As the Richmond County School System prepares for a new academic year, Thursday night’s committee Board of Education meeting was once again colored with tension caused by an outspoken board member.
Following some promotions and hiring updates and approvals for several RCSS positions, Associate Superintendent Malinda Cobb presented three major policy changes to address educational concerns – relearn and reassess, late work and artificial intelligence.
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In response to the policy changes, board member Wayne Frazier spoke out, saying that students’ endeavors would only improve if the community, board members, teachers and staff cared more.
Acting as interim president of the board, due to President Charlie Walker Jr.’s absence, Vice President Shawnda Griffin interrupted Frazier in hopes of staying on topic regarding the policy changes.
“I’m asking you to stay on topic, please,” she said.
With Frazier arguing that he had a right to speak, Griffin agreed so long as the comments were centered around the policy changes and not attacking others.
“I’m tired of being called out of order,” Frazier said. “… what we have to do, we’ve got to make sure that our community tells the elected officials what we want, and if we can’t get this, we don’t want to elect you no more. Until you do that, our children are going to continue to fail.”
Griffin responded by stating that the insinuation of board members not caring about the students of Richmond County was entirely uncalled for.
“We’re going to make sure that there is no insinuation that any board member who is up here does not care about our children, and that any staff member that works for the board of education don’t care,” she said. “We always encourage and ask our community to participate and that’s why we leave things up for 30 days – for our community members, parents and students to engage with their comments.”
Prior to the board comments, Cobb described how the current late work policy is defined as “assignments that are submitted after the specified deadline,” which does not apply to work submitted late due to an absence from school.
Through research, Cobb stated that policy edits needed to occur in order to address a lack of systematic guidance regarding late work and issues with students cultivating a “chasing grades” culture by the end of the year.
According to Cobb, the number of students rapidly turning in last minute assignments at the end of the year to try to make a decent grade can be “overwhelming for teachers.”
Following a teacher survey, Cobb presented that 64 teachers reported that 25-75% of their students submit work after a set deadline on a regular basis, and 51 of them accept late work at any time prior to the end of school year.
After meeting with principals to brainstorm more guided principles, Cobb said she believed the grading system needed to be clear and consistent, timely, and equitable.
Keeping such principles in mind, Cobb informed the board of the idea of an “academic contract,” which would guarantee that students in grades 6-12 may have their scores reduced by five percent for a 25% maximum reduction.
Board member Venus Cain said her main concern regarding the policy was the possibility of teaching students that submitting late is acceptable.
“I just don’t want us setting our kids up for failure by making them think that submitting work late and still expecting to save your grade is okay,” she said. “… because after they graduate, we shouldn’t be teaching them that they can show up or not go to work and still get paid.”
Cobb replied that over 200 teachers favored her proposed policy changes, and the policy would not encourage more late work, but would rather prevent teachers from being swarmed at the end of the year.
In addition to the late work change, following any major assessment, Cobb also suggested the current relearn and reassess policy that affects grades 4-12 should be reduced to one opportunity for reassessment instead of two in order to give teachers more flexibility.
Students scoring below 70 on a major assessment should be expected to then complete a relearning plan, unless exempted with parent approval.
Lastly, Cobb suggested the board place a stricter policy on students’ use of artificial intelligence to complete school work by constituting it as academic dishonesty.
“We’ve had some students put assignment prompts into Chat GPT and then hit print,” she said.
Cobb said the next steps would involve updating the public and educators via letters, email, online announcements and newly signed academic contracts.
Following Frazier and Griffin’s comments, Cathy Johnson, director of Nutrition Services, reported that her department was able to complete Community Eligibility Provision, a school meal funding option by the National School Lunch Act, which ensured that all Richmond County School System students will receive free breakfast and lunch for the 2024-25 school year.
After the room resounded with cheers for Johnson’s efforts, the board discussed changes to the student hearing procedures, which will sit for 30 days to allow public comment.
Changes to policy JCEB will incorporate Senate Bill 169, which requires that disciplinary hearings must be brought within 10 days of a student’s first day of suspension and that during the pending hearing students must be provided grade-level instructional materials.
Following the JCEB presentation, Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Marcus Allen asked the board for approval to increase alternative, in-person schooling instruction to five days a week to provide “adequate, wrap-around support for all students.”
The board members unanimously approved Allen’s recommendations before adjourning the committee meeting to hold executive session.
