In his first “State of the District” address on Thursday, the superintendent of the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District discussed how he and others are working to bring positive change to the schools.
James Johnson-Waldington spoke to 99 participants via Zoom. He advertised the meeting as an open invitation to everyone who has a stake in the schools, including district personnel and unaffiliated community members.
He said the district is operating on a plan to ensure growth in every child and thereby growth in the state ratings for the district and its schools.
“If (children) are there and we don’t grow them, that’s not that child’s fault. That’s our fault,” he said. “We’re working toward making sure we give them everything we possibly can.”
He discussed the state accountability grades received by the schools, which included some F’s. The district overall dropped from a C to a D.
“We can stay at home for 187 days and make an F, so if we’re going to be at school and open, we’re missing it somewhere,” he said. “I have no shame in saying it: We have to do better. There’s no reason for an F school. It’s not acceptable — not acceptable. ... If we’re going to get an F, we might as well not come to school.”
Johnson-Waldington reviewed some programs that the school board had voted to implement, beginning with the newest — a third grade after-school program in English and language arts. He explained the program as a proactive approach to ensuring that students pass the third grade state benchmark test.
“The babies we have now — the third graders we have now — are the students who were the most affected by the pandemic,” he said, explaining that this year’s third graders were first sent home from school in 2020 and then participated in a critical second grade year entirely virtually.
“Those students didn’t get face-to-face teacher instruction for almost a year and a half,” he said. “They’re back with us in third grade, and we’re trying to make sure they have the skills to be as successful on this test as they can be.”
The program will be held three days a week, from 3:15-5 p.m., and the district will provide snacks and transportation to the students.
“What we can give them to get past that third grade gate — we need your help on that. We definitely do,” he said.
He went on to explain aspects of the EXCEL academy, a district program run by Cassandra Hart that covers the GED program, middle college program, driver’s education and ACT preparation, among other things.
He explained the academy as a space created “to make sure we touch and give all children an opportunity for an education they can be successful with in life.”
He said programs in the academy would help raise the district’s graduation rates and give students who were not cut out for conventional education a fighting chance.
He said in the GED program alone — where there were students whom “some might look at and say, ‘Well, they’re not going to do anything, so you may as well give up on them’” — eight of the 10 students passed the pretest.
“The other two were so close they could smell it; they just needed a little bit more educational help,” he said.
He assured the participants that he is working hard to build trust back between the community and school district through actions, not just words.
“You’ve got to see it ... not just see it, but know that it happens. ... I want to ... be able to get children and staff here at 95% to be that ‘A’ district. We have everything we need to do that. Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t. I want district success that will correlate into the community.”
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
