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Liberty County presents gifted-program growth, demographic data and AP honors
Summary
District officials reported growth in gifted services (536 served), discussed outreach to underrepresented students and celebrated AP honors and staff recognitions; district’s gifted facilitator Lila Stokes Dickens announced retirement.
At the March meeting, the Liberty County School System presented its annual gifted-education update, reporting 536 students served under this year’s Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) October count and highlighting growth in identification and Advanced Placement participation.
Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Miss Ziegler told board members the district’s gifted population by race for FY25 shows Hispanic 13%, Black 43%, multiracial 15% and white 38%; Asian, Native American and Pacific Islander groups were “too small to report.” Ziegler said FTE reporting differs from raw student counts and accounts for the apparent percentage discrepancy.
Ziegler said the district expanded identification efforts in previous years—adding multiple assessment types and increasing referrals at each school—to find underserved students. "The way you address this is to test more children," Ziegler said, adding Liberty County offers multiple service delivery models including acceleration, cluster, collaborative and an approved innovative model.
The district also announced AP honors: Bradwell Institute received AP Expansion and AP STEM awards and, along with Liberty County High School, received the AP Access and Support School Award. State Superintendent Richard Woods announced recognition for the public administration pathway as an official career and technical student organization. Lila Stokes Dickens, the district gifted facilitator with 37 years’ service, will retire this year; the board and staff publicly thanked her for her work.
Board members asked for clarification on the percentage totals and learned FTE versus total-student reporting explains the difference. Board member Dr. Scott congratulated staff on AP gains and noted the district’s intentional focus on increasing gifted participation.
