The Georgia Department of Education recently designated both LCES and LCMS as "Distinguished Title I Schools."

The announcement, which was followed by a round of applause, was made by Dr. Randall Edmunds, superintendent of schools, at the regular meeting of the Lincoln County Board of Education held Tuesday, January 13.

This marks the fourth consecutive year the schools have received the designation.

In his remarks, the superintendent congratulated LCES Principal Marilyn Bell and LCMS Principal Pam Carmichael on their schools' achievements.

Title I schools have a significant population of students, who are economically disadvantaged, and receive federal money to assist with the education of these students. LCHS is not a Title I school and is therefore ineligible to receive this honor.

According to the Georgia Department of Education, the designation of Distinguished Title I School is reserved for those schools that have made or exceeded AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) at least three consecutive years and have not been on the Unsafe Schools Choice Option (USCO) list within the last two years.

Basically, AYP is a series of performance goals that every school, school system, and the state as a whole must achieve within time frames specified by law in order to meet the 100-percent proficiency goal of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The state uses the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) as the AYP assessment tool for the elementary and middle schools. The focus is on reading/language arts and mathematics.

Federal guidelines likewise require 95 percent of the students in each school to participate in testing. The regulations further mandate that 95 percent of each subgroup must take part in the testing as well. Included under the heading of subgroups are: Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Multi-Racial, Students with Disabilities, and the Economically Disadvantaged.

To commemorate being designated as Title I Distinguished Schools, LCES and LCMS will each receive a certificate of recognition and a monetary award of $842 in federal funds for further improvements. Schools must make AYP for four or more consecutive years to be eligible for the federal money — both LCES and LMCS have met the standards for six consecutive years.

The financial award is based on the poverty level of the school, the number of consecutive years of making AYP, and the amount of available funds.

In other business, the board:

.. Heard Dr. Robert Williams, board chairman, welcome Denise Freeman, District 1's new representative, to the board.

.. Reviewed financial reports for the SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) Summary Fund through December 31, 2008, the Construction Fund through December 31, 2008; the General Fund for the period from July 1, 2008, through December 31, 2008; and football receipts for the 2008 season.

Concerning the SPLOST Fund, Superintendent Edmunds said, "The check for December was approximately $15,000 less than that for November and about $11,000 less than what we collected this time last year.

"I hope the revenues won't drop any further but it remains to be seen what will happen. If we can't maintain collections at about where we are now, it will present problems next year and in the future. However, we are OK for the time being — we have two bond payments due, one in April and the other in June. We have enough to cover these, with some left over to carry into next year."

Edmunds went on to point out that there were fluctuations in SPLOST revenues during FY 2008.

As for the football receipts, the superintendent indicated that the regular season and playoff games netted LCHS $54,000. The money will be used to fund all of the athletic programs at the school.

.. Voted to appoint Wayne Williford to serve as vice chairman of the board.

.. Voted to approve the board's slate of regular meetings for 2009. It was determined that the meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of each month, with the exception of April, July, and January, 2010. The July meeting is set for the third Tuesday, while the meetings in April of 2009 and January of 2010 will take place on the second Tuesday of the month.

All of the meetings are set to begin at 7 p.m.

.. Voted to hold the group's annual planning session on Wednesday, January 28, at 3 p.m. at the board's administrative offices building.

.. Discussed Change Order Number 1 for site improvements for the new school, specifically the addition of an extra fire hydrant at the request of the City of Lincolnton Volunteer Fire Department; lighting conduits, required by the Georgia Power Company, to run under the paved areas of the parking lots; and revised manhole coring and drops, required by a change in the final architectural plans.

The changes total $23,782.75, a sum that will probably be deducted from the project's $200,000 contingency fund.

It was agreed to table the matter until the board's planning session at the end of the month.

The group further approved Board Member Freeman to meet with Dr. Edmunds, the site engineer, the building architect, and construction representatives to gather information on the change order for the board.

.. Heard a report on the Social Security Election given by the superintendent, who indicated that 30.5 percent of the teachers in the system plan to enroll in Social Security; whereas, 69.5 percent do not.

"This means that we budgeted more money than we need," said Edmunds.

The $174,000 in savings will be placed in the General Fund for the remainder of the year.

All teachers hired from this point on will be covered under Social Security.

.. Voted to unanimously approve the following band trips:

(1) Two students have been selected to take part in the UGA Honors Band Clinic and Concert January 15-18.

(2) Several students will perform with the Georgia Southern University Honors Band in Statesboro February 12-14.

(3) The band as a whole will participate in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Savannah on March 17.

