Wednesday, November 19, 2003
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Wednesday, November 19, 2003 |
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Hood Av. seeks
AYP approval By J. FRANK LYNCH Hood Avenue Elementary principal Diane Teer is watching her mailbox closely, hoping for delivery of a letter from the state Department of Education that states her school has been removed from the list of those that “needs improvement” under the federal No Child Left Behind act. The DOE’s website indicates local school officials were successful in proving that Hood Avenue did meet the requirements of Adequate Yearly Progress after all. For about two weeks, the Hood Avenue summary page on the state’s website has reported “School met AYP,” but official confirmation of that has not been received, said Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, public information specialist for Fayette County Schools. She said state education officials had admitted they were behind on the notification process, after being deluged with appeals from districts across the state in the weeks following the AYP release. “We are waiting to see how all the schools are doing on this” before making a formal announcement locally, Berry-Dreisbach said. Fayette County appealed the “failing” AYP status of each of the seven local schools that did not meet the requirements for student testing, used to determine the progress schools are making from year to year. Both Fayette Middle School and Sandy Creek High School have received letters, said Berry-Dreisbach. Fayette County High and Rising Starr, Flat Rock and J.C. Booth middle schools have not heard updates on their status yet. “We’re still waiting to hear back on the others,” Berry-Dreisbach said. This was the first year any Fayette County school has been placed on the list. The news will provide extra relief for Hood Avenue, the only Title 1 school in Fayette County that didn’t meet the AYP criteria. Had it been given a failing grade again next year, the Hood Avenue would have been required to allow students to transfer to better schools at taxpayer expense. Fayette Middle proved it was mistakenly put the list by proving that it did test some special education students the state said it missed. At Sandy Creek, administrators were able to prove that enough students took the Georgia High School graduation test after all.
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