. The results are tangible, said Lee. “The first year we had Helping Hands here [at Trion], five of our students of families receiving meals earned academic or athletic merit awards. The next year, it was 18 students. And one of our middle school students just received the Georgia Reach Scholarship.” They’re hearing stories out of the other schools as well. “One of the children at Leroy Massey Elementary won the regional spelling bee,” noted Harward. The school’s assistant principal told Harward that she knew why. “This child hadn’t performed until they started giving her family food,” said Harward. “Our kids are smart kids. They have the ability, but the circumstances they are presented in life are blocking that. Just one simple act like getting them food for the weekend is making a difference. Hungry kids can’t learn.” Over the past two years, Helping Hands has received about $25,000 in grants from various foundations. With needed funding for each new school chapter, Helping Hands provides training and start-up kits comprised of a milk cooler, refrigerator, reusable bags, a cart and various other supplies for food-safe storage of collected items. The organization also can provide monthly mobile
March/April 2018
Carla Harward, CEO of Helping Hands Ending Hunger Photos by Meg Thornton
markets and community connections for support. School chapters are encouraged to invite churches, businesses and government entities to provide additional resources to address student hunger. A major component of the program is kids helping kids. With supervision and training, students remove donated items from the cafeteria, safely store it and monitor food-safe temperatures of cold storage items until distribution on Fridays. Students pack grocery bags, organize food donations and maintain equipment. School-wide, students participate in food drives and fundraisers to collect more food to donate to school families. All students are learning empathy, compassion and kindness. Involving the children receiving the food is important in addressing the stigma of poverty, said Harward. “A big hurdle we have is that families are proud,” she said. Harward had previously observed that some kids participating in food backpack programs “might as well have a target on them because every kid knows, ‘Well they’re just poor.’ They’re ashamed or sometimes they lose the backpack because they don’t want to be associated with it.” Helping Hands sought to overcome that, so it directly involves the children. “We tell the schools, ‘Why don’t you ask the kids who need the food to be your team leaders? Let them collect the food and bag it. They are thrilled to be in charge and to help the other kids. And then, at the end of the day, they just get their bag, too. It’s no big deal.” Helping Hands is devising a strategic plan for statewide expansion. Currently, new school chapters in Walker, Catoosa and now Clayton (fifth largest in the state) counties are in the pipeline.
March/April 2018
Critical to the non-profits’ ability to partner with more schools is obtaining funding for school startup equipment and supplies, as well as ongoing program support. Discussion with governmental agencies, charities and businesses throughout the state are ongoing. “The issue of childhood hunger presents a problem that we all must address to be solved,” Harward said. “Although
it will take a lot of hard work to expand our program throughout the state, we are motivated and excited by the prospect that Georgia can become a model for the rest of the nation.” Any educator who is interested in learning more about Helping Hands Ending Hunger is invited to contact Carla Harward or Tina Lee through www. n HelpingHandsEndingHunger.org.
