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Read comments (13)The Adult High School was intended for those adults who are only a few credits short of graduation and who prefer a high school diploma to a GED certificate. Although a GED is intended to represent the equivalent of a high school diploma, there are some potential employers who are said to prefer a diploma to a GED.
Adult High School students could take just the make-up classes needed to complete their high school career, and were issued a genuine high school diploma.
Now, however, strict accreditation rules have local school board members ready to drop funding for the Adult High School program in the 2008-09 budget year, and the school system is looking in the long term at whether adult education should be kept in the school system budget or handled in some other way.
Only the Adult High School program would be dropped this year; GED preparation and other similar programs would be kept in place.
"Adult Education is still a viable program in Bedford County," Gray told school board members on Monday.
Elaine Weaver, director of the county's Adult Education program, declined comment for this story, saying she was still discussing the situation with Gray.
There were only two Adult High School graduates last year, Gray told Bedford County Board of Education members during a budget study session on Monday.
At the state level, adult education programs used to be part of the Department of Education, the same as normal K-12 education. But the state shifted them to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. And the Labor Department has been reducing its funding, say school officials.
Gray and school board members said that adult education is still a needed program in Bedford County -- but there are regulatory snags to having that program run by the school system.
For example, the school system can't get a county-wide accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as long as the Adult High School program is counted as part of the system. The structure and scale of the Adult High School program makes it unable to meet SACS requirements. The school also interferes with the county's compliance with the Tennessee School Improvement Planning Process.
GEDs don't count towards the county's graduation targets under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the state laws that enforce it.
The school system is trying to turn more of its focus on making sure students don't drop out to begin with, said Gray, by allowing credit recovery programs for students while they're still in the system.
What's Next
The school board will hold its regular monthly meeting 7 p.m. June 19 at the school system central office on Madison Street.
Before anyone says anything I know I misspelled discredited.It was a typo.
Thank you for bringing this situation to our attention.
My daughter is/was a senior at SCHS and only needed 1 1/2credits.She is really having a hard time and needs one on one help with the 1/2 credit she still needs.The Credit recovery DOES NOT offer 1/2 credits only whole and so she will not finish before summer school is out.
She is also pregnant and having morning sickness so she wants to go to the adult education center so she can go at night.Now she may not have the option.I would hate for her to have to settle for a GED(no I am NOT dicrediting the GED because that is what I have) when all she needs is 1/2 credit to get a full diploma.
I know there have to be other people just like her and we need to ban together to keep this program....
The board of education meets on Thursady night.Does anybody know what time.I think any and everybody who wants to keep the program needs to attend.
Facts are the policy is stupid. Again, How many board members are their compared to children that attend? Ok so how are they affected by this policy? They aren't, Again you were saying?
Again thanks again John for deleting yet another comment. There was no cussing just the bare facts.
EM and jmgfan,
One board member had a child graduate this year and her other child attends Liberty, one board member teaches at Webb. Most all other board members have grandchildren who attend public school. EM move on to something else............or at least get the facts straight.
jmgfan,
No. They don't, one of them has kids going to Webb, a private school. 90% of them are so disassociated with the public and reality that they have no idea what it is like to raise kids. Some of them don't even have kids, and have no idea the costs associated with it.
This "School Attire" crap was passed because they have to follow Nashville's lead. They can't think for themselves, it is always what the other school systems are doing. Instead of working to teach our children and teens to be leaders, beacons of society, and pillars of hope; we teach them to be fast food workers, jail inmates and factory workers. This program was a two-prong ploy to destroy any hopes and aspirations of the children that do not have the income to buy sports equipment, music instruments or uniforms for extra-curricular activities so that the rich kids didn't have to compete for the scholarships anymore. This is a plain and simple FACT, nothing can dispute what kind of damage this will do. Thank you Bedford County School Board for not listening to 90% of your citizens.
Our main goal in education seems to be the way the students look and not what they learn. We want everyone to look the same. WHY? Let's force a bunch of teenagers to dress and look the same. Good Job! My child is 17 and is talking about dropping out. He wears jeans up on his butt (I will not allow otherwise) and t-shirts to school. I don't want him to be or look like everyone else. He is an individual and they are trying to take that away. I am a single mother and cannot afford two sets of clothes for both my kids. Neither of them will wear the required shirts outside of school(neither would I). His hope of graduating is lost. I tried to get him into the GED program but the great "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" program stopped it because this would be considered a drop-out to the school system and that makes them look bad statistically. NO consideration whatsoever about the students' needs. He has about 8 credits. They want him to get as many credits as he can. What the credits are going to do for him on a job application is a little fuzzy to me but I am well aware of what a GED diploma will do as I myself have one. The school board voted in the dress code with full knowledge that the majority of the county did not want it. Do any of the members have children in the 6-12 grade school system????????
Thanks,cfrich!
I'll give them a call.
quantumcat, I know that the adult ed people are desperate for teachers. I called about teaching ESL there last fall and they were willing to take me with just a BA - even though it was not in ESL or teaching and even though I wasn't certified.
quantumcat...You know I will give my time for free...anytime...If we do not step up and help our people then who will?? no one !!!Our children follow in our foot-steps..If they have grown up in a home were there has been no job..no education..then they are going to follow in the same foot steps....It is sad to hear that some people will not except a GED...Also some of these mother's that are not married and have children can not afford to take their children to day-care and work too..I wish something could be done about that also...I have so many dreams and wishes for so many people...So many of these young mothers have so much to learn also....I wish I could help so many of them...Like this week-end when we were at the lake...There was a young mother there with 2 children and they were playing in the water and she wanted to talk to her friends and at times I believe she got side tracked with her friends...I did not know her but her 2 little children got to know me and I played with them and put sun screen on them cause I was scared they were going to get burned...I have nothing more than time and caring to give...and love...
"The school system is trying to turn more of its focus on making sure students don't drop out to begin with, said Gray, by allowing credit recovery programs for students while they're still in the system."
Then make school financial viable for the poor to attend it. By instituting the SSA, it will do more damage to the poor than ever, the drop out rates will go up. I really do not understand the premise behind this. If you couldn't enforce the policy before, make them pay?
Wouldn't it help children (and the quality of life in our community) if more adults had the education they need?
Call it Labor,call it Education,Vocational Rehabilitation,Corrections or Tourism Development-just get the job done.
If government agencies can't find ways to include this need among their duties or give it the support it needs,then let the private sector take over and don't interfere with their performing this necessary task.
There are non-profit groups that could offer this kind of help or our employers could underwrite such programs in exchange for having a better workforce and respect from the community.
Are we getting help with supplying bi-lingual education,training for returning veterans,and job readiness programs for displaced workers?
Are there versions of Sylvan learning systems and the like to help adults "home school",do distance learning and otherwise catch up to their full potential?
For those in jail or on the dole,an education program commensurate to their abilities should be as mandatory as keeping the minors of the same household in school.
If no ADULT is left behind,fewer children will be.
The grown-ups around them will be able to be instructors and role models in a way they cannot manage until they gain life skills and the 3 R's for themselves.
Maybe this is one more service that could be offered at the help center rebelrose proposes.
If anyone knows of a need that could use more support or if you have the means of remedying that need (skills,goods,time,a building,etc.) then maybe we could organize as Steve Mill's clubs are doing.