Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The principals of the Linden City School System presented their reports to the Linden Board of Education at its December 19 meeting.

Linden Elementary School principal Richard Bryant presented first, and he reported that on December 16, the elementary school had 45 new students attend the December accelerated reader party.

Bryant said that for students to have the privilege of attending the party, they must check out books and make a high percentage on tests. If students reach their monthly reading goals, they are invited to the parties. Bryant said the next accelerated reader party will be in February.

Bryant also said that he and the teachers looked at their media data. They looked at data from August and compared it to data collected in December, and Bryant said they saw gains across the board in reading and math. He said that when teachers and students return in January, they will have “a road map” to where they want to go during the 2023 school year.

George P. Austin Middle School principal Gwen Rogers said the motto at G.P.A. is “excellence is the expectation” and that she and her staff are working hard to achieve shared goals of positive behavior, student center instruction, and student proficiency.

The middle school has started its positive behavior intervention titled “Patriots Behaving as They Should.” As part of the intervention, there have been several events such as Freestyle Fridays where students and faculty went to the gym to play basketball, volleyball, or other games, and had hotdogs, chips, and juice.

A second event was a trip to the Performing Arts Theater in Demopolis where students saw “A Christmas Carol.” Other events are planned for January through March, including a possible trip to the Shakespeare Theater.

The data room has been set up and the school has used its ACAP scores from last year, and its iReady scores from the fall and winter to determine its student growth. Rogers said that all but two or three students showed growth. All students may not be proficient, but there is growth among the student population. She said that hopefully by the time the school does its spring assessment, all students will show tremendous growth.

Rogers also said that the school will be setting up an intervention period within the school day schedule. Every teacher, including Rogers, will teach some form of intervention during the course of the day beginning during the second semester. The school has also begun having individual data meetings with students where teachers explain where a student stands academically and what they can do to improve.

Linden High School principal Antwone Motley said that students who made the ‘A’ and ‘AB’ honor roll for the first semester will be rewarded with a trip to give them positive reinforcement.

All teachers at the high school have begun moving towards strategic teaching and explicit instruction. The iReady data for the high school showed student growth, some are not proficient, but Motley said it is influenced by several factors such as COVID and staffing. Despite that however, Motley said that 80 percent of the student population showed growth.

Motley also reported that several LHS students have received or will receive college scholarships.