GREEN COVE SPRINGS — This school year marks the last effort the district can make to help Charles E. Bennett Elementary recover from the D grade it’s received two years in a row.

If a school receives a failing grade of either a D or F this year, the state will assume educational authority.

But according to the Clay County School District and School Board, that’s not going to happen.

“This school is our priority and we have got to do what we can to help these children and turn it around,” board member Janice Kerekes said.

Superintendent Addison Davis presented the 2019-20 plan for CEB to the school board during a special meeting last Tuesday. This plan includes new teachers and administration, additional funding allocations and a new drive to get education into the homes of each child.

A new directive in Florida dictates that any D- or F-rated school must be assigned an intervention-like plan by the district. That directive applies to schools with a graduation rate below 67% or a federal index below 41%. The federal index is a breakdown of all subgroups within a school such as minorities, students with disabilities and students facing social or economic challenge.

Only Bannerman Learning Center falls into federal index category because there are fewer students due to the purpose and nature of the school.

Because CEB is a D school, the district assigned it a plan that went into effect immediately following the board’s 5-0 approval during the special meeting.

“The purpose of the mechanics of this improvement plan is for us to really look at all of the analytics of the school to see how well they’re performing in a three-year span,” Davis said. “Academically, we’ll look at the proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. We’ll look at their abilities to how well they’re making gains, their discipline analytics and their attendance data.

“We’ll use all of that and more to triangulate the causation of this school in order for us to lift it to a desired grade.”

The school received a new principal for the 2018-19 school year, but because the school still received a D, the state mandated another new principal be selected.

The district selected Sheree Cagle.

"We have a lot of things planned for the students, staff, and the community to help improve student achievement at Charles E. Bennett Elementary School,” Cagle said. “The school has added additional staff members to help support our students including an additional reading coach, math coach, science coach and social worker to build the intellectual and social capacity of all learners. Additionally, our teachers and staff will participate in professional development activities throughout the year to better understand curriculum and collectively plan how to offer a world-class education.

Cagle said the school will offer additional services like Saturday Science Academy as well as family resource coordinators to help build a more comprehensive approach to learning when students are home. CEB’s most powerful initiative will be to offer personalized learning, which will allow the school to track individual behavior and data to better service each student as an individual learner.

“Overall, I am excited about this great school and making a difference in the lives of children,” Cagle said.

Alongside a new principal, students will see five new teachers who replaced ones who were classified as systemically unsatisfied within the school and were moved to other schools.

Davis said all five of the teachers, who have since been moved to new teaching positions within the district, are considered effective by the state. Clay County Education Association President Renna-lee Paiva said all five of those teachers are highly-effective in the district.

Three teachers have been hired and the district is still looking for two more who must be qualified through state assessments.

Until the school hires both teachers, their students currently are split into other classrooms. According to Chief Academic Officer Terry Connor, those two classrooms are only one student beyond classroom limits.

Looking past the administration of the school, Davis said it’s imperative that literacy levels be increased at the school.

“We see that literacy is one of the biggest gaps here at this school and I think that is related to the poverty in this community,” Davis said. “We see that there has to be more involvement from the parent-stakeholder perspective and we’re going to do a lot in reaching out to ensure our students and parents have access to the tools they need to break the cycle of unsuccessful academic behavior.”

Davis said he’d like to see an additional assistant principal hired to give the school a total of two. One would be for kindergarten-through-third grade, and the other for fourth-through sixth grade.

Davis and the school board agreed additional literacy and mathematical options should be presented throughout the year, including the summer months when students are out of school. The school district received grant money from the state to allocate additional resources into schools like CEB.