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Rockdale County board to consider purchase of secondary literacy intervention resources totaling $864,626.80
Summary
Superintendent will recommend the Board approve a four-year purchase of secondary literacy intervention resources intended to align with the state's science-of-reading guidance; the item will be placed on the consent agenda for the next regular meeting.
The Rockdale County Board of Education received a presentation on proposed secondary literacy intervention resources that the superintendent will recommend for purchase, totaling $864,626.80.
The presentation, delivered on behalf of the district's secondary literacy team by Dr. Denise Richardson, said the recommendation would replace existing intervention materials for grades 6–12 with resources chosen after a vendor review and stakeholder feedback. Richardson said the proposal includes a four-year subscription and that the purchase is contingent on contract approval by the superintendent and the district's general counsel.
Richardson said the review began in October, involved vendor demonstrations in January, and included school- and central-office staff in the evaluation. She told the board the team narrowed submissions to two vendors (HMH and Savvas Learning) and that the recommended package supports core instruction, English learners and students with disabilities while enabling progress monitoring.
"I truly believe that the resource that we have presented to you this evening aligns to Georgia's evolving literacy priorities, reinforces instructional vision for our district, and it supports all learners across the spectrum for success and literacy," Richardson said.
Board members asked about monitoring and implementation. Richardson said rollout will begin with summer training, leader training in June, use of focus walks in August and monthly coaching cycles. She said usage data will be available via ClassLink analytics and leader dashboards and that the district expects the first year to focus on usage and recalibration.
Assistant superintendent Dr. Gibbons described school- and division-level monitoring that includes PLC visits, classroom walkthroughs and feedback cycles to assess planning, execution and impact. Technology staff said integration and licensing work are part of the adoption review and that curriculum leaders supply course numbers and resource IDs to ensure resources are assigned to classes before teachers and students log in.
The presentation listed the financial impact as $864,626.80, and the presenter said the funding source is "East flop" (as stated in the presentation). Richardson said the vendor agreed to deferred billing and that a cost comparison presented showed the other top vendor's estimated four-year cost would have been $1,308,734.75.
As a procedural outcome of the work session, the board voted to place action items (items 1 and 3–10) on the consent agenda at the next regular meeting; the tentative budget (item 2) was removed for a separate vote next week. The literacy purchase was among the items the cabinet asked the board to consider next week on the consent agenda.
The board did not vote on the purchase at the work session; formal action is scheduled for the regular meeting.
