Students help deliver State of the Schools in Murray

Published 7:30 am Thursday, March 12, 2020

CHATSWORTH, Ga. — Murray County Schools are “financially sound” and boast “good graduation rates,” but there’s room for improvement in areas of academic achievement, particularly literacy, according to Superintendent Steve Loughridge.

“The most important thing a school system can do is teach people how to read,” Loughridge told a packed house at Woodlawn Elementary on Tuesday during the 13th annual State of the Schools address. Consequently, the school system invested $500,000 over two years in a new English Language Arts curriculum for kindergarten-eighth grade, and test scores are projected to improve this year.

The system also continues capital improvements.

For example, work continues on a new playground for Spring Place Elementary, which opened in the fall of 2018, and a makeover of Gladden Middle School is next on the system’s agenda, said Loughridge, whose wife taught in Murray County elementary schools for three decades before her retirement. He also hopes Murray County High School’s renovated baseball field will be ready for this spring season after a football field renovation that was completed in time for the start of the 2019 season.

A special feature of Tuesday’s event was that students did much of the presenting.

Murray County has 7,216 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, roughly three-quarters of whom are white and a quarter of whom are Hispanic, said Thomas Terry, a student at Gladden Middle School. Slightly more than 10% of students have disabilities, and 8% are English Language Learners.

Students appreciate opportunities afforded them by the school system in areas like work-based learning, hands-on education and job placements, said Samantha Walker, a sophomore at North Murray High School and FFA member. She’s been able to explore avenues as varied as audio and video, public speaking and parliamentary procedure.

A new year brought “new services,” with Beck Facility Services taking over custodial duties in Murray County Schools, said Mike Pritchett, director of school maintenance and transportation. Beck “has taken full control.”

In addition, school resource officers “are a tremendous presence” inside Murray County Schools, courtesy of the Chatsworth Police Department and Murray County Sheriff’s Office, Pritchett said. Furthermore, the $30,000 provided to each Georgia public school by the state has allowed schools in Murray County to add cameras, servers, fencing, keyless access points and new security radios for crisis teams inside schools.

The system has also started upgrading buses with new digital cameras and radios, he said. When completed, each bus will have five cameras, and the radios should allow school personnel to precisely identify where students are at any given moment — and be able to provide that information to families.

The system has more than 90 employees in Nutrition Services, and two-thirds of Murray County Schools students ate breakfast at schools last year, said Bailee Johnston, a sixth-grader at Northwest Elementary School. Some 86% of students ate lunch at Murray County Schools last year, 20% higher than the state average.

Parents can learn about Murray County Schools’ daily menus, nutritional information and account balances through a new free app. They can also make payments for school meals via the app.

Murray County Schools retains staff members admirably, said Ella Headrick, a sixth-grader at Woodlawn. During the past three years the system has a retention rate of more than 90%.

In fiscal year 2019, the system received $73 million in revenue, said Lincoln Puryear, a junior at Murray County High School. Slightly more than 61% was from the state, a quarter was local funds, and 13% were federal funds.

On the website front, the system has added a promotional video to https://www.murray.k12.ga.us/ for families considering Murray County and its schools, said Loughridge, whose two children both graduated from high schools in Murray County. The system added a litany of health information related to the coronavirus on Wednesday.

Delivering a State of the Schools program is part of Murray County Schools’ strategic plan, said Loughridge, who took over as superintendent last year. “I’m overwhelmed” by the amount of attendees to Tuesday’s event, which was held at Woodlawn for the first time in several years.

The system will begin a new strategic plan in July 2021, but stewardship will always remain top of mind for those who work in Murray County Schools, he said. “You send us your children and your money, and we always want to be good stewards of both.”