Georgia Counties with the Lowest Per-Capita Income
Chattooga $15,158
Taliaferro $13,955 Hancock $10,925 Washington $15,033
Jefferson $15,165
Bibb
Taylor $14,693 Macon $12,902 Stewart $15,612
Dooley $14,871
Quitman Terrell $13,642 $15,553 Clay $13,353 Calhoun $12,452
Wheeler $10,043 Telfair $13,420
Wilcox $12,692
Long $15,068
Ben Hill 15,529
Atkinson $15,456
Echols $14,201
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 PAGE ONE 19
2018 Day on Capitol Hill Focused on Teacher Pipeline and Poverty By Margaret Ciccarelli and Meg Thornton
E
ducators convened at the state Capitol in late February to advocate on behalf of public school students. The nearly 200 attendees were participants in the annual Day on Capitol Hill sponsored by PAGE, along with the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders and the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. A key theme of the day was growing Georgia’s teacher pipeline. Students in teacher preparation programs, GACTE deans and current educators across Georgia were featured in a video devoted to strengthening the pipeline and supporting early-career teachers. Presenter Dale Gillespe, PAGE membership and college services representative, reported that PAGE works closely with Georgia school districts and colleges of education to support high school pathway programs that encourage talented students to seek a career in education. Three years ago, PAGE launched Future Georgia Educators and began hosting FGE conferences at college campuses for students in Teaching as a Profession pathway courses or who are interested in education as a career. In the past three years, PAGE has hosted nearly 5,000 high school students at 24 colleges of education all over Georgia. In a presentation titled “Tackling Poverty’s Effects to Improve Student Achievement,” Claire Suggs from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute said that the obstacles faced by impoverished
20 PAGE ONE
students must be addressed in order to lift student achievement. She added that higher poverty schools are more likely to receive a grade of D or F on Georgia’s schools rating system. Another presenter, Ashley Harris, M.S., the state Department of Education director of Partnerships and Community Engagement, reported that work under the First Priority Act to address underperforming schools is ongoing, but that it is challenging to provide wraparound services to students in low-economic rural districts with few, if any, providers of services such as healthcare. A highlight of each Day on the Hill are the lively conversations between educators and state representatives, who come out of their respective House or Senate chamber to engage with constituents. Just before the advocacy event, the PAGE legislative team of Margaret Ciccarelli and Josh Stephens, along with the executive director of GAEL, Jimmy Stokes, coached attendees on how to effectively engage with policymakers. The educators then conducted persuasive advocacy “between the ropes;” one small group of educators was even invited into the Senate chamber to meet with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville) and Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur). Many thanks to all who joined us for this important advocacy effort. Please mark your calendars for our 2019 Day on Capitol n Hill, planned for next February 19.
March/April 2018
Photos continued on next page
22  PAGE ONE
March/April 2018
Regional
Certified Educator Job Fair Who Should Attend? • Certified educators • Those eligible for teaching certification for the 2018-19 school year
What to Expect: • Information about South Metro Suburban Region & Schools
What to bring with you: • At least 15 copies of a onepage resume to provide system human resources and school reps
• Meet staff and representatives from eight (8) South Metro Suburban Region & School systems representing 125+ schools and more than 100,000 students
Saturday, April 28, 2018 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Kiwanis Event Center 1025 South Hill Street, Griffin, GA 30224 Pre-registration is not required For more information contact Griffin RESA at 770-229-3247 or visit griffinresa.net. Representatives from the Griffin RESA TAPP (Teacher Alternative Preparation Programs) will also be on hand to answer questions for eligible participants. To check eligibilty requirements, please visit griffinresa.net and click on “GaTAPP” and then click on “Information Brochure.”
engag
teach 21st-century learners
technology
This PAGE One column features technology-in-the-classroom advice from tech-savvy Georgia educators.
