Griffin-Spalding County School System Superintendent Curtis Jones spoke to the Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning about the steps the school system is taking after learning it did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards.

Jones began the meeting by describing the statistics of the school system, including its overall attendance and number of people employed.

Jones then updated audience members on the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) projects. Firstly, Rehoboth Road Middle School is now operational.

“This is an outstanding facility,” he said. “We have been able to improve on every middle school we have built.”

There is also a new wing exclusively for ninth-graders at Spalding High School. Jones said ninth-graders, who are new to the school, are more “at risk” than others. Cowan Road Middle School is also being upgraded; some classes will be in trailers until the upgrade is finished.

Future SPLOST projects include renovating Griffin High School and Jordan Hill Elementary School, as well as technology upgrades across the system.

Jones then discussed the reasons the school system did not make AYP, including the test scores of different demographic groups.

In order to meet state and federal requirements, Jones proposed several steps.

One step is making Spalding High School a Title One school in addition to Griffin High School, a step he said is possible thanks to federal funds.

He then proposed more computer-based learning programs, another task that requires federal assistance. Due to licensing, students will be able to take the programs home with them — if they have a computer.

Other proposals included guided reading, in which students who need the most help could read in a small group with the teacher, other students could use a computer program and the most advanced could read on their own, and co-teaching, in which conventional and special-education teachers would teach mixed classes side-by-side, with special-education teachers providing additional attention to special-needs students.

In order to help students who have failed classes, Jones proposed credit recovery, in which students can retake failed classes during their lunch period, before school or after school, rather than having to take them over the summer or during the coming school year.

a