Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Instructional Update topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Shenandoah Elementary leaders cite enrollment and special‑education growth, outline interventions after school‑improvement designation
Summary
Principal Jody Fultz told the Page County School Board Shenandoah Elementary’s attendance is strong and science scores are above state averages, but a 68% rise in identified students with disabilities and weak fourth‑grade growth under a new framework placed the school in school improvement; leaders described targeted small‑group instruction, new intervention materials and data monitoring.
Shenandoah Elementary Principal Jody Fultz and assistant principal Jennifer Whitefield presented an instructional update to the Page County School Board on March 26, saying the school’s attendance is “in the 90s” and that recent science SOL pass rates have exceeded division and state averages. But under a revised school‑framework model that weights growth and servicing of students with disabilities, the school was designated as needing improvement.
“We are one of the very few schools in the county that continue to go up in enrollment,” Fultz said, noting enrollment rose roughly 11% over three years. Fultz added the number of students identified for special‑education services increased from 37 to 62 over that period — “an increase of 68 percent” — and that heavier weighting for that cohort in the state’s growth measure contributed to the school’s designation.
Fultz and Whitefield described steps the school has taken to address gaps: expanding small‑group reading and math, weekly or biweekly progress monitoring, schoolwide vocabulary and word‑problem strategies, and use of evidence‑based intervention materials for students needing intensive support. Whitefield described classroom and non‑classroom staff sharing instructional responsibility — for example, PE staff reinforcing math facts — and said the school is “consistently progress monitoring” students roughly every two to three weeks.
Board members asked whether staff still receive student‑performance‑by‑question reports and whether the dip in fourth‑grade growth is tied to instruction, staffing turnover, or curriculum changes. Fultz said the SPBQ reports remain available but acknowledged that the state’s student‑growth formula is not fully transparent: “I don’t even know what that formula is,” she said, adding that staffing changes and differing grade‑level models (third‑grade single‑teacher vs. departmentalized fourth grade) appear to affect growth measures.
School leaders emphasized collaborative, tiered interventions and noted resource pressures tied to the growing special‑education caseload. The presentation flagged upcoming events and outreach — including a career day — and concluded with an offer to follow up on specific data and staffing questions raised by the board.
The board did not take an action item on instructional staffing during the meeting; budget and contract timelines were discussed later in the agenda.