Technology in the Classroom:
Oh The Places You’ll Go … with Virtual Field Trips By Nick Sun, Director of School Support, Dalton Public Schools
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rekking the Great Wall of China; journeying to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; swimming with the fish of the Great Barrier Reef; or scouting the desolate planet Mars are now everyday activities in classrooms. No fundraisers, tickets, plane or bus rides are necessary: Students are transported to these far-away locations through virtual reality (VR) field trips. Platforms providing these immersive experiences, such as Nearpod, Google Expeditions, Discovery Education, 360cities, and many more, enable students to immerse themselves into nearly every part of the planet — and sometimes other planets as well. A virtual field trip is an exploration guided by technology that organizes themed web pages, photos and videos into an online learning experience. These trips can be hosted by laptops, tablets, phones and VR headsets. Such “trips” enable students to visualize areas of instructional content and connect to the world beyond classroom walls: • The Louvre in Paris, the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis offer math students real-life visual geometric shapes designed for structural integrity and artistic presentation. • The New Caledonia March/April 2018
Reef allows science students to see the species of fish and plant life surrounding the reef, and to explore ways to preserve these ocean environments. • Setting the scene when studying Shakespeare by taking students to Rome, Verona and Venice throughout a unit allows the connection to writing and imagery that The Bard describes in his works of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Othello.” • History students can explore Gettysburg while researching the Civil War, or view the beaches of Normandy when describing the United States’ involvement in World War II, creating immersive experiences for students to understand these historic moments. • Social studies students can “observe”
the culture in Mexico versus Spain, or the impact of the digital age on farmers living just outside of Shanghai, China. Virtual field trips help equalize educational opportunities. By exploring the world through digital immersion, students can break through some of the barriers created by poverty or bias. Students can be connected to careers they otherwise might never consider, perhaps determining their future. Teachers can use these tools in many ways to enhance their instructional content. Holding scavenger hunts in virtual field trips allows students to look for specific objects, plants or reactions. Discussion and collaboration take shape as students eagerly share their discoveries. The wow factor of virtual field trips is engagement. From kindergarteners exploration of the ocean’s leastunderstood creatures to high school juniors touring potential college campuses, these engaging VR trips invite students to explore. Advanced experiences available in virtual field trips include driving a car, flying a plane, learning to use construction equipment and performing medical procedures. Imagine your students walking in the door and excitedly asking: “Where are we going today?” n
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Legal
The Potential Legal Pitfalls of Sports Leagues By Jill Hay, PAGE director of legal services, and Michael Daniel, PAGE network attorney
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ports-enthused students often participate in nonschool-sponsored athletic organizations, such as recreational sports leagues or summer camps. Likewise, sports-enthused educators often choose to coach or manage non-school-sponsored teams. While an educator may be motivated by the love of the game, it is important to recognize that sports leagues can present legal pitfalls, especially in regard to money. Careful attention to the rules surrounding involvement in such leagues may help an educator avoid facing reprimand from the local school board or the Professional Standards Commission. Standard 6 of the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators prohibits, “coaching, instructing, promoting athletic camps, summer leagues, etc., that involve students in an educator’s school system and from whom the educator receives remuneration unless approved by the local board of education/governing board or authorized designees.” While an educator may be perfectly aware that he or she cannot receive compensation for the involvement in a sports league, the potential pitfall arises when an educator perceives the involvement purely as voluntary, and he or she is involved in a money management position with the league. The league and equipment fees, or other costs associated with the athletes’ participation, if managed by the educator, may have the appearance of compensation if the educator is maintaining the funds and making payments on the athletes’
26 PAGE ONE
behalf. This is especially true if the educator deposits funds into a personal checking account. Funds remaining after the disbursements may be considered compensation, even if the educator has good intentions to pour such funds back into the league. Additionally, an educator also should be aware that making purchases for a league on credit and receiving reimbursements is a slippery area, because without a perfect accounting of the purchases and reimbursements, this may have the appearance of compensation. These situations may put the educator at risk of violating the Code of Ethics. Additionally, most local districts have rules that mirror these ethics provisions. Standard 5 of the Code of Ethics
addresses another area of concern when the educator is receiving funds from a booster club or other public organization to use toward the sports league. In such a case, the educator is charged with the duty to honor that trust with a high level of honesty, accuracy and responsibility relating to the proper use of public funds. Unethical conduct includes but is not limited to: “misusing public or school-related funds; failing to account for funds collected from students or parents; … co-mingling public or schoolrelated funds with personal funds or checking accounts; and using school or school district property without the approval of the local board of education/ governing board or authorized designee.” It can be very easy to misplace a receipt March/April 2018
or fail to account for a purchase, and should the educator be managing public funds and make an accounting mistake, the educator is again at risk of an ethics violation. Instead of the educator managing the financial component of a sports league, a better practice is to appoint a noneducator organizer of the team to handle the exchange or management of monies. Alternatively, if the educator must be involved in the management of money, he or she should receive approval in writing from the board of education prior to involvement. The approval of a principal or the booster club may not be sufficient in this situation. The Pitfalls for Educator Coaches If an educator is a coach of a school sports team and he or she desires to coach a non-school-sponsored sports league, the coach should be careful not to conduct a perceived “illegal practice” when multiple students from the same school are involved. The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) By-Laws Rule 2.69
defines an illegal practice as, “practices involving five or more students participating in any extracurricular activity in the presence of, or under the direct or indirect supervision of any coach of the school, including a community coach” and occurring before the opening of the designated season, after the end of the season, during the summer “dead week,” or during the summer (unless strictly voluntary). Conducting an illegal practice can result in the school being subject to penalties and the educator receiving a Professional Standards Commission complaint. For sports leagues occurring outside the school’s sport season, participating educators should monitor the number of his or her school student athletes who are involved in the sports league. Additionally, even if the number of student athletes on the educator’s team is not five or more so as to constitute an illegal practice, the educator still should be aware that a coach cannot attempt to
Instead of the educator managing the financial component of a sports league, a better practice is to appoint a noneducator organizer of the team to handle the exchange or management of monies.
