The Louisville Municipal School District recognized its teachers of the year during its January 18 meeting.
Superintendent David Luke started off the recognitions with Cynthia McDonald as Administrator of the Year. Liz Blackwell was named Teacher of the Year at Fair; Tesha Cistrunk was named Louisville Elementary Teacher of the Year; Natalie Hickman was named Eiland Middle Teacher of the Year; Barbara Haynes was named Louisville High School Teacher of the Year; Cindy Stroud was named Nanih Waiya Teacher of the Year; Heather Fulton was named WLTC staff member of the Year; and Madelyn Monk earned Noxapater’s Teacher of the Year and District Teacher of the Year Titles.
Also, to start the meeting off Jacqueline Steele retook her oath of office as she gained another term as District 4 board member.
The board approved all the financial reports and bank balances for the month. The board also approved closing out or dissolving all club and scholarship funds held by the district. The district had been awaiting MDE changes and guidance on the holding of scholarship funds by the district. Due to the changes, the scholarship funds have been placed in the activity funds unless the scholarship donor requested those funds be moved to a school of higher education. Superintendent Luke noted that any potential scholarship donors were pointed to area colleges about setting up scholarships for students from Winston County.
• The board approved two sixteen section leases.
• The board approved repaying MDE $334,147 in overpaid funds to the district due to attendance records under the previous superintendent.
• Superintendent Luke gave a report on the progress on planned improvements in the district that architects JBHM were working on including Noxapater cafeteria improvement and expansion; remodeling of the tech prep building at Nanih Waiya; remodeling the bathrooms art Fair, LES, Eiland and LHS; possible ionization systems in place for the HVAC systems in the schools/
He noted in his report that the COVID numbers were rising in the state and the schools were following all mitigation protocols. Superintendent Luke briefed the board members on legislation in the state capitol that may affect the district and noted that the state assessments would be held this year.
• The Board held an executive session for he Superintendents’ Evaluation and student discipline review.
• The board approved the Consent agenda which covered approvals of: meeting minutes; fixed assets; donation of $25,000 from Winston Plywood for remodeling and upgrading the LHS baseball dugouts; donation of $2,200 for LHS Basketball team for travel uniform; $960 dollars for the girls basketball team; and $600 from Southern Traditions for the Noxapater Softball, volleyball and basketball teams; Approved 10staff resignations; and approved 4 staff hires; approved substitute lists.
The next board meeting is set for Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m.
3rd grade reading assessment
The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is announcing that the 3rd grade reading assessment, which helps determine promotion to the 4th grade, will be administered from April 4-22 across the state.
The Literacy-Based Promotion Act (LBPA) enacted in 2013 was created to help ensure kindergarten through 3rd-grade students develop good reading skills. The law was amended in 2016 and requires all Mississippi 3rd grade public school students to score at level 3 or higher on the reading portion of the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program English Language Arts (MAAP-ELA) test to qualify to be promoted to 4th grade. Exemptions apply to certain students with disabilities, students learning English or students who have been previously retained.
Third-graders will be given up to three attempts to pass the assessment. If a student fails the first test, a retest will be given May 9-13. If a student fails the retest, a second retest will be given June 20-July 8. Schools and districts will offer intervention to students who fail the tests.
The MDE has shared various resources with school districts and teachers to better ensure students are prepared for the assessment. In fall 2021, MDE held eight regional family literacy meetings. Additional MDE resources available to parents and guardians include:
StrongReaders.com/thirdgrade – The 3rd grade section of MDE’s Strong Readers, Strong Leaders website is full of fun activities families and students can use to improve reading. Topics cover vocabulary, comprehension, working with sounds, working with letters and sounds and reading accurately to understand.
- 3rd Grade Reading Assessment Flyer, which contains information about testing dates, format, results, the importance of passing the assessment and how families can support reading development at home.
- www.mdek12.org/literacy - Additional guidance, resources and information about the LBPA may be found online by visiting the Literacy section of MDE’s website.
- Social media – MDE will share tips on its Facebook and Twitter platforms in the coming weeks.
In 2019, 74.5% of 3rd graders passed the assessment on the first attempt. By the third attempt, a total of 85.6% passed. The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) suspended administering the assessment for the 2019-20 school year due to the state of emergency Gov. Tate Reeves declared in March 2020 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The 3rd grade reading assessment was administered once in the 2020-21 school year, however; due to the state of emergency, the SBE waived the passing requirement. The state of emergency expired Nov. 20, 2021.
The LBPA takes a comprehensive approach to helping teachers and school leaders effectively teach reading and implement an ongoing system to monitor student progress. The law enables MDE to deploy literacy coaches to schools where data show students struggle the most with reading. Coaches work directly with teachers and administrators to help them become more effective teachers of reading. Currently, 56 literacy coaches serve 95 schools and 51 districts.
Mississippi’s K-3rd grade students are screened three times annually to determine their reading levels. Based on those results, teachers can focus on a student’s needed improvement skills. Parents are also made aware of their child’s results and can check with their child’s teachers for helpful strategies specific to their child’s needs.
“Mississippi’s K-3 teachers, administrators and school leaders have worked hard to assess and prepare 3rd graders to meet reading standards even during the pandemic,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “MDE encourages parents to utilize resources from MDE and from their child’s teacher and school to equip students to succeed.”
