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District principals flag benchmark dips, rising ESL and special‑education pressure and call for more intervention staff
Summary
Middle‑ and high‑school leaders reported pockets of benchmark progress and decline, rising multilingual learner enrollment that affects assessments, and growing special‑education caseloads; administrators said staffing for interventions and ESL support is a pressing need.
Middle and high school principals appearing before the Hardy County Schools board described mixed benchmark results, growing English‑learner populations and special‑education caseload pressures, and asked the board to consider additional intervention and ESL resources.
Why it matters: School leaders said that while several grade cohorts showed measurable growth on midyear benchmark windows, some benchmark scores dipped after winter testing windows and schedule disruptions. At the same time, principals reported a steady rise in students whose primary language is not English and warned that federally required English‑language proficiency testing (ELPA) and state content tests give multilingual students a steeper hill to climb when they arrive later in the system.
What principals told the board: Mr. McGregor (middle school) described a mix of gains and challenges: scheduled intervention blocks, I‑Ready and Alex Math pathways, and teacher data meetings are helping, but he said the school would benefit from another interventionist. He reported the school’s attendance near the low‑to‑mid 90s and credited targeted incentives and CIS outreach for steadying numbers.
District‑level demographics were the focus of a later presentation: board staff and Mr. Armit said multilingual learners now compose a notable share of kindergarten classrooms, with languages including Spanish and Haitian Creole. The district added an ESL interventionist part‑time and is expanding that role to increase days of service; administrators warned that Title III funding cannot be used to pay regular teacher salaries and is mainly for PD rather than staff pay.
Special education and social‑emotional needs: Multiple speakers said the county’s special‑education caseload is growing and some classrooms operate near recommended maximums. Mr. Armit and middle‑school staff said increased social‑emotional and self‑regulation needs are driving demand for CIS services, counseling and targeted in‑school supports.
High school academic strategy: High‑school leaders discussed SAT/PAT alignment, noting that while PAT‑style classroom work measures many local skills, the SAT requires deeper text integration and synthesis. Mrs. Campbell outlined a weekly plan to add timed SAT‑style passages, evidence‑based questions and DOK‑3/4 tasks so students are practiced on the kinds of items they will see on state and college readiness assessments.
Quotes: Mr. McGregor said intervention staffing was critical: "If we had one more person, what a better difference we could make." Mrs. Campbell emphasized the need to teach evidence‑based analysis: “we're hoping [the weekly SAT routine] will help” bridge the SAT/PAT gap.
Next steps: Principals requested board consideration of additional intervention hires, earlier and sustained ESL coverage, and continued investments in counseling and CIS services to address social‑emotional needs. No formal budget change was proposed at the meeting; those requests were framed as priorities for the next budgeting cycle.
