Picayune’s Separate Municipal School District Board of Trustees elected new officers and heard an update from two teachers about the gifted program.
Tuesday they elected Frank Feeley as the chair, Frank Ford as the vice chair, Edward Stubbs as the secretary and Lori Blackmer as the vice secretary.
After the election of the board officers, they heard from Susan Spiers and Maureen Pollitz about the district’s gifted program.
Currently the program is offered to students in grades second through sixth. Spiers said the program used to be offered to students in the junior high grade levels, but funding was cut, leaving it up to each district to pay for the additional grades out of their own funds.
The program locates their students through a recruitment program that utilizes several steps. One of the steps involves screening first graders who score in the 90th percentile on the RAVEN test. Alternately, if a student does not score in that percentile, they can be referred to the program by a teacher, Spiers said.
Once referred, the student then takes an IQ test administered by a qualified psychometrist. Students must score a 120 or higher to be accepted into the program. Spiers said that requirement was recently changed; the prior year the required score was 119 or higher.
While in the program, each student is assessed each nine weeks and if they are not performing well, they could be placed on probation. Spiers said it’s been years since a student has been placed on probation because the teachers pride themselves on being able to speak with the parents to address any problems.
“We feel like these gifted children are going to be our future leaders,” Spiers said.
Class work in the program involves a rotating set of curriculum to ensure students don’t have the same subject matter twice. Teachers also focus on working on each student’s listening skills, since it’s a weakness of most gifted students.
They also focus on thinking skills, creativity, leadership and research skills.
The use of Google Docs helps the students access work from any computer, and also allows the teachers to review their progress and make suggestions, Pollitz said.
After the presentation, Feeley asked why the district does not offer the program through junior high grade levels. Assistant Superintendent Brent Harrell said one of the hurdles involves a scheduling conflict. Junior High Principal James Williams elaborated, saying the students have only so many slots available for classes, meaning they would have to select between a gifted class or an elective.
Feeley said he feels the district should consider funding the program through the higher grades.
“I know firsthand this is one of the best programs here at the school district,” Feeley said.
See Wednesday’s Item for continued coverage of the school board meeting.