influence students to participate in or practice for a sport outside the GHSAdesignated season. An educator coach may be best guided to refrain from coaching any of his or her student athletes in an outside of school sports league unless the student is the educator’s child or step child, for which there may be an excepn tion to the general rule.
Think Independently. Lead Creatively. At Georgia College, our graduate programs in education inspire future leaders to develop new skills for success inside and outside of the classroom. Learn more about our highly-ranked, accredited programs at gcsu.edu/education.
March/April 2018
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Letter to PAGE Foundation Donors and Friends Dear PAGE Foundation Donors and Friends, PAGE appreciates the trust you place in our organization through your continued support. Your gifts and belief in the power of education are profoundly affecting the lives of students and educators across Georgia. When Giving Is All We Have Alberto Ríos, 1952 One river gives Its journey to the next. We give because someone gave to us. We give because nobody gave to us. We give because giving has changed us. We give because giving could have changed us. We have been better for it, We have been wounded by it— Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet, Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails. Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too, But we read this book, anyway, over and again: Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand, Mine to yours, yours to mine. You gave me blue and I gave you yellow. Together we are simple green. You gave me What you did not have, and I gave you What I had to give—together, we made Something greater from the difference. Learning opportunities are made available through PAGE Foundation scholarships, Future Georgia Educators, the PAGE Student and Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program, the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades, the PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon and the PAGE Professional Learning Department, which supports aspiring and current Georgia educators with career-spanning professional development opportunities. We are able to work with outstanding educators and students due to the support of our association members, individual donors, corporate and charitable foundations. Through your philanthropy, we are working for the common good of all children. We thank you and are humbled by your support as we strive to serve Georgia students and educators.
— Ann Stucke, PAGE Foundation President
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March/April 2018
Call for Nomination of PAGE Officers & Directors PAGE, a democratically run association, encourages members to participate in the election of its officers and directors. Positions are elected by majority vote at the annual PAGE online business meeting in May. The president-elect, secretary and treasurer are elected for one-year terms. Directors serve for three-year terms (on a staggered basis). Only active PAGE members in good standing are eligible to be officers and directors. Directors must have their place of business / office in the district in which they serve.
Nominees are sought for the following positions: President-Elect
Incumbent: Dr. Hayward Cordy, Oconee RESA
Secretary
Incumbent: Megan King, Houston County
Treasurer
Incumbent: Lamar Scott, Elbert County District 5 Director Incumbent: Nick Zomer (Term expires 6/30/2018) District 6 Director Incumbent: Dr. Susan Mullins (Term expires 6/30/2018)
District 7 Director
Incumbent: Lance James (Term expires 6/30/2018)
District 8 Director
Incumbent: Lindsey Martin (Term expires 6/30/2018)
Submit nominations for officers and directors no later than April 30, 2018, via email to charper@pageinc.org (or via U.S. mail to: Craig Harper, PAGE Executive Director, P.O. Box 942270, Atlanta, GA, 31141). Please include a brief outline of nominee qualifications.
