NEWS

A12 | The Advocate & Democrat

Sunday, January 15, 2017

School Board to form Five-Year plan committee

BY JESSICA KENT
Staff Writer

State Report Card findings dominated the Monroe County Board of Education meeting on Thursday night, but the School
Board still tackled a few
other topics.
After approving a small
consent agenda and budget amendments, the board
heard a presentation from
Federal Programs Director Lee Anne Strickland
about recently released
State Report Card data.

Third District School

Board member Sonya Lynn
asked the board to set up
a committee, which would
include all School Board
members and administrators (principals) from
across the school system,
to discuss and re-do the
systems current Five-Year
Plan and vision.
Director of Schools Tim
Blankenship added that
some stuff on the current
plan, which is through 2018,
has already been completed and more things could
be added.

I would like to see the

second Tellico Plains High
School access road on the
plan, said Lynn.
Lynn said she felt all
School Board members
should be a part of the discussion. Blankenship suggested adding some members of the Monroe County
Commission and Economic
Director Bryan Hall.
Chairwoman Janie Harrill
and Blankenship will meet
together to pick committee
members and set up a date
for a first meeting, then
report back to the board.

We need to move forward, said 1st District

School Board member Larry Stein. We should meet
every year. We have a big
county with a lot going on.
The board voted unanimously to set up the committee.
In his director of schools
report, Blankenship said
the school system has seven inclement weather days
remaining after using two
days for snow and ice.
Blankenship also
announced that report
cards would be sent

Tricoli makes $20,000 donation to Boys and Girls Club

home on Jan. 18 and that

the school system has new
social media accounts on
Facebook and Twitter.
In addition, a drivers
education course has
begun at Sweetwater High
School with approximately
35 students participating
and a class is in the process
of beginning at Sequoyah
High School.
Blankenship also said that
bids would open for the
Madisonville Intermediate School roof project in
February and that work
would begin on the last

day of classes.
The barn at Tellico Plains
High School is also complete, added Blankenship,
after a lot of community
support for the project.
To conclude the meeting,
the School Board watched
state-of-the-school videos
from Coker Creek Elementary and Tellico Plains
Junior High Schools.
The next scheduled meeting of the School Board is 7
p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9.
jessica.kent@advocateanddemocrat.
com | 337-7101

MICHAEL THOMASON | THE ADVOCATE & DEMOCRAT

WHEN DR. ANTHONY TRICOLI wound down his work as the president/ CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Monroe Area, he wanted to leave a lasting impression on this children, youth and organization he gave so
much of himself to over the last four years. On Jan. 11, Tricoli said goodbye to the children and staff, and he left the Club a check for $20,000 to be used for the children, bonuses for the staff and to assist with
the general fund.

Tricoli details resignation from Boys & Girls Club

(EDITORS NOTE: This is the actual
resignation letter Dr. Tricoli wrote to the
Boys & Girls Club notifying the board of his
decision to step down).
Dear Joe,
I have written this letter to
thank you and the board for the
wonderful opportunity you have
given me these past four years
to lead the organization that has
the greatest positive impact on
children and youth in East Tennessee. My life as a child was also
impacted in many positive ways
at the Boys Club in Fullerton,
California; thus, I feel honored to
have been able to give back as the
President/CEO of our organization here in East Tennessee. For
my entire life, servant leadership
has been a part of who I am. My
work here in Central Appalachia
has brought me such peace and
pleasure, and I feel honored to
have been a servant-leader here,
especially in this region.
Just one week ago, a long-time
colleague reminded me that
everything is temporary. Two
days later, I received an unexpected call for help from a former

employer of mine. I discussed

this new challenge with my wife
as we contemplated the options.
Robin and I have accepted this
new road and a new challenge
that has been placed before us,
an opportunity where the skills
and experience I have gained in
the past four years and throughout my career in higher education can be utilized to a greater
degree than ever before. Robin
and I are excited about the future
this opportunity can bring to me
and as she continues her work
here at Hiwassee College, this
shall remain my home.
I have enjoyed every minute of
helping children and youth within the walls of our Club and in the
six different communities weve
served. Being engaged in learning opportunities and programs
which strengthen the educational, social, physical, and leadership development of children
and youth has been important
to me. I have enjoyed working
with each of our board members to build one of the strongest
and most caring organizations of
any in my professional experi-

ence. I have also enjoyed working

with each of our Clubs current
employees they are indeed the
most caring group of individuals Ive never known. Too, I am
pleased with my own personal
and professional development,
in particular, the tireless style
of fundraising that has emerged
over the past four years, and in
my partnership with the leaders
of our small communities here in
East Tennessee. Of course, it was
easy for me to develop a tireless
fund raising style because I had
such a great cause to promote,
that of helping youth and children here in Central Appalachia.
I have never experienced such
warmth and acceptance as I have
here in the Smoky Mountains of
East Tennessee. This region has
captured my heart, I shall always
consider these beautiful Appalachian Mountains my home, and
those who live here, family.
I feel fortunate to have experienced the professional and personal growth this opportunity
has provided to me, and I am
very happy with the successes
weve enjoyed together. In par-

ticular, I am proud of the changes

weve made to every operational
aspect of this organization; the
new policies weve put into place;
the development of a supportive
and team atmosphere (including
trust and improved communication) between all employees;
the design and implementation
of a strong board development
process; increased success via
our fundraising activities; the
design and implementation of
a new website; the opening of
new centers which increased
our service to families, children
and youth; the development of a
shared decision-making process
among our employees and leadership; the approval and acceptance by all of our new strategic
plan and direction; the creation
of The Appalachian Youth Partnership to strengthen regional
Civic Engagement and Service
Learning; our collaborative work
to reduce the budget by 25 percent, and our work toward the
development of new fund raising action plans which positively
impacted the Clubs long-term
financial viability.

