Halifax Schools miss performance goals

Hank Dewald, Herald Staff Writer

HALIFAX — The Halifax County Schools Board spent the early half of their Monday night recognizing great accomplishments, but the later half consisted of some not so great news.

Director of Curriculum MiShawna Moore explained the results of the Average Yearly Performance (AYP) goals in 2008— not one of 14 schools met the standard.

Those results leave both middle schools in danger of severe sanctions, which in the case of Enfield Middle School, include giving all students the opportunity to choose to attend any other school in the district, free tutoring, mandatory technical assistance and mandatory restructuring, since it is in the fourth stage of Title One sanctions.

William R. Davie Middle School, which is in the third stage of sanctions, is now offering supplemental assistance in the form of free tutoring from professional organizations, which began with Sylvan Learning presenting their “ACE IT!” service Tuesday evening.

  The not-so-bad news was presented by Financial Officer Andrew Callihan, who reported that despite declining enrollment, the district would not lose any further funding from the state. “Because the state planned for a decrease in our enrollment, when it actually happened, we will not have to return any money to the state,” Callihan said.

He also pointed out that the district had money returned to them from the charter schools, so despite having to return money to the state during the reversion of funds earlier this year, he does have money left in the checking account.

Board member Donna Hunter asked Callihan what the district had in the fund balance. Callihan reported that the fund balance was at zero since the district is in the middle of a repayment plan that is paying back money owed to the state because of financial discrepancies that began during the 2004 to 2005 school year and continued through the 2006 to 2007 school year.

Callihan also reported that the long overdue audit for the 2006 to 2007 school year is finally ready to be submitted, which should occur in March. That, Callihan said, will have all of the audits complete for the years that the financial discrepancies occurred, and allow the district to begin regaining sound financial footing.

“Internal financial controls were not in place during those years, so we should start seeing positive results during this school year,” Callihan told the board. He also noted that there are on-going training sessions for the finance department staff, which will continue throughout the year.

Board Chairman Tyrone Williams asked Callihan if he expected anymore mandatory reversions of money to the state. Callihan answered that because of the present state of the economy, it would be impossible to know, but he is hoping that does not happen.

The school board did not ignore the positive accomplishments of both teachers and students though. As the meeting opened, Student of the Month Destinee Williams, a fifth-grader at Dawson Elementary School was recognized by the board for her accomplishments.

Two district teachers were honored for achieving National Board Certification— Filicia Booker, who teaches Career and Technical Education at Southeast Halifax High School, and Heather Acree, she teaches at Aurelian Springs Elementary School. Superintendent Geraldine Middleton pointed out that there are five more district teachers in the process of receiving their national certification, which will add to the impressive total of 23 national board certified teachers now working in the district.

Also honored as Principal of the Year was Northwest Halifax High School Principal Phillip Rountree. Middleton said Rountree was voted by his peers for that honor, which was not always the case in the past. Teacher of the Year for the district was Yolanda Wiggins. Middleton told the board the East Carolina University graduate started out as a journalist working in the Valley area who loved teaching so much she gave up her journalism career to pursue teaching. Wiggins teaches Language Arts at Enfield Middle School.

The Teaching Assistant of the Year was Tarsch D. Nicholson, who is a certified teacher’s assistant, presently teaching as a lab proctor at Hollister Elementary School.