Nomination deadline: April 30, 2018.
The Paideia School Wins 2018 By Lynn Varner, Contributing Editor
Photos by Lynn Varner
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he Paideia School took top honors at this year’s PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades State Championship by correctly answering the final toss-up question during the sudden-death playoff round. This year’s hard-fought championship event was held in January at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. The Paideia School is an independent school located in DeKalb County. In the morning, 24 semi-finalist teams from across the state competed in a round-robin competition. The final eight teams competed in the afternoon single-elimination competition. Paideia’s academic bowl team members are Miles Kirsh, Reese Harward, Sophie Lyman, Amit Kamma, Sean Zheng and Rohan Leveille. The team is coached by Wilson York and Kelly Clampett.
Members of The Paideia School’s academic bowl team accept their first-place trophy. Team members include: (l-r) Reese Harward, Sophie Lyman, Coach Wilson York, Amit Kamma, Sean Zheng, Miles Kirsh and Rohan Leveille (not pictured, Coach Kelly Clampett).
30 PAGE ONE
March/April 2018
PAGE Academic Bowl Teams face off in the final round of play in the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades State Championship, (l-r) South Forsyth’s team members Andy Zhang, Aadi Karthik, Ruhi Iyer, Sam Davidson and Tom Kunampuram and The Paideia School’s team members Sean Zheng, Rohan Leveille, Miles Kirsh, Amit Kamma and Sophie Lyman.
All eight teams competing in the final rounds earned medals and awards. They include: • 2nd Place: Forsyth County Schools’ South Forsyth Middle School, coached by Ashley Calloway and Liz Rushton; • 3rd Place: Fulton County Schools’ River Trail Middle School, coached by Sarah Roberson and Scott Fowler;
“I always marvel at the intelligence and poise under pressure that Academic Bowl participants display throughout the competition,” said Dr. Ann Stucke, PAGE Foundation president. “It’s apparent that it takes months of study, training and hard work by each student to participate in the state championship. Our congratulations to the participants, their coaches, parents and school administrators, all of
whom contributed to the success of each team,” Stucke added. The PAGE Academic Bowl features teams of middle school students fielding questions on subjects ranging from Georgia history to mathematics, science, literature and the performing arts. Opposing teams compete against the clock to answer toss-up and bonus questions in order to score points. The goal of the program is to inspire students to excel academically, to enhance student self-confidence and self-esteem through high achievement as well as individual and team competitive spirit. Statewide, more than 1,200 students competed at the local, regional and state levels of the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades. This year’s competition was sponsored by PAGE, with Georgia College’s Collegiate Middle Level n Association serving as host.
• 4th Place: Gwinnett County Public Schools’ North Gwinnett Middle School, coached by Scott Johnson; • 5th Place: DeKalb County School District’s Chamblee Middle School, coached by John Donegan and Cathy Hirsch; • 6th Place: The Columbia County School District’s Stallings Island Middle School, coached by Deborah Hundt; • 7th Place: Cobb County School District’s Lost Mountain Middle School, coached by Jennifer Dawson and Lauren Newell; • 8th Place: Muscogee County School District’s Blackmon Road Middle School, coached by Alicia Allen and Stacy Jenkins. March/April 2018
South Forsyth’s academic bowl team earned 2nd place honors. Pictured (front row, l-r) Aadi Karthik, Ruhi Iyer, Sydney Morrissey, Tom Kunampuram; and (back row, l to r) Coach Ashley Calloway, Andy Zhang, Mithun Subhashbabu Kamalapriya and Sam Davidson (not pictured, Coach Liz Rushton). PAGE ONE 31
Continued from page 7
preparation programs, the need to develop more Teaching as a Profession classes in high schools and the importance of early-career mentorship. The video would not have been possible without the willing cooperation of Georgia’s colleges of education, educator prep students and educators and administrators in several school districts. Stepping out of the daily routine during the school day and sharing your story in front of a video camera can be uncomfortable. PAGE and our partners appreciate the students, educators and administrators who agreed to our request. I believe that watching the teacher pipeline video is well worth your time. You can access it on the PAGE website. For those school districts seeking to develop a deep bench of qualified educators — and what district isn’t? — be sure also to view the associated video featuring a panel discussion of Coweta County education leaders who have developed a successful state model for growing their own teachers. We are all responsible for encouraging one another in this great profession so that we sustain one another throughout our careers and recruit talented students n to join us.
