By Andy Diffenderfer
Correspondent
A federal school improvement grant is helping Ridgeland High School provide more support staff, update technology to improve student achievement, help teachers and get parents more involved.
The grant, first-year school improvement coach Brent Webb said, is for $1.47 million the first year, $1.2 million the second and $1 million for the third. More than a dozen new staff, both full and part time, will further the mission of raising graduation rates, he said.
The transformational model has “given us resources to do the things and have the support we wouldn’t have had before,” said Ridgeland principal Robert Smith, who is in his fourth year at the school.
Grant-funded personnel now on board at Ridgeland include a coach to train teachers in new technology and provide maintenance and support; a parent and community outreach coordinator to further a team-building, trust-building effort among parents, teachers and students; and a dropout prevention coach.
While those positions are full time, 11 student coaches, who are certified teachers and/or graduate students, will work part time with students one-on-one and in small groups to address specific weaknesses in preparation for the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
The coaches “will help identify students in need, giving teachers an extra layer of support,” said academic coach Christy Evans. She noted that, through the grant, the school will be able to provide extended-day opportunities for students of all academic levels, as well as credit recovery and college readiness options.
Webb said the grant also should help Ridgeland “become a technology-oriented center of learning,” with Promethean boards, similar to SmartBoards, in most classrooms, as well as document cameras and LCD projectors. The school also is looking at adding mobile computer and iPad labs for departments to share, along with other technology peripherals.
“The whole idea of this grant is to transform Ridgeland in every way possible from technology to the way we involve parents and use data,” said Webb, who previously worked in Hamilton County Schools as a language arts teacher, literacy coach and school-based testing coordinator.
While Evans said the additional technology will be an asset to teachers, she also emphasized the need to increase meaningful parental involvement to support the school’s improvement efforts.
“Every staff member has been very supportive,” Webb said, discussing the grant initiatives. “If you don’t have the buy-in of the staff, the programs will never be successful.”
Both Smith and Webb said they noticed encouraging signs at a schoolwide assembly on the first day of school, with students focused on a message of improvement and achievement.
“It was like night and day from my first assembly here,” Smith said. “I feel like our culture has changed drastically in the last four years.”
Andy Diffenderfer is based in LaFayette, Ga. Contact him at andydiff97@comcast.net.
Still doersn't change the fact the Smith would be better served running a detention camp than a school. It is no wonder he has a failure to graduate rate exceeding 30% which means a sizable potion of those kids drop out because Smith is more concerned with holes in the clothes than encouraging a child to learn. Many of the teachers focus more on finding fault in a kid instead of finding good and don't bother with kids who don't make it easy. Smith is a coward when it comes to parents who disagree with him, bit loves to get patted on his shiney little head. That school would be better served by a staff including many teachers who liked kids and were more intertested in seeing them in graduation than be in detention. Herr Smith is a detriment to the students and the staff and fails in his tasksand obligations to education.
I love negative commentators who make personal attacks and then hide behind a pen name. I like to call them "keyboard heroes". Blogs are a great venue for starting a discussion or for voicing concerns. These little "burn" comments, though, aren't productive and to me, at least, only strengthen my regard for the victim. It goes hand in hand w/ the saying about judging a man's worth by the enemies he has or in this case, by the extreme pettiness and great lack of intelligence shown by his attacker.
Aren't you the pot calling the kettle black.Sounds like you could be herr smith. I don't want personal vengence by Smith or other staff taken out against any students I have at RHS and the pettiness of the faculty and staff make this a real possibility. I stand by my comments, it is the feelings of other parents also. If you have a dog in this fight, it's likely your job and not a student, your defensive attitude is why RHS is a failure to 30% of the students. I didn't catch your real name, is it "Hipocryte?" LOL
Wow, I made sure to write down that "Hipocryte" comment in my notebook of "Awesome Things to Never Forget". It was that good! Look Genius, I understand that your like that thousandth monkey that bangs away on a typewriter till something almost legible came out but, this is not Shakespeare, it's barely readable garbage by a barely literate human being. I wasn't attacking you or attempting to "burn" you as you feebly attempted to do to Smith. But Ok, we can entertain the masses and have a back and forth. You obviously do NOT care to contact the Parent and Communtiy Outreach Coordinator in order to actually do something for your childs school. That would require some effort on your part and maybe a little bit of, Oh Lord NO!!!, work. So go ahead, we can have a good ol' 2010 meeting of the minds... that as far as I can tell only involves making petty, negative comments about one another to the greater or lesser enjoyment of the general public.
