The Columbia School Board started off the meeting with recognitions Tuesday night.
Superintendent Jason Harris first thanked Police Chief Michael Kelly, Fire Department Captain Nathan Guy, Transportation Supervisor Loren Monk and Chief Operations Officer Tim Carter for their work on the active shooters drills as part of the Mississippi School Safety Act.
Jefferson Middle School Principal Levi Robinson then recognized students making a perfect score on the state math test. Each of the students received a certificate and a T-shirt.
Deirdre Randall presented the enrollment report. The enrollment from kindergarten to 12th grade increased 30 students to 1,591. With the addition of the pre-K program the enrollment increased to 1,652.
Robinson, who is in his second year at Jefferson, presented a report on the status of the middle school. He said three years the school scored 348 on state testing out of 700, last year was a drop to 277 and this year it has gone up to 354. He said the school is now a C, but a goal has been set to become a B.
Last year the school’s proficiency level was 32.7 percent in reading, 35 percent in math and 55.6 percent in science. Robinson said the goal this year is 45 percent in reading, 45 in math and 60 percent in science. He said the school went up three points in reading, six points in math and stayed the same in science.
Items approved in the consent agenda include:
- The acceptance of $10,000 donations from Jones Companies for Columbia High School for baseball-related projects and equipment;
- An anonymous donation of $2,200 for the football program;
- A grant in the amount of $2,500 from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation Youth Literacy on behalf of Danielle Whittington, fourth grade ELA teacher, for the purchase of e-books;
- Out-of-state travel for Melissa Jordan, Jefferson Middle School Challenge teacher, students and chaperones to travel to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., May 15 through May 17;
- Authorization for Speech Language Pathologists Melissa Arinder, Lindsey Davis, Zelma Magee and Jennifer Ratliff to travel to Mobile, Ala., Sept. 26 through Sept. 27 to attend a conference “Childhood Apraxia of Speech: From Diagnosis to Treatment.” Travel to be paid with IDEA funds;
- Columbia Elementary fourth-grade class, teachers and chaperones to travel to Honey Island Swamp in Pearl River, La., on Oct 11 on a positive behavior field trip.
The board also approved 13 fundraisers.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 10 at Columbia Primary School.
Pictured above: The Columbia School District honors Tuesday those helping with active shooter drills. From left are Tim Carter, Michael Kelly, Nathan Guy, Loren Monk and Jason Harris. | Susan Amundson
