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Decatur School Board to discuss equity monitoring report, purchase of electronic equipment

Decatur

Decatur School Board to discuss equity monitoring report, purchase of electronic equipment

The Decatur School Board met on Tuesday, Aug. 10, at the Wilson Center to discuss the district improvement plan, the code of conduct and the preliminary enrollment report. Photo by Zoe Seiler.
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Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur School Board will meet on Tuesday, Sept. 14, at 6:30 p.m. for a regular meeting. The meeting will be held in person at the Wilson School Support Center, 125 Electric Ave. in Decatur.

The meeting will also be available virtually through Zoom. To attend the meeting via Zoom, click here.

To view the meeting agenda, click here.

During the meeting, the School Board will discuss monitoring reports, including talking about the equity pillar of the district improvement plan.

The policy the board will evaluate the equitable allocation of available resources. Knowing a student’s subgroup will indicate nothing about how they are likely to achieve academically, how their behaviors will be managed or what opportunities they will pursue, according to the report.

The monitoring reports allow the School Board to monitor the superintendent’s performance continuously. Part of the report includes the superintendent’s interpretation of the policy, the means used to achieve or comply with the policies, and an action plan to address any known deficiencies.

In the report, Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said she interprets “‘equitable allocation of available resources’ to mean that the district budget has allocated appropriate resources to implement the initiative, programs, and training needed to enact a positive outcome on student achievement, behavior, and pursue opportunities while not underfunding other programs or departments.”

She also interprets “indicate nothing about how likely they are to achieve academically” to mean that when academic achievement data are examined, all student groups identified will have similar levels of academic achievement. The report additionally stated that “how their behaviors will be managed” means that when student discipline data is examined, all student groups will have similar levels of discipline consequences.

Compliance with the policy is achieved when high levels of academic proficiency and growth is seen in all subgroups, there are no gaps in academic performance between subgroups, and student enrollment in advanced classes is similar to overall student demographics, among other findings.

Under the consent items, the School Board will vote on a contract for the one-time purchase of equipment and deployment services, and a four-year accidental damage protection services contract for electronics and equipment given to middle and high school students.

The cost of the contracts will be covered by SPLOST funds and the cost of the equipment is about $753,000. Deployment services will cost $18,000 and the accidental damage protection services will cost about $383,000 over four years.

The district has partnered with CDW-G to source equipment, such as Chromebooks, chargers and cases, and management licenses. Renfroe Middle School will receive new equipment and Decatur High School will have its existing equipment fleet expanded to meet their needs. Much of the high school’s equipment is less than two years old, according to the agenda packet.

Lexicon Technology will provide the deployment services for the equipment, which includes delivering the devices, enrolling in the district’s management domain and asset tagging. Their technicians will also pick up devices that have been damaged, repair them and return them on an ongoing basis.

Renfroe’s supply of about 70 carts will be reallocated throughout the district since the school will get new equipment. Fifth Avenue Elementary School’s fleet will hit end-of-life this summer, and more than half of the Renfroe equipment will go to the elementary school.

City Schools of Decatur has also received new wifi hotspots, which will remain available at all schools for families to check out for the duration of the school year.

Also, on the agenda are grocery contracts for the current school year, approval of the 2022-2023 school calendar, a development report and the monthly data report.

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