Enterprise City Schools Superintendent Greg Faught stopped by the Enterprise Rotary Club’s meeting on Feb. 24 to give an update on the school system.
Like with everything else in the country these days, Faught started off by talking about the school system’s battle with COVID-19 since last March. Faught said that it was a difficult decision back in August to decide to return to school.
“We all did a whole lot of self-reflection and just had to drill down to what our function is as educators in this community,” Faught said. “That is to provide the best and safest environment for our students.
“What I’ve learned from being a leader in the school system is it can make sense to you but if you don’t have the sentiment of the public you will never be able to explain it to them, especially in an emotionally charged environment. What we found in the very beginning is that 80 percent of folks in Enterprise wanted their kids in school. I doubted myself over and over again but that helped us reaffirm the decision and end in the end it came down to it just felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Faught said that over the school year that 1,473 students have been sent home because they either had close contact with someone who had symptoms of COVID-19 or had tested positive for it. Of those 1,473 students only three tested positive for the virus during their quarantine.
Faught said that distance learning was a huge struggle for the school system last year and created learning gaps with students, and continues to do so with the students that continue to take part in distance learning.
“It’s just not the same thing as being in front of your teacher and being able to ask questions and interact with her in that classroom setting,” Faught said. “It will never be that in my opinion. There’s also a lot of processes involved in distance learning.
“You have to be able to login, you have to know where to login, you have to know where to get your assignments and there are a lot of instructions to follow. Some kids can do that and it’s great and then there are a lot that just can’t.”
Faught said that one of his children was one of those kids that couldn’t do it. He said that last year during the start of the distance learning process he noticed that his son was just never able to catch up on the amount of schoolwork he was assigned.
“He was in sixth grade and had written like six essays in three weeks, and that’s normally what you would do for an entire year,” Faught remembered. “Come to find out he wasn’t following the instructions and was doing all of his work at once. There is just a lot of those processes in place with that and some kids struggle with it.”
Faught said that about 7 percent of the ECS student body is currently taking part in distance learning.
“Many of those kids are not doing well,” he flatly said. “We have established that there will be learning gaps probably from top to bottom in the school system.
“No matter how good of a student you are, you’re probably not going to be where you would have been without the disruption. Some kids have been sent home four times this year. That’s a lot of time in front of the computer (distance learning). We are going to have to address those things to make sure that we’re addressing those learning gaps to make sure those kids can be at their best.”
Faught said that looking around at other schools in the state that have not returned to school or have had to shut down multiple times, he feels much better about the return to school for ECS in August.
“We have to be able to walk that talk,” Faught said. “We want to do what’s best for the students and that’s not just when things are ideal, it’s all the time.”
Faught said that the school system will soon be receiving $3.7 million of federal funding as a result of Congress passing the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Education Relief (ESSER) Fund.
Faught said that the majority of that money will be used to address the learning gaps he discussed. ECS provides 50 additional locally funded teaching units – meaning teachers – to the number the state provides each year. Faught said he wants to provide a plan to the school board to use much of the ESSER funding to hire even more teachers for the school system.
“I want to add to that number,” Faught emphasized. “I want to drive those class sizes down next year, particularly in the elementary schools, to address those learning gaps and help get those kids caught back up.
“Getting those class sizes down and addressing some of these learning gaps would be money well spent.”
Faught also addressed the more than $8 million in a capital bond the school system received from the state, which must be used for capital projects. He said that money would allow the school system to complete its current five-year capital plan in just three years.
Faught said that the flat roofs at Dauphin Junior High, Rucker Boulevard Elementary and Pinedale Elementary would be replaced with pitched roofs and new windows and HVAC systems will be installed at a number of different schools. Also, erosion issues at Pinedale Elementary will be addressed and new synthetic turf will be installed at Wildcat Stadium, which will be completed by this summer.
Faught said that the upgrades that have been made with the EHS athletic facilities have been big for the school system but hopes to add even more.
“I’m really proud of the work we’ve done with our athletic facilities,” Faught said. “Some people frown on that but extracurricular activities in the school are very, very important.
“It is what keeps a lot of kids in school and a lot of others interested in school. That’s the hook for a lot of kids. At some point I hope that we’ll be able to add a multipurpose indoor (practice) facility that the football team, baseball team, softball team, band and others can use when there’s bad weather.”
Faught also pointed out the five-year struggle with the construction to repair issues at EHS is finally coming to completion.
“They removed 4,300 big stones and those were reinstalled correctly,” Faught said. “There were 13 – or more – leaks in the main activities building and those have been addressed. That has been an endeavor, I can tell you that.”
(1) comment
Great Leader of our Enterprise school system. All of my 3 sons were under Mr.Faught leadership. One is a Graduate of the United States Airforce Academy and F-16 pilot, One is a Graduate of College of William Mary, and the little one is at Pinedale in the million word reader club. Enterprise schools are the best.
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