Truth is the part that baffles you dipstick. I have complaned thru the school but it is blindly ignored by do goodies like yourself who find no fault with their own system. Smith, the PCOC or anyone else will not do anything other than ignorantly parrot the computer,the FYI book or the puppet that pulls their string in the school system. I have met with teachers who lie and are offended that anyone finds fault with them or their agenda, administrators who cannot face facts or make decisions on behalf of the students, and I cannot ignore smiths claim every year that things are improving when the drop out rate, or PC FAIL to graduate rate barely moves (still in excess of 30%) where any kind of drug can be bought in the hallways, where students who need the most are given the least by teachers who can't teach, where racist tensions are thick as molassas and prevent students from feeling safe. Don't spout your system fixes that don't address issues or work at all. Your just a bunch of elitists that find no fault with what the can't possibly see from your pedastal or understand with common sense or logic. I don't know which administrator you are, Herr smith himself I would guess by your arrogance. I know of parents who are belittled or intimidated by you when you didn't avoid them alltogether. A little effort on your part is the issue. I would like to have a meeting of the minds with you but I learned along time ago you can't have a battle of wits with an unarmed person so that rules you out. If you don't think you made an attack on me your a bigger idiot than I gave you credit for. It is a shame dummies like you are in a position to deny children an education, and distance them from education by intimidation, petty rules, and indifference to the students who don't kiss your ***
"I love negative commentators who make personal attacks and then hide behind a pen name. I like to call them "keyboard heroes". "
Well Hero, whats your name? go back to that word you saved and look it up, it will fit the image in your mirror if the glare doesn't blind you as much as ignorance has.
People like you are so self rightous that they cannot see whats wrong, only what makes their own little world perfect.
Truth? I have yet to see any truth in any of your postings. I have gone to the trouble and looked at several other posts that you have so graciously bestowed upon this site and I still ask, truth? What truth? Mr. Smith is a nazi? is that truth? Teachers don't care, is that truth? Because I chose to challenge you on your ridiculous claims I must be a teacher at Ridgeland, or an administrator, or Mr. Smith himself? Is that the truth? You simply found a bully pulpit where you can stand up and scream at the world while safely remaining anonymous and you are outraged that anyone dares to challenge you here. Of course Im not going to post my name here because by doing so I allow ppl like you to harass my family or cause issues w/ my employers. I didnt attack you the first comment, but yes, the second I called you out as I see you... an ignorant little monkey banging away on a keyboard... and in case you dont know it's a reference to the question (and I paraphrase here) could a thousand monkeys w/ a thousand typewriters, given a thousand years, reproduce the works of Shakespeare. In your case, the answer would be NO. But, to recap, so far you have me so powerful I can deny children an education, so totally self righteous Im stuck in my own little perfect world, and an elitist on a pedastal? All that from the fact that I disagreed w/ your assesment of a grant that Ridgeland H.S. recieved. What is your day job? You must be a GBI investigator or possibly with the FBI. Anyway, thats good to know, apparently I have been under utilizing all of the influence and power that I had no idea i wield. Anyway, you obviously are of a towering intellect and have all the answers. Please let me know when you plan to run for office so that I can get the grassroots campaign going.
Talk about a keyboard cowboy, turns out your nothing but a keyboard coward and from the sounds of things a democrat because you sure know how to twist words lie and misread the written word.In short, your an idiot who can't practice what you preach. It wasn't your disagreement as much as the stupidity behind your comments.
Now I wouldn't take your stupidity out on your family, their already in bad enuf shape having the likes of you around.
"Of course Im not going to post my name here because by doing so I allow ppl like you to harass my family or cause issues w/ my employers."
Obviously your one of the school idoits I mentioned or you wouldn't be scared. Writting this stuff while working for a school district might get cause issues with your employers. Yes, I would try to get you in troulble there, you don't belong around children.
Well, I have made a monkey out of you, just wished I could affect your job. But I won't forget about you, everytime I need to remind myself why schools like rhs are the way they are. Dummies like you.Your a detriment to anyone who has to sit in your class or follow you role, stupidity is not a career, though you seem to be making money at it,
OK, there Tiger... I surrender, you have astounded me with your wit and confounded me with your oh so well argued and supported points. You, ma'am, win the booby prize. Btw, ppl are laughing AT you, not with you.
As your the only response here, your words are more proof of your bull, unless it's your school chums there. Boob? Yea, I would say thats a fair assesment of yourself. If you ever get the courage to identify yourself, of course it will never happen as you would not confront anyone outside your safety zone, I will look forward to meeting you. I would like to say it's been fun, but yahoos like you are to be pity;d not hearalded. Blabber on fool. your a real man, just not where or when it counts.
Its not about the responses here... Im sure you provide ample entertainment in all venues of life. Thank You for sharing the joy.
I shared this with a few people who all felt the same, you must be one of the morons at rhs who advocate the abuse of power to the neglect of education. What was surprising is you can contradict yourself so blatently yet not smell the pile of dung you spewed forth and stepped in. Unfortunatly, morons such as yourself abound in the real world, it's too bad you don't live in the real world. Keep talking, I can use the boring diatribe to fall asleep to.
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