BY STEVEN STIEFEL
FOR THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY — The Lee County Board of Education held a special called meeting on April 3 to review an instructional audit of South Smiths Station Elementary School.
Principal Theresa Phillips was placed on paid administrative leave in January after the discovery of non-compliance with district policy. Superintendent Mike Howard met with teachers at the school, sharing his disappointment. This was followed by a board meeting packed by teachers and concerned parents, some of whom expressed concerns about his tone while addressing them. Amy Long now serves as the school’s interim principal.
Howard cautioned the Board that failure to follow state- and board-approved curricula could jeopardize state funding for reading and math coaches, which he described as essential to closing achievement gaps by the end of third grade. He said students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in math at or above grade level by the end of fifth grade, and progress is monitored year to year.
“All of our math and reading coaches are provided by the state — we don’t pay for those locally at all,” Howard said. “[The state has] given us extra math coaches. We’re in jeopardy of losing our reading and math coaches. We have to really make sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Howard said issues were first identified during a June 2023 training session where SSSES data was reviewed. In September, required coaching-led planning meetings were canceled. Howard received formal notice of the non-compliance in December.
“It was made clear in January there were issues,” he said. “After that conversation, it was supposed to be handled, but we found out again in September that weekly coaching meetings were being canceled. Those are required. Coaches weren’t able to input their data.”
Instructional certificates must be renewed every five years. Howard encouraged staff to contact the human resources department to ensure their training hours are properly logged, warning that those without updated credentials could be removed from future rosters.
A three-person team from Bailey Education Group LLC visited South Smiths Station Elementary in March to conduct the audit. The team observed classroom activity and held interviews. Project manager Elisabeth Davis led the visit.
“I was made aware of compliance issues not only at South but at other schools as well, which I won’t name,” Davis said. “We had the assistant superintendent visit those schools to clarify what they were out of compliance with and how to get back on track.”
Davis emphasized that the Alabama Literacy Act and the Alabama Numeracy Act require schools to follow specific standards for instruction and data tracking. A Literacy Task Force was created to recommend core reading programs.
Using a series of graphics and sports metaphors, Davis explained how one individual can impact the success of a team. She emphasized the importance of data triangulation to assess individual contributions.
“On a sports team, one person can ruin the culture or intentionally create problems,” she said. “Every situation, every team is different. You have to look at all of the pieces of data that are gathered with everyone that’s on that team.”
She emphasized reading and math coaches have the responsibility of ensuring consistency and accountability.
“[Former Alabama Coach] Nick Saban’s position coaches played an integral role, but if the person at the top doesn’t set the tone, teams go in different directions,” Davis said. “Clear expectations and team cohesion lead to stronger results. That’s why stats are so important. We look at players to see, by position, are they carrying their weight? But that’s only one piece — the coach is in charge of that team, and if the coach allows one player to act up and not follow the rules or shows favoritism, team cohesion falls.”
She said that just as sports teams adjust their strategy depending on the opponent, teachers and coaches must tailor instruction to meet the evolving academic needs of students throughout the year.
The crowd applauded as Davis praised overall grade improvements at South Smiths Station and the polite behavior of students. However, she raised concerns about inconsistent performance data and referred to a graph showing iReady proficiency trends. iReady is an approved tool for measuring literacy and numeracy which is used at the beginning, middle and end of the year to track student progress.
As an example, she said, “In kindergarten, three classrooms aren’t testing all students. Teacher C has 80 percent of students not proficient in math at midyear. In first grade, Teacher II’s students are 94 percent proficient in reading and have shown the greatest math gains.”
The same graph showed that students of four other first grade teachers were 60% to 85% nonproficient in reading or math. Similar results were found in second and third grades.
Davis said collaborative meetings with reading and math coaches are crucial for planning and finding instructional materials that ensure standards are met. Professional learning is mandated by law, with specific requirements for math and literacy training, and it must be monitored and documented. Davis said paperwork documenting professional development training was missing. Sign-in sheets are required to verify teacher compliance with state standards.
“If I can’t find that paperwork, I can’t confirm the training took place,” Davis said. “I just need to see that it happened — what school, what training and when. We’re missing that documentation. It may have occurred, but it wasn’t recorded. This information matters when teachers renew their certificates. Professional training is so important. It’s got to be monitored at the school level. We can’t find sign-in sheets or agendas. I get it, paper’s paper. Look in the Google Doc where that stuff is housed. We can find some [names], but still can’t find others. But I want to see what’s been offered at a minimum.”
Davis said coaching support was “inconsistent” based on interviews and data.
“It has to be data-driven, not hit or miss,” Davis said. “This is not just a preference — it’s prescribed by law. If I don’t have the data or can’t talk with teachers about it, I don’t know what’s happening in those classrooms. We’ve got to figure out what’s going on. And so, that’s just an example, and it may be a total fluke. It may be that all the kids were sick that day. I mean, that’s the reality of it, but without the data, I don’t know that. And if I can’t sit in your room and talk to you and let’s look at the data, then I don’t know,” Davis said.
Board members asked if non-compliance can actually lead to state intervention and potential loss of legislative funding for math and reading coaches.
“The state typically doesn’t intervene unless there’s clear negligence and a failure to make necessary adjustments,” Davis said. “But if you know there’s a problem and you do nothing, that’s non-compliance.”
No attendees at the meeting agreed to speak on the record with The Observer. However, one woman was overheard saying as she exited, “All I wanted to know was whether my boss [Phillips] was fired or not, and we didn’t hear a word about that.”