Rock Hill Schools January Work Session Notes

There were two action items at the conclusion of an executive session for hiring and personnel issues. In a 6-0 vote, the board approved the administration's recommendation to hire Dr. Tom Sparks as an interim Northwestern High School Assistant Principal for the remainder of the year to replace Ozzie Ahl who will be taking the Rock Hill High School Principals position. In a 4-2 vote (Douglas and Reid against), the board voted to support the administration on an employee appeal. Dr. Sharp was  unable to attend the meeting.

All schools reported good attendance on Monday and most had outstanding MLK day activities. The schools are to be commended for making this a very meaningful and educational day.

The Central Child Development Center gave one of the best school presentations that has been presented to the board. With a blend of Teachers and Parents speaking in front of a series of videos showing pictures of the students, they captured the essence of the wonderful work going on at the school and the integration of technology in their day to day activities. The school of pre-K students, currently has a waiting list of over 40 students. Board member Walter Brown suggested the presentation should be made before our local state representatives and the State Superintendent of Education.

Our local paper, The Rock Hill Herald, had this to say about school calendar conflicts, "In any event, the board would have to come up with only two other days as make-up days to replace MLK Day and Memorial Day. That shouldn't be too difficult to do." Well, The Herald didn't attend the work session, and it was a lot harder than it looked. The board discussed two issues, next years calendar and what to do if there are more snow days this year (all the designated make-up days have been taken). First for this year. The options are:

• Go to school on Saturday
• Add an extra hour per school day for a week
• Go to school on Spring Break Days
• Add school days to the end of the year
• Use teacher furlough days (2 are left) as make-up days

The administration will collect  more information for discussion at the January Business meeting  Monday night. A proposed 2011-12 calendar was presented and shows no holidays being used as snow make-up days. The board pointed out this was the same situation last January and when furlough days were added, holidays had to be used. Therefore, the board asked to be presented a calendar which shows 5 furlough days and the resulting snow make-up days. The board was split as to whether it was important to try and avoid legal holidays. One new suggestion, which didn't get much support from the board, was to publish a 93 to 95 day calendar for the second semester which would essentially move the end of school back one week. This would ensure no holidays would be used regardless of furlough days.

The board heard a presentation on the amount of energy that could be saved ($500,000) in the district with the addition of an energy management system and energy manager. Conservative estimates are there would be a 400% return on the investment. The board will vote on the proposal at the January Business Meeting.

The board was presented with a copy of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the 2009-10 school year. You can see an online copy by clicking here.

The board heard reports on how complicated (and unnecessary) the calculations are for drop-out and graduation rates. 

The board heard a presentation on Rock Hill's Adult Education - Making a Difference in South Carolina.