Richmond County has the dubious distinction of being home to three of the 19 schools that have lingered on the state's "needs improvement" list longer than any other.
But on Friday, two of those schools had reason to celebrate.
Morgan Road and Tubman middle schools learned they made adequate yearly progress based on their work last school year.
AYP is the measure given to schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools that fail to make AYP for consecutive years are placed on the "needs improvement" list.
Each year a school doesn't make AYP, it faces a series of escalating consequences. However, if a school makes AYP two years in a row, it is removed from the list.
Morgan Road and Tubman didn't meet the absolute threshold needed for AYP, but their progress was enough to meet a lower standard known as "safe harbor."
"I'm happy, elated and very enthusiastic about the coming year," Tubman Principal Wayne Frazier said. "These children now know how it is, how it feels, how it tastes, how it smells to be successful."
Dr. Frazier attributed the school's success to the support of parents and caring, effective teachers.
"We did this with the same teachers that were there. We did this with the same students that were there," he said. "It was more of a leadership challenge than bad children."
Dr. Frazier encouraged those interested in seeing the school succeed to get involved by ensuring children get to school.
Virginia Bradshaw, the assistant superintendent for instructional services, said it has been seven or eight years since Tubman last made AYP. It has been three years for Morgan Road.
Messages left for Morgan Road Principal LaMonica Lewis seeking comment were not returned.
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
This is really good news! Tubman has been a scary place for quite some time. The safe harbor provision basically means that a certain percentage of students made marked improvement in their scores from the previous year. Kudos to Dr. Frazier and to those at Morgan Road as well.
"Morgan Road and Tubman didn't meet the absolute threshold needed for AYP, but their progress was enough to meet a "lower" standard known as "safe harbor."......so they did not make AYP? But met a LOWER standard????? Who in the he!! is going to fall for this blatant whitewashing?
Give the kids and teachers their due. Safe harbor may be a lower standard but it is still meeting AYP. They are making progress and that should be applauded. What you should do karmakills123 is to go and volunteer your expertise and help them make the higher standard of AYP. Then come online and comment on what you have observed and how you have made a difference. Way to go Morgan Road and Tubman. You CAN do it!!!!!!!
Good job
The Board made a bold decision to put highly qualified teachers and pay them more to teach at Tubman at the beginning of the school year. The State Education Department, QLT from the Central Office and many others was in the school weekly to provide training and assistance to the teachers to ensure the children met the goals. These teachers worked HARD all year to ensure the children achieved their goals. Dr Frazier came on board in January and the testing was done in April so most of the ground work for success was laid prior to him arriving at Tubman. Yes, he provided discipline but the teacher did the work for a whole year and they deserve ALL the credit! Morgan Road Middle received an EXCELLENT principal who demanded the best from staff and students. She started the year off setting high goals and setting the standards and they completed the goal AYP! Hats off to the principal and teachers at Morgan Road!
that's right ''nextstep'' i'm glad you daid what you did b/c you're absolutely right!!!. i want to know why all the praise is going to dr.frazier tooo. he did'nt do all of that on his own.and like you said too there's a difference in making the actual a.y.p. standard & '' being called safe harbor'' dr.frazier does not need all the credit for something mr.norris( the princible who was there 6months prior to dr.frazier) had been doing with the students !!! where is his praise at? why isn't anybody thanking him tooo? and the sorry .princibles mrs.kelly, and mrs.ogden are they getting praise for this as well?? if so they need not !!!!
Lets give credit where credit is due, and that is to the teachers, parents, principals and staff. Mr Norris was not getting the Job done. So they gave Mr frazier a chance. There is more to AYP than standardized testing. The children at these schools needed a safe place to fall and support. The teachers may have needed motivating. It was time for something new. and it worked. Now Miss Lewis and Mr Frazier can teach the model to other. These children deserve a future. With Tubman being off the list for the last 7-8 years, that is sad. Middle school is such a challenge. This is when they need adult guidance and support. They need to know that people actually care about there future. These two principals handled the challenge.
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!
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