Highland School Board August Meeting
Highland County school students, parents and faculty will have a brand new way to access school information this year, with the revamp of the school system’s website. The site was previewed by technology staff member Gwen Cauley during this month’s regular School Board meeting. Improvements include quicker navigation to important information, such as a centralized event calendar featuring all activities, including sporting events, bus routes and staff contact information. The new site will also retain its layout and content across all electronic devices, including phones and tablets, which had been an issue in the past. The new site was scheduled to go live Tuesday morning, and could take up to 72 hours to fully roll out.
During his presentation to the Board, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Schott announced that both the high school and elementary school are fully accredited by the state, with scores well above the benchmarks in all categories, and he praised the staff and students for their efforts. He also reviewed progress goals set last year, which included academic achievement, including increases in math and reading; improved communication; and improved environment and safety, all of which will continue to receive focus this year.
Principals Teresa Blum and Tim Good both reported preparations were underway in their respective schools for opening day on August 15th. Open houses for both schools will be held Thursday, August 11th, with pre-school from 5:00 – 6:00 pm and elementary and high school from 6:00 – 7:00 pm.
During a discussion of school based health care during action items, Board member Joe neil asked Letitia Amirault from the Highland Medical Center whether sports physicals could be done on set days in the summertime, for students who are taking part in open gym type activities. Ms. Amirault explained that this had been attempted in the past, but had been stopped due to little response. She is now available for physicals on the opening day of practice for fall sports, and said she would check on schedule availability for possible additions.
In other action items, the Board:
- Nominated John Moyers Jr as a delegate for the Virginia School Board Association convention;
- Reviewed and approved Title I advisory committee members and parental involvement policies
- Approved policy manual revisions relating to code change and verbiage;
- And approved the consent agenda.
The school supply lists are posted along with this story on alleghenymountainradio.org.
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