The graduation rate for Liberty County high schools has increased. The Board of Education was excited to hear the news that was presented by Chief Academic Officer Dr. Patti Crane during the Sept. 26 BOE work session. According to the report, the graduation rate for 2019 is 88.3 percent, 3.2 percentage points higher than last year’s graduation rate of 85.1 percent. LCSS is also 6.3 points higher than the state average. Liberty County High School was 8.8 points higher than state average and Bradwell Institute was 4.1 points higher. 

It wasn’t all celebrating and good news for the BOE however. Students were broken down into subgroups which grouped students based mostly on their race, some students being placed into what was referred to as “economically disadvantaged” and “students with disability”. The chart did this for both high schools in the area, and listed the subgroups’ target rate and the actual rate. 

In Bradwell, the “multi-racial” subgroup and the “students with disability” fell short of their graduation rate by 6 points and .24 points respectively. For LCHS, the “black” subgroup and the “economically disadvantaged” fell short of their targets graduation rate by .49 points and .84 points respectively. Regardless of this, the graduation rates for all subgroups were high. 

LCSS administrators will continue to try and improve the overall graduation rate. They intend to do things like hold motivational sessions with students in both high schools and in middle schools and by implementing credit recovery opportunities. These are just two of their many planned efforts. 

In other news, LCSS will be purchasing 10 new buses, all with A/C, a one year bumper to bumper warranty and seven year power train warranty. Three of the buses will be designated as special needs buses. $763,340 worth of funds will come from ESPLOST and $231,660 of the funds will be from the GaDOE Bond fund. 

LCSS is also planning to replace the air-cooled chiller at Lyman Hall Elementary School with a 40 ton air-cooled chiller with freeze protection, a one year parts and labor warranty and a five years compressor warranty. The funds for this will come from ESPLOST as well. 

With the existing HVAC maintenance work vehicle being 13 years old, LCSS has approved the receiving of bids to purchase a new Nissan NV 1500 work van. The estimated amount for this vehicle is $31,939 which will come from ESPLOST funds. 

And lastly, the school system will start to look for a contracted school psychologist to maintain the required evaluation timelines through the IDEA. A request for position qualifications still need to be made.