(This is the first in a series of articles on The State of the District, which was presented at a recent Board of Trustees meeting. In this first installment, Superintendent Dr. Samantha Ingram presents the problems, as she seems them. In future installments, The Herald Independent will report on comments made by District officials on how they are addresssing the problems.)

The achievement gap must be closed, Fairfield County Superintendent of Education Dr. Samantha Ingram said Monday night.

A great portion of the time at the Board of Trustees meeting, held at McCrorey Liston Elementary School, was taken up by a speech from Ingram and comments from District Office officials, Deputy Superintendent for Academic Dr. Phil Flynn, Assistant Superintendent for Accountability and Evaluation Kyle Kallhoff, Diane Mitchell speaking for Human Resources, and Finance Director Kevin Robinson. Each administrator spoke on efforts within their areas of responsibility to help close the achievement gap.

Ingram began her address by citing a quote from Robert E. Quinn, who said, “Our fears blind us to the possibilities of excellence - and yet another formidable insight. This insight concerns the price of not making deep change. That price is the choice of slow death, a meaningless and frustrating experience enmeshed in fear, anger and helplessness,while moving surely toward what is most feared.”

According to Ingram, the data is clear about the paths the District has taken in previous years.

According to demographic data distributed by the Fairfield County School District, there are 3,520 students, 335 teachers and ?640 employees.

In 2007 the District was ranked 77th among the state’s 85 school districts, compared to 81st in 2006 and 74 in 2005. These figures are determined by student achievement.

The 2007 per pupil expenditure is $12,094, compared with $10,624 in 2006 and $10,138 in 2005.

Enrollment in the Fairfield County School District has declined slightly from 3,592 in 2005 to 3,505 in 2007.

The dropout rate has improved from 59 students during the 2004 - 2005 school year to 37 in the 2006 - 2007 school year.

In the past six years, Ingram pointed out the Fairfield County School District has been in the bottom 20 in student performance, top 20 in per pupil expenditure, experienced declining student enrollment, as well as increasing expenditures. There has also been a drastic decline in the fund balance, the District’s savings account.

“We cannot not change,” Ingram said. “The price is too high.

“... I must say to you that the services we have provided in the last six years have not been effective. The question becomes what are we going to do about it now.”

At this point, Ingram cited a quote from Dr. Steven Kukic in 2003.

At that time, the educator said, “If our services do not result in a closing of the achievement gap, they are not effective.”

Closing a performance gap, Ingram believes, is accomplished through promoting excellence at every level of an organization and that results from attending to the “CORE.”

The “CORE” is defined as student success is equal to the use of validated practices, fidelity implementation, coordinated implementation, quality professional development and strong administrative leadership. It is promoted by accontability and only happens through strong administrative leadership.