President Mark Killingsworth presided over today’s meeting Lucy Sanguinetti provided the invocation. The meeting was held by Zoom due to COVID-19 restrictions. Bill MacLauchlan led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Joe Bost thanked Lucy and Bill for helping with today’s meeting.
Jerome Brown then introduced today’s guest speaker, Dr. Robert Williams. Dr. Williams is the Superintendent of the Hattiesburg Public School District. He assumed that position in 2016 after spending 20 years in the educational system as a teacher, a coach, and superintendent.
When Williams assumed his current position, the District had a financial crisis. The District had a fund reserve of only $522,000 which was not enough to cover the expenses for one month. Fiscal accountability is one of his many goals. In just three years the District now has a $7.2 million fund balance. He also noticed that there was no capital improvement fund. The District is expected to have a capital improvement fund valued at $10 million by the end of the year. All of these accomplishments were possible even though there has been a budget shortfall from the City of Hattiesburg for the past two years.
In academics, Dr. Williams is reporting success. Efficiency scores have increased. The graduation rate has increased from 71.6% to 79.3%. The dropout rate has decreased from 18 to 14%. Five of the seven schools have earned high-performance recognition form the state. Through a partnership with Pearl River Community College, 11 students graduated this past year with both a high school diploma and an AA degree from PRCC. He expects to have 20 students enrolled in the program this year. Before his administration, high school students didn’t take the ACT until the eleventh grade. Now the test is administered to eighth and ninth-grade students. They are scoring up to 28 and 29 on the test.
Another focus he has is on early childhood learning. He has established a partnership collaborative program with Head Start and private daycares. Before the program, only 24% of the children were kindergarten-ready. Today, 44% are K ready. The state average is 36%.
The passage of a bond issue during the last election help the district make substantial improvements in several of the schools. Improvements have been or are being made at Thames, N.R. Burger, Grace Christian, Rowan, and Hattiesburg High.
COVID -19 has substantially changed how the education system operates. Dr. Williams says educators have to re-think their thoughts and look forward to the next 10 to 20 years if they want to be successful. As an example, he noted that Amazon is opening a new facility in North Mississippi and may open one in the Hattiesburg area. The educational system needs to prepare students for these jobs. Gaming is another growing industry in Mississippi. Students need to be prepared to enter these job markets. The Culinary Arts Program focuses on putting high school students in a real restaurant-style atmosphere.
Dr. Williams says that plans are to restart school in three phases. Beginning on August 17, all classes will be distance learning. In early September they will begin a hybrid program where one-half of the students will come to in-person instruction every other day. As of now, the goal is to be back in school in late October.
Mark thanked Dr. Williams for his presentation and commented on the many positive achievements that have been accomplished in a short time.
Members then discussed a way that members and non-members can contribute to the Jeffrey Fund, the Club’s quarterly focus. Whatever is contributed will be presented in late September. Contributions can be made through Clubrunner.
Mark also noted that he brought back 400 books for grades 1 through 5. They were free to the Club and need to be distributed. Jerome will follow up with the United Way of Southeast Mississippi to see if they can be used in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program.
There being no further business to come before the club, Mark thanked those who were able to attend today’s Zoom meeting and adjourned the meeting with our motto: “Service Above Self.”