Title 1 funnels $1.4 million into school system

By WILL STEWART Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

While attending the Title 1 annual parent meeting Thursday night at Hickory Creek Elementary, Dibrell third-grader Rickey Stoner has his future told by this gypsy fortune teller played Warren County Schools special education director Linda Wilson.

Designed to give an extra boost to students who are falling behind their peers in math and reading, Title 1 is a federally funded program which provides nearly $1.4 million dollars to Warren County Schools.

For the most part, this federal money is used to pay the salaries of 20 Title 1 teachers across the system, whose job it is to ensure all county students, especially those in need of a little extra help, can meet the state’s challenging content and performance standards.

To make parents more aware of the Title 1 program and the integral part it plays in their children’s academic lives, the county’s Title 1 teachers sponsored the local program’s annual parent meeting Thursday night at Hickory Creek Elementary.

The night featured a Western theme and also allowed the 179 participants to find out more about other system services and to meet system personnel. Those attending the event were treated to dinner and entertainment and the students present received a number of school supplies and other goodies.

To qualify for Title 1 money, a school must have a 40 percent poverty rate. That is 40 percent of its students must qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program. With the exception of the high school, every school in the county meets this criterion and is a Title 1 school.

Systemwide, over 47 percent of Warren County students qualify for the free and reduced lunch program.

Though a school qualifies for the federal Title 1 funds due to its poverty rate, that does not mean only those students who benefit from the free and reduced lunch program can benefit from Title 1. Indeed, said Warren County Schools federal programs director Priscilla Wanamaker, all students in a qualifying school can be served.

Most Title 1 schools in the system have what are known as school-wide programs. These schools use the funds they receive to improve their entire school program so all students receive the added benefits.

Three county schools, however, are what are known as targeted assistance schools. These schools – Hickory Creek, Morrison and Centertown – use their money to fund a “pull-out” program which provides individual instruction to students who are at risk of not meeting the state’s content and performance standards.