BY THE NUMBERSPercentage of students on free/reduced price lunch*95.70: Blythe-Bower Elementary83.13: Arnold Memorial Elementary77.85: Mayfield Elementary57.60: Cleveland Middle57.08: Stuart Elementary46.64: Cleveland High School45.04: Yates Primary42.04: E.L. Ross Elementary*As of December 2009Source: Cleveland City SchoolsWHAT IS TITLE I?The federal program gives money to local schools and districts with high numbers or high percentages of poor children to help them meet state academic standards. Funds are based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in each state.Source: www2.ed.gov/programs
CLEVELAND, Tenn. — For the first time, all schools in Cleveland’s system have enough children on federal free and reduced-price lunch programs to qualify as Title 1 schools.
“This is partly an indication of the times,” city schools Director Rick Denning told members of the Cleveland Board of Education at their meeting Monday. “Thank God we have not had the industry closings some communities have had, but it still is affecting us.”
Just a few months ago, the city school board decided to have a single, system-wide Title I program, rather than deal with individual schools in the program.
Board members learned Monday how that change will affect Title I funding for each school during the next academic year. The number of assistants at current Title I schools will change very little, although the job titles will be different.
In the Bradley County school system, all schools but one — North Lee Elementary — are in the Title I program.
The city system began looking at federal funding for academic programs last fall when some grants that supported extra academic help for qualifying students ended, said Ann Culbreath, who oversees federal programs in Cleveland City Schools.
Before the city school board entered the entire system in Title I, three schools were not covered.
“The good news is that Ross, Stuart and Yates are going to get some of this money because they do have large numbers of children who qualify,” board member Dawn Robinson said.
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