Fair Street school approved as 'official' extension of Boys & Girls Clubs

GAINESVILLE - The Gainesville Board of Education Wednesday approved Fair Street school as an "official extension" site for the Hall County Boys and Girls Clubs' Downey campus.

Supt. Merrianne Dyer said the Boys and Girls Clubs of America recently awarded the local clubs $30,000 to form an extension site for the Downey Club in order to meet the increased need forchildren to be served.

"Fair Street will now house an official extension site that is targeted to after-school programs for children from Kindergarten to Grade two with a special focus on engaging families in early literacy activities," Dr. Dyer said. "This will enhance the existing 21st Century Learning Center after school program that operates for children in grades 3 through 5. Although Fair Street and the (clubs) have shared facilities and resources for over 25 years, this designation creates an official extension site of the Boys and Girls Club of America."

Also at Wednesday's meeting, the Quality Assurance Team from AdvancEd, the accreditating agency of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), presented its report and awarded Gainesville City Schools full District Accreditation.

A school district must meet seven standards and be rated as either "Operational" or 'Highly Functional" in order to receive full accreditation, according to Dyer.

Gainesville City was rated "Highly Functional" in the areas of Vision and Purpose and "Documenting and Using Results." Ratings of "Operational" were given in the areas of "Governance and Leadership," "Teaching and Learning," "Resource and Support Systems," "Stakeholder Communications," and "Commitment to Continuous Improvement."

The QAR Team provided commendations to the district for:

* Support for and leadership of the Superitendent
* Value of diversity and equal educational opportunities for all children
* The number and quality of interventions to assist students
* Strong relationships and supports of stakeholders: parents, business, community, students
* Stakeholders embracing and living the mission of the school system

The QAR Team provided three areas that will require action:

* Create a management plan for the implementation of multiple initiatives with limited personnel. The QAR team advised GCSS to examine the multiple initatives and prioritize those to continue and eliminate those that are not supporting the critical work. They discussed the realization that the district office has decreased personnel to manage the multiple initiatives.

* Plan for upgrading technology as emerging technologies and support services are needed. The Review Team acknowledged that this is a challenge to every school district in the nation as technology advances and funding declines.

* Continue to work on a vertical articulation for students so as to support them during transitions from grades 5-6 and 8-9.

Progress reports are required to be submitted in two years.

The school system will be reviewed again in 2016.

Dr. Dyer said the work of this study will be applied as the school system submits an application in December 2012 to continue as a Charter School System.