Poplar Springs HS Holds Title 1 Night Announces Plans To Offer New Sports

Poplar Springs Title One Family Night of the first nine weeks of the school year was held on Thursday, August 3, at 5:30 PM. Principal Laura Watford began with the school’s goal to get students academically on track to graduate from high school. Watford went on to say that she considers it a “personal failure” when a PSHS student does not graduate, before discussing what it will take from the school, parents, and students to ensure academic achievement for the upcoming school year.

Principal Watford mentioned the PSHS truancy policy, which provides attendance standards for students through a partnership with the Judicial System. The truancy policy allows each student three excused absences during each nine-week period of the school year. The policy requires a note to be provided explaining the excused absences. With the note coming from a parent, Watford made it clear that a note is equal to a single day excused. Meaning, if a parent writes a note to excuse a student that has missed the last three days of school, the note will count as the three excused days that student is allowed to miss during the nine weeks period in which the absences occurred. However, notes from medical professionals excusing a student for a specific period of time due to illness or medical attention are considered differently within the policy. As part of the policy, Assistant Principal Mrs. Cynthia Goodson will call the parents of any student struggling to adhere to the truancy policy, to develop a plan to keep them out of truancy court. Watford went on to say, “Just let us know and we will work with you. We are not trying to make your life difficult.”

Principal Watford also stated that students need to make their best effort and be kind and be respectful to everyone during the new school year. To set the tone for the new year, Principal Watford will talk about the expectations the school has of the students on the first day of school. Watford said, “I don’t think it’s fair to have an expectation of a student and them not know what it is.” Out of fairness, Principal Watford said she goes ‘through it with them, the teachers talk about it with their students, and we go around to the classrooms and have this conversation.” In that, Watford went on to proclaim that PSHS will have zero toleration for bullying, and that “kids are going to come to school and be safe.” Principal Watford kept the lines of communication open with parents and students, with an open door for anyone with a concern or issue at school that needs to be addressed.

Moving on, Principal Watford said the Governor of Florida has set strict laws about cell phones in the classroom this year. Thus, all cell phones must be turned off and put away, according to district and state policies. Teachers that confiscate a student’s cell phone during class will be responsible for the cell phone while it is in their possession. Also mentioning that the school is not responsible for any cell phones that are lost on campus while in the student’s possession. Parents are welcome to contact students during school hours by requesting to do so through the main office.

“The dress code policy has not changed from last year,” stated Watford. Students are allowed to wear shorts that are mid-thigh in length. Meaning that a student’s shorts need to come down to their longest finger with their arms down by their side. The length of shorts applies to both boys and girls.

Watford also noted a problem last year with girls wearing “little Nike shorts with cutouts in them.” These are not going to be dress code appropriate this year. Along with clothing that advertises tobacco or alcohol, saggy pants, baggy clothes, extremely tight clothes, or clothes that expose their midriff. This means no crop-tops are allowed. Tops must be able to be tucked in when the student is sitting down, and their sleeves must be shoulder width, explained Watford. Students are also prohibited from wearing cut-out shirts, low-cut or see-through tops, and jeans with holes in them. Tattoos cannot be gang related or offensive in any way, or they are required to be covered. Personal appearances or anything that interrupts instructional program or creates a health hazard is not acceptable. The handbook lists all the clothes that are inappropriate.

Title One is part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It provides financial assistance to educational agencies for children of low-income families to help ensure all students meet the challenges of academic standards. Title One funds are allocated at the district level in all states. “We get a budget, and they tell us how much funds we have for different things,” states Principal Watford, as she explained there are stipulations they are required to follow.

Title One goals are to increase academic achievements, to provide direct instructional support for students, professional development for teachers, and to promote educational involvement. “The parent and community involvement at this school is unparalleled to any other school I have ever been at,” Watford stated with gratitude.

As a school that is receiving Title One Funds, parents have the right to know the teaching qualifications of their student’s teacher. “It is becoming more prevalent in public education that teachers are not certified in the area that they are teaching because we are having a problem finding teachers,” said Watford. Parents will receive a letter from the school notifying them of these instances at PSHS.

The School Improvement Plan focuses on getting parents involved in their student’s education. PSHS parents and students will be receiving “an agreement of what the parents, students, and school is going to be doing in the best interest of the students to get where we need to be, to ultimately graduate from high school,” stated Principal Watford. The School Advisory Council helps support the success of the School Improvement Plan.

Watford explained that the School Advisory Council is a committee that is “made up of a group of parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, community members, and business members that come together to discuss the school’s data.” The purpose of the School Advisory Council is to assist in the preparation in developing and evaluating the school’s Improvement Plan and to assist the principal with the annual school budget. The School Advisory Council approves the School Improvement Plan, which is due to be finished early next week for the 2023-2024 academic year, explained Watford. The School Advisory Council also gets some funding to use at their discretion. The money the school advisory council gets is a little bit of the FTE funds to spend at their discretion, in which the amount is based on the school’s student population.

Watford then commented, “We are busting at the seams at PSHS,” with two sections for every grade level except grades 4,7,9, and 10 for the coming school year. Watford noted, “that has never happened” in her eighteen years at Poplar Springs. Even those classes that have single sections have 30 kids in each of them. “We cannot take any more out-of-zone students,” said Watford.

Watford then pointed out that the larger the student population is, the more FTE funding Poplar Springs receives. The money is to be spent on programs and projects elected by the guidance council, but the funding cannot be spent on casual or freelance ventures.

Title One funding at PSHS fund additional positions, professional development for teachers, and progress monitoring software. Poplar Springs does progress monitoring three times a year, “one in August/September, one in December, and the end of the year progress monitoring, which is what parents know as the FSA test,” said Watford.

Principal Watford was also happy to announce PSHS is adding some new sports to the school’s athletic program. “For the longest time Poplar Springs has been baseball, basketball, and softball,” said Watford. Now, Poplar Springs will be expanding their athletics to include golf, weightlifting, and track. “We are trying to add things to get more kids involved,” stated Watford.

“We have a lot of new faces… We have added some teachers... We’ve got whole new families here,” said Watford. In closing, “Our door is always open if you need to talk,” said Principal Watford.

For more articles like this subscribe to The Graceville News by visiting Pricing Plans.