OFFICERS President Kelli De Guire President-Elect Dr. Hayward Cordy Treasurer Lamar Scott Past-President Amy Denty Secretary Megan King DIRECTORS District 1 District 8 Dr. Oatanisha Dawson Lindsey Martin District 2 District 9 Brecca Pope Jennie Persinger District 3 District 10 Jamilya M. Mayo Khrista Henry District 4 District 11 Rochelle Lofstrand Dr. Sandra Owens District 5 District 12 Nick Zomer Donna Graham District 6 District 13 Dr. Susan Mullins Daerzio Harris District 7 Lance James DIRECTORS REPRESENTING RETIRED MEMBERS Vickie Hammond Stephanie Davis Howard
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PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA EDUCATORS LEGAL DEFENSE INC. CONSOLIDATING STATEMENTS OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2017 UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS REVENUES, GAINS AND OTHER SUPPORT PAGE CONTRIBUTION FOR LEGAL DEFENSE CLAIMS..........................................$1,300,000 PAGE CONTRIBUTION FOR LEGAL DEFENSE RESERVE FUND................................$350,000 INTEREST INCOME........................................................................................................... $3,645 TOTAL.........................................................................................................................$1,653,645 EXPENSES LEGAL EXPENSES......................................................................................................$1,466,645 LICENSE RENEWAL.............................................................................................................. $500 TOTAL EXPENSES......................................................................................................$1,467,145 INCREASE (DECREASE) IN UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS.......................................$186,500 BEGINNING UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS............................................................$1,472,564 ENDING UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS.................................................................$1,659,064 PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA EDUCATORS LEGAL DEFENSE INC. BALANCE SHEET JUNE 30, 2017 ASSETS CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS, SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS AND DOI RESERVE FUND........................................................................................................$2,662,462 TOTAL ASSETS.........................................................................................................$2,662,462 LIABILITIES & EQUITY LEGAL CLAIMS PAYABLE..............................................................................................$34,709 LEGAL CLAIMS LOSS RESERVE..................................................................................$691,908 TAXES PAYABLE.............................................................................................................$48,750 TOTAL LIABLITIES....................................................................................................$1,003,398 UNRESTRICED NET ASSETS....................................................................................$1,659,064 TOTAL LIABLITIES AND NET ASSETS...................................................................$2,662,462
The articles published in PAGE One represent the views of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, except where clearly stated. Contact the editor: Meg Thornton, mthornton@pageinc.org; PAGE One, PAGE, P.O. Box 942270, Atlanta, GA 31141-2270; 770-216-8555 or 800-334-6861. Contributions/gifts to the PAGE Foundation are deductible as charitable contributions by federal law. Costs for PAGE lobbying on behalf of members are not deductible. PAGE estimates that 7 percent of the nondeductible portion of your 2018-19 dues is allocated to lobbying. PAGE One (ISSN 1523-6188) is mailed to all PAGE members, selected higher education units and other school-related professionals. An annual subscription is included in PAGE membership dues. A subscription for others is $10 annually. Periodicals class nonprofit postage paid at Atlanta, GA, and additional mailing offices. (USPS 017-347) Postmaster: Send address changes to PAGE One, P.O. Box 942270, Atlanta, GA 31141–2270. PAGE One is published five times a year (January, March, May, August and October) by New South Publishing Inc., 9040 Roswell Road, Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30350; 770-650-1102. Copyright ©2018.
March/April 2018
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