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All Scott Schools Meet Federal AYP

Jason McCarty
Staff Writer

At the regular monthly meeting of the Scott County School Board held Sept. 5 in the school board office, the board was presented with copies of a new encyclopedia about the Appalachian region.

School board member Virgil Sampson presented the school board with four copies of the “Encyclopedia of Appalachia” to be distributed among the three high schools and one middle school in Scott County. Lenowisco provided the book, which is one of the most comprehensive resources on Appalachia, containing more than 300 illustrations.

Following the presentation, Bill Russell came before the board with an emotional request for support of programs involving teacher, students, and counselors in order to prevent teen suicide.

“Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers,” said Russell, who lost a teenage son to suicide five years ago. “Ninety percent of teen suicides are carried out by those with some sort of mental illness.”

According to Russell’s statistics, five counties in Southwestern Virginia rank among the highest in the state when it comes to teenage suicide.

Russell offered up four different programs for the board to take a look at and evaluate. The first was the ASSIST program, which is a two-day course for adults. A “Yellow Ribbon Program,” which involves students and provides each one of them with a yellow card to give out as a warning sign.

The third option is called “A Promise for Tomorrow,” which is a JASON Foundation program which is free and takes three classroom days to complete. The final option was a screening program called “The Signs of Suicide.”

Russell’s presentation was a moving one, and the board thanked him for his input and that they would consider his comments.

The board then reviewed the items presented Scott County Division Superintendent Jim Scott. Scott gave the board 10-day enrollment numbers, and there were 3,862 students enrolled at the time. With large class numbers in the kindergarten and first grade years, along with a small senior class, the number of students will more than likely increase in years to come.

The board also discussed fund-raising efforts in the schools for a while, with concerns about student safety, the impact of local businesses and money being sourced out to private companies. The state school board does prohibit door-to-door sales for elementary student.

The board reviewed some of the incoming fundraising requests, and they turned authority over to the school board office concerning decisions on fundraising issues.

Scott announced a special opening ceremony slated to highlight the completion of the water project at Rye Cove High School. He also talked about the upcoming classroom dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony at Duffield Primary School.

Both ceremonies are scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 19 with the Rye Cove dedication beginning at 9 a.m. followed by Duffield’s ceremony at 10:15 a.m.

A total of 544 students were enrolled this past summer in summer school programs sponsored by the system. Nearly 100 students in grades 8-12 participated in summer remedial programs offered by Scott County Schools in the summer to assist them with meeting SOL testing guidelines.

More elementary school-aged students, 453, used their time off during the summer to brush up on some courses they needed assistance with. Last year 596 students were enrolled in summer remedial programs.

Scott also reported that all schools in Scott County achieved adequate yearly progress under the Federal No Child Left Behind program. Scott County was one of only 24 school divisions to have all of its schools earn the distinction.

The board accepted resignations from Theresa Burton, special education teacher; Alicia Powers, Twin Springs High School teacher; Michelle Sturgill, Twin Springs JV volleyball coach; and Melissa Short, Gate City Middle School volleyball coach.

New personnel hired at the meeting included Heather Fansler, special education teacher; Courtney Smith, Cassie Grubbs, Tina Howe, all elementary school teachers; Elizabeth Humphreys, Ruth Potts, both teaching assistants and Angela McAmis, Twin Springs JV volleyball coach.

The Scott County School Board meets the first Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. generally in the school board central office. All meetings are open to the public.

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