The Liberty County Board of Education on Tuesday discussed ways to bolster Liberty County High School’s fire protection.
Because LCHS sits outside Hinesville city limits, the school is not covered by the Hinesville Fire Department.
“Ultimately, the problem is that if anything is going to happen when the kids are there, it’s going to be during the day,” Chief Administrative Officer Jason Rogers said. “If it gets called out to the volunteer fire department in Fleming, or Midway, or wherever, there’s nobody there to respond. So, it’s really the response time that we’re searching for, and (decreasing) that response time.”
Rogers presented the board with two options for consideration.
He said that the district either could pursue a fire-protection contract for LCHS directly through the city of Hinesville, or LCHS could be annexed by the city of Flemington, which is under contract with Hinesville for fire-protection services.
Board Vice Chair Carol Guyett asked about the cost difference between the two options. Rogers replied that the costs for both options were “exactly the same.”
Board member Verdell Jones recommended looking into a “fire subscription” as another possible option.
Fire coverage for LCHS was presented as an information item only, and the board will continue to review information before making any decisions.

CRCT/Georgia Milestones
Dr. Jennifer Walts, director of evaluation, assessment and accountability, delivered a presentation on the recently released district-level Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) scores.
As mentioned in a previous Courier report, LCSS saw impressive gains in several testing areas. Fifth- and sixth-grade science, sixth-grade math and sixth-grade social studies scores all increased by 7 percentage points, and eighth-grade science scores saw a whopping 10-point increase.
“As a statistician, what I can tell you is that to move a large number of students a single percentage point is a herculean task,” Walts said.
She also talked briefly about the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, which will replace the CRCT and EOCT assessments this school year.
Walts provided a chart that compared fourth- and eighth-grade CRCT scores to National Assessment of Educational Progress scores. The chart showed that, when compared with the rest of the nation, Georgia students are struggling.
A Georgia fourth-grader who scored 93 percent correct on the CRCT only scored 34 percent on the NAEP. Similarly, an eighth-grade student in Georgia scoring 97 percent correct on the CRCT scored only 32 percent on the NAEP.

Other business
In other business, the board of education:
• presented the Extra Mile Award to Chuck Griffin.
• approved a bid in the amount of $93,685 for technology improvements to LCHS’ field house and Donell Woods Stadium.
• approved painting bids for two elementary and two middle schools. Painting projects in Snelson-Golden Middle, Lyman Hall Elementary and Liberty Elementary schools total $17,700, and a painting project in Joseph Martin Elementary totals $22,416.
• approved a classified-director salary scale. The district currently employs two classified directors — director of facilities and director of federal programs.