Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Charles Henderson High School Principal Lise Fayson informed the Troy School Board on Monday of several upcoming programs at the school while discussing testing data.

Fayson reviewed results of the school’s standing in the statewide school report cards released last October. The school got a letter grade of 73, while the school system as a whole received an 85.

Fayson said the main target for growth is academic achievement, which is determined based on the number of students in the areas of reading/English and math in utilizing assessments in tested grades within the achievement levels. CHHS scored a 35.46 on the indicator.

“Across the state we have found that the graduation rates are not matching academic achievement,” Fayson said.

The school achieved a 93.96 percent graduation rate for 2018-2019, its highest mark in recent history.

A partnership with A+ College Ready is one way the school is trying to improve that soon, Fayson said.

The school system has received a grant from the program to fund $300,000 worth of teacher training over the summer for teachers in sixth through 12th grades.

Fayson also spoke highly of the school’s ACT prep program, which she said raised the average ACT score at the school by five points from the previous year to a 20.6 average.

The school has taken a “proactive instead of reactive” discipline policy, Fayson said, resulting in a 92 percent drop in serious infractions. The school has also partnered with Troy University to put a mental health counselor in the school at all times.

Fayson shared two upcoming programs planned to help students plan: “positively great students” and the “paint and plan” program.

The “positively great students” program will include faculty writing encouraging letters to individual students, Fayson said, as well as a time to eat and talk with the faculty member.

“We think kids don’t want hand-written letters any more, but they actually love them,” Fayson said. “They put them in their binders.”

The school will partner with Common Ground Troy for the “Paint and Plan” program at different community centers based on where the students are coming from, Fayson said.

“We’re actually going to go with faculty out to different community centers,” Fayson said. “(Art teachers) Jennifer Lindsety and Charlotte Walden are going to lead the painting and we’ll also plan with these students, who are undergrads, and their parents.”

Fayson also discussed new “pathways” coming soon including a DJ class, a music production class, and a dance and choreography class. There will also be a program in place to teach athletic filmography and a partnership between AP art and the theater program to produce costumes for productions.

Interim superintendent Cynthia Thomas thanked everybody for their support of her since she was named interim at a special called meeting last week.

“I’m humbled by the support that I have received. I’m surrounded by an awesome team of employees. I ask everybody to stay focused and finish out this year strong.”

In personnel action, the board:

• Hired Aubrey Reed as first grade teacher at Troy Elementary School

• Approved a leave of absence for Kendall Christakos, math teacher at CHHS, through the end of the year

• Approved the resignation of Joanne Dolbear, secretary at the Troy-Pike Center for Technology