“Some people had to get things off their chest,” LOA Board of Governors Chairman Michael Tompkins told the Lake Oconee News following the board’s Monday night meeting.
The two-hour-and-45-minute session included a presentation on the results of the Georgia Milestones test scores from May and a public comment period that erupted into free-wheeling, sometimes heated exchanges between audience members and the board.
Following some routine business items, LOA Testing Coordinator Chrishandra Perkins explained the results of the Georgia Milestones tests administered to grades three and higher.
A chart showed that the percentage of children in LOA grades three through eight who are reading at or above grade level ranged from a low of 74 percent in sixth grade to 87 percent in eighth grade. In high school American Literature, 91 percent of LOA’s students read at or above grade level. All scores were at least 10 points higher than the Georgia state average.
In English Language Arts, the percentage of students who were rated proficient for their grade level ranged from 52 percent in third grade to 70 percent in eighth grade.
Results in high school test scores showed that 65 percent of the students rated as proficient at grade level in biology, 61 percent in American Literature and 58 percent in U.S. History.
However, LOA’s mathematics scores were dramatically lower in grades five and six, where they did not beat the state averages. Only 33 percent of the fifth graders rated proficient at their grade level. The state average was 37 percent.
In grade six, LOA and the state tied with just 31 percent of the students being proficient at grade level.
Perkins’ presentation also showed Greene County Primary School’s strong surge this year in third-grade math. Both schools easily beat the state average of 43 percent for grade level proficiency. GCPS’s third grade scored 60 percent while LOA’s was at 64 percent.
The LOA presentation did not show recovery from 2019 pre-pandemic scores. There were only comparisons with state averages and the other schools in Greene County, which performed lower.
During the public comment period, LOA parent Todd Ciavola took exception to how LOA reports its scores. Ciavola is also part of a group that frequently pressures LOA and the Greene County Board of Education to resolve LOA’s lawsuit over student funding.
“Since 2014-15, as a Blue Ribbon school, our test scores and our performance have been steadily declining. We used to compare ourselves to North Oconee schools,” he said, adding that LOA should be comparing its scores to more peer schools instead of just Greene County and state averages.
“Our math department has been struggling for years, and we’re not doing anything about it,” Ciavola said.
Some board members who usually listen in silence couldn’t hold back.
“Eighty-five percent of the kids go on to a four-year school. That’s not successful to you?” asked Board Treasurer Jennifer Vaughan.
Board member Kristina Jaskyte said the scores should be applauded. She was stunned by what she considered too much negativity toward the LOA board.
“I’m just numb. How can we work when nobody trusts us? There’s like zero trust in Greene County,” she said.
Also during the public comment period, Roger Fields, spokesperson for the Lake Country Conservatives group, said they totally support both LOA and Greene County schools, but he chastised the LOA board for not resolving the two-yearlong lawsuit against the BOE.
“I have a whole host of people waiting in the wings to help on mentoring, tutoring, whatever we need to do, but this lawsuit is stopping us from moving forward,” he said.
For months, the group has been pressuring both school boards to end their differences.
“How come highly educated, intelligent people can’t solve this dadgummed problem and fix it once and for all is beyond me,” Fields said. “You’re wasting our tax dollars. Both groups. You’re wasting our human resources. You put everybody’s eyes on this dadgum lawsuit when they should be focused on the kids.”
Fields talked about a meeting in June between LOA CEO Otho Tucker and Greene County Schools Superintendent Chris Houston that Tucker later reported as having reached a settlement on the lawsuit. But Houston said he did not think there was a settlement, and nothing was resolved.
Tucker immediately responded to Fields’ comment about the meeting.
“We focused it exactly on the lawsuit. None of this ‘we want you to do this if you buy your land here and do this there.’ Right on the lawsuit,” Tucker said. “Our board went directly into closed session. Held a special meeting and we were ready to settle. And it was good for everybody. Everybody won a little. Everybody lost a little.”
Later in the public comment period, BOE Vice Chairman Steve Kilgore said that when the Houston-Tucker meeting was set up, he understood that the lawsuit was not to be the focus of the negotiations.
“That was all about bringing you and Chris together to put together a plan to partner together and work together for education,” Kilgore told Tucker. “There was no discussion…about settling a lawsuit.”
“I disagree,” Tucker responded.
Following a long executive session, the LOA board returned to say they were sending the BOE yet another counter-proposal.
“We have gotten an offer from the BOE, and there are at least two items that we need to get clarified and/or changed,” Chairman Tompkins said, adding that he planned to talk with BOE Chairman Mike Lynch this week.
Also at the LOA Board meeting Monday night:
• Tucker said that the new Arts building is still waiting for windows that, due to supply chain issues, are hard to get these days. He expects the school to take occupancy by Oct. 1.
• New member Jennifer Vaughn was voted in as treasurer by the board.
• The lottery waitlist for admission to LOA is 386 applications long with 11 of those being high-priority students, either children of staff, teachers or board members or siblings of students already enrolled at LOA.