North Augusta High School

Learning and growing as a team ~ Succeeding and excelling to reach a dream

School Improvement Plan

2003-2004

We welcome your assistance with this important process. Please send any suggestions and comments to Fran Altringer, Chair of the SACS Committee.

C. School Characteristics

North Augusta High School is a public high school completed in 1969 to serve a student population of 1500, grades ten through twelve. The ninth grade was moved to the high school beginning in the 1985-1986 school year. In 1986 and 1992 additional classrooms were built, and an auditorium was added in 1993. When Special Education self-contained classes were moved to the various schools throughout the district, it became necessary to add portable classrooms. Seven portable classrooms are now in use to provide the addition classroom space.

Of our eighty-three teachers, two teachers float from classroom to classroom even though we have seventy-eight classrooms including seven portables. The school operates at maximum capacity, using space converted to classrooms not previously designed to serve that purpose. The normal teaching load is five classes per seven period day, and sixteen teachers teach an additional class daily. We have two part-time teachers, four administrators, two media specialists, four counselors, and one career - technology counselor.

Our faculty is diverse in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, education level, and years of experience. Thirty-seven percent of our faculty has twenty or more years of experience while 19% of the faculty has five or fewer years of experience. Sixty-one percent of the faculty has bachelors degrees, and 39% hold advanced degrees. Four teachers have received National Board Certification, and several others are currently working towards it.

Maintaining discipline and appropriate student behavior are necessary for the operation of our school. The school discipline policy seeks to create an environment that is safe and respectful to all and allows maximum learning. The increase in expulsions reflects an increased effort to maintain a safe school safe and a positive learning environment. See Table 7 . Additionally student safety is maximized by the use of ID badges, visitor badges, teachers on duty during morning, lunch and afternoon, and panic buttons in classrooms. Top discipline offenses are listed in bold below.

TABLE 7 -- RECORD OF EXPULSIONS, 1999-2003

YEAR	WHITE	BLACK	MALE	FEMALE
1998-1999	8	12	17	3
1999-2000	6	12	14	4
2000-2001	10	13	21	2
2001-2002	21	15	32	4
2002-2003	19	26	32	13
The security of our schools and our students has come to the forefront in the past few years. With the Zero Tolerance policy, our school has seen an increase in the expulsion rate of students. Our increase in expulsions shows that we are doing our part to keep our schools safe as well as a positive learning environment for all students.

Top Discipline Offenses

Discipline Offenses	2002-2003 (% of total offenses)	2003-2004 (% of total offenses)	2004-2005 (% of total offenses)	2005-2006 (% of total offenses) (Up to 11/30/05)
Cutting Class	7.1	6.5	4.8	4.7
Detention Violation	41.1	39.9	38.4	44.8
Disrupt Class	4.8	5.2	12.0	7.5
Inappropriate Behavior	9.9	9.5	4.0	2.2
Tardy	12.4	13.1	8.5	13.8
ID Violation	0.7	0.5	2.5	5.3
Refusal to Obey	2.6	4.7	4.7	2.1

Top five offenses are in bold.

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