With all of that said, and with

warmth in my heart, I will be
stepping down from my role as
President/CEO in mid-January of
2017. For quite some time, I have
been working closely with those
colleagues who are my direct
reports, so with a few final days
of work remaining for me, I feel
comfortable knowing that our
organization will have a very
smooth transition as the next
leader steps forward.
In closing, I have enjoyed the
support of an outstanding board
and the friendships Ive developed with my colleagues in the
Clubs organization; and I have
also appreciated the wonderful
support of our State Representatives Forgety and Matlock, State
Senator Bell, our County Mayor
Mr. Yates, and our City Mayors
Mr. Moser, Dr. Lovingood, and
Mr. Lowe. Most certainly, I will
miss the children Ive come to
know and care for so much.
Heartfelt wishes for continued
success,

Anthony Tricoli

Monroe County tickled with State Report Card findings

BY JESSICA KENT
Staff Writer

Monroe County students

continue to rise towards
the challenge, meeting state
expectations in all categories in recently released
State Report Card data.
At the Monroe County
Board of Education meeting on Thursday, Federal
Programs Director Lee
Anne Strickland gave a
presentation of the Report
Card findings to the School
Board. Strickland said the
system is tickled about
where they stand.
The Tennessee ValueAdded Assessment System (TVAAS) measures the
impact schools and teachers have on their students
academic progress. TVAAS
measures student growth,
not whether the student
is proficient on the state
assessments.
Over the past few years,
TVAAS has gone through
changes. The testing vendors for required state tests,
currently known as TCAP
or TNReady, has changed
multiple times. Previously

produced by Pearson, Tennessee contracted with the

vendor Measurement, Inc.,
for testing in the 2015-2016
school year. For the first
time ever, state tests were
set to be given online in
two parts for students in
grades third through 12th.
Unfortunately, the platform was not able to support the volume of testing
in Tennessee and the online
test had to be cancelled on
the first day of the test,
said Strickland. To spend
that many hours, energy
and money on preparing
for a test that didnt happen is devastating.
The State Department of
Education and Measurement rushed to get the tests
printed on paper, but they
could only successfully
produce high school endof-course tests. Students in
grades third through eighth
were not given a test in
2016. Because of that, only
scores from the high school
end-of-course tests and
the kindergarten through
second-grade assessment
are available on the annual
Report Card. High school

subjects with an end-ofcourse test include: algebra I, algebra II, geometry,

English I, English II, English III, biology, chemistry
and U.S. History.
The scores on the Report
Card are listed on a fivelevel scale:
Level One: Significantly
below expectations;
Level Two: Below
expectations;
Level Three: Met expectations;
Level Four: Above
expectations;
Level Five: Significantly
above expectations.
While we are frustrated
with the lack of test results
for our students in third
through eighth grade, we
are very pleased with the
achievement of our kindergarten through second
grade and high school students, said Strickland.
Overall, Monroe County, which had an enrollment of 5,452 students last
school year, sits at a Level
4. In literacy and in literacy and numeracy (math),
the county also scored at
a Level 4. In numeracy, the

school system is a Level 3.

Compared to other districts with similar demographics, Strickland said
the Monroe County School
System held their own.
Weve already been talking to Polk County about
what all they are doing,

... we are very

pleased with the
achievement of
our kindergarten
through second
grade and high
school students.
Lee Anne Strickland

Federal Programs Director

she said. They really

improved.
A subject breakdown of
the Report Card findings
for Monroe County is as
follows for high school
testing: algebra I-Level 5;
algebra II-Level 2; biologyLevel 3, chemistry-Level 1;
English I-Level 5; English
II-Level 3; English III-Lev-

el 5; geometry-Level 1; and
history-Level 5.
Kindergarten through
second grade scored as
follows: First-grade mathLevel 2; second-grade
math-Level 5; first-grade
language-Level 2; secondgrade language-Level 2;
first-grade reading-Level
3; and second-grade reading-Level 3.
As far as college readiness
goes, 15 percent of Monroe
Countys students take dual
enrollment courses, 72 percent file for the FAFSA, 39
percent receive the HOPE
Scholarship and 47 percent
go on to some kind of postsecondary institution.
For a rural district, that
isnt terrible, but we obviously want to increase
that, said Strickland. We
are working hard to support kids however we can
in making that decision.
Strickland said Monroe
County improved in every
category on the ACT from
2015-2016. Currently, the
school systems average
ACT score is 18.5. The state
average sits at 19.9.
The state goal is an aver-

age ACT score of 21 by the

year 2020, said Strickland.
Our goal for 2017 is 18.8.
The school systems
graduation rate is currently 91.6 percent, compared to the state average
of 88.5 percent. Sweetwater
High School had the highest graduation rate at 94.7
percent, closely followed
by Tellico Plains High
School at 92.1 percent and
Sequoyah High School at
89.9 percent.
Strickland also noted that
about 63 percent of Monroe Countys students are
considered economically
disadvantaged and receive
free or reduced school
lunches.
We have ACT prep classes in place and were trying to make sure there are
no distractions for the students in Monroe County,
while remembering to celebrate the successes, said
Strickland.
The State Report Card is
available online at tn.gov/
education.
jessica.kent@advocateanddemocrat.
com | 337-7101