.. Voted to approve a request from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Program Committee for use of the high school auditorium on January 18 for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Observance.

.. Voted to approve a memorandum of understanding with the CSRA Economic Opportunity Authority, Inc. for the Head Start Program in Lincoln County. The agreement calls for the system to cooperate with Head Start employees, transition students to regular classrooms when appropriate, and serve students identified as needing special education services.

.. Heard the second reading of revisions to the Student Enrollment and Withdrawal Policy, which states that only a parent or guardian has the authority to enroll a student in school.

In the event that an individual is not a parent or a guardian, he has 30 days to initiate the process of obtaining guardianship, and the student will be granted a provisional enrollment. Furthermore, grandparents of students, whose parents are unable to care for them, may seek power of attorney rather than guardianship.

The requirements are less stringent for those students with parents or guardians in the military.

In essence, principals have to make sure that students are residents of Lincoln County.

The policy was approved as read.

.. Heard the second reading of revisions to the Nonresident Students Policy. The changes include the addition of a form that allows the par- ents of nonresident students, who plan to move to Lincoln County, to request permission from the board to enroll their child in the school system.

The policy was approved as read.

.. Voted to approve the deletion of the Resident Students Policy and the Withdrawals Policy. The policies were deleted because they have been incorporated in other policies.

.. Instructed Brian Campbell, assistant superintendent for instruction, to develop a policy limiting the number of exchange students that can attend LCHS.

"Also, we need for these students to start school on time," said Dr. Becky Barden, LCHS principal. "When you're on the block schedule, you get too far behind when you enroll in late August."

• Heard the first readings of the Fraud and Abuse Policy and the Private School Students Policy. Title I officials requested that the system adopt the two policies.

.. Was informed by Superintendent Edmunds that the lunchroom at LCHS is currently being monitored by representatives of CRE (Coordinated Review Effort) and SMI (School Meals Initiative) to ensure that all of the state and federal regulations are being followed. The inspections occur on a regular basis.

.. Was informed by Edmunds that the system will see a little bit of savings due to the fact that the board's share of the State Health Employee Benefit premiums has dropped from 18 to 8.5 percent for the remainder of the fiscal year.

.. Voted to change the wording from "Lincoln County High School Special Education Diploma" to "Lincoln County High School Completion Diploma" as requested by the federal Office of Civil Rights to allay concerns about confidentiality as it pertains to special education records.

.. Was informed by Dr. Edmunds that the school system was recognized by the Georgia Council for Administrators of Special Education (GCASE) as a leader in the state due to its outstanding efforts to improve the performance of students with disabilities.

The system was recognized for: (1) Educating students in the least restrictive environment.

(2) Meeting the state target by transitioning students to their desired postsecondary outcomes.

(3) Meeting the state target for reducing the number of students who drop out of school.

(4) Meeting the state target for the number of students who meet or succeed state achievement standards for Reading/English Language Arts.

In his comments, Dr. Edmunds congratulated Judy Kirkland, assistant superintendent for special services, and the rest of the special education staff on this accomplishment.

Applause from the near-capacity crowd followed.

.. Was informed by the superintendent that students at LCHS are presently receiving credit at Augusta Tech through Healthcare Science Pathways, a program sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education.

The Healthcare Science Pathways courses now being offered at LCHS are: Introduction to Healthcare Science, Application to Therapeutic Services, Nursing Essentials, and Nutrition and Wellness.

The school hopes to add more healthcare courses in the future.

.. Heard Dr. Edmunds report that next year, the State Department of Education will increase class sizes at the elementary and middle school levels by two for most classes. Few changes will be made at the elementary school level.

"This will give us more flexibility next year as we schedule classes," said the superintendent. "It could even change the number of teachers we have — if it's very close, we won't have to add a teacher."

.. Voted to encourage the viewing of the presidential inauguration on Tuesday, January 20.

.. Voted to give approval for Board Member Freeman to attend the Na- tional School Board Association's meeting in San Diego, California, April 4-7. Freeman won a free registration for the event.

.. Voted to enter into executive session to deliberate on the employment of personnel. Upon returning to regular session, the board:

.. Voted to accept the disability retirement of Leomia Elam from her secretarial position at LCMS, effective December 19, 2008.

.. Voted to accept the retirement of Jackie Wallace from her middle school teaching position, effective at the end of the 2008-2009 school year.

.. Voted to approve Anita Kennedy to serve as a substitute school food service worker.

The next regular meeting of the board will be held Tuesday, February 3, at 7 p.m. at the board office on Metasville Road.