MOULTRIE – The Colquitt County Board of Education meeting on Monday saw the board discuss the approval of several items on the agenda including field trips for the 2020 school year and a training plan for the members of the Board.

“We’re required by state law to get training hours every year. So, we have to create a plan for that. We’ll do two whole day sessions at the spring and winter conference with the Georgia School Board Association. There’s one on mental health assistance for students that’s coming up,” said Mary Beth Watson, Chairman of the Colquitt County Board of Education.

The next item approved was the teacher-requested District Read and Write licenses and the EquatiO tools for teachers totaling $24,175. Read and Write is a computer program that allows students to have text read to students who needed it.

“If they need something read to them, they can click an icon and it will read it to them. We have the largest number of ESL (English as a Second Language) students south of Macon. Read and Write is mostly for special needs and education children, but it can be used by students who use English as a second language as well,” said Dr. Marni Kirkland, Assistant Superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

EquatiO helps to make the special symbols used for mathematical equations.

 “Once we moved towards a different system, we needed to upgrade to a different system that would help the teachers create these complex equations. We use Chromebooks in the schools and the special symbols weren’t compatible with Microsoft Word, so that’s where EquatiO comes in,” said Kirkland.

There were several out of town field trips on the agenda, including C.A. Gray Junior High’s spring holiday field trip consisting of 35 or more children and a team of chaperones to New York and Pennsylvania in April 2020, and the annual Funston Elementary School trip to Washington D.C. in February 2020. All of these field trips were approved.

The Board also voted to rescind the current dual enrollment policy.

“We have an outdated dual enrollment policy. The Department of Education has decided that a policy on dual enrollment is not required as long as we follow established practices and procedures,” said Superintendent Doug Howell. “Dual enrollment is changing in such a fast pace that a policy is not necessary.”

The Board went over the dropout reports as well and announced that the graduation rates were outstanding.

“Our district rate is 85.36 percent this year and that was an increase from the 79.98 percent in 2018,” said Watson. “This was pretty exciting for us and we exceeded state graduation rate which has an average of 82 percent. Those were steps in the right directions, but there’s still work to do.”