From left, Marietta City Board of Education President Cody Parman, Marietta High School ninth-grader Payton Waite, high school Principal Garrett Davis and Superintendent Mary Schaeffer smile for a photo as Waite receives her Focused and Fierce Award at the regular Marietta City Schools Board of Education meeting Monday. (Photo by Amber Phipps

Marietta City Schools students and faculty were recognized for their performance and presented with Focused and Fierce awards during the monthly board of education meeting Monday evening.

Individuals were nominated for the awards based on their integrity, effort in and out of the classroom and character.

The students who earned the award for February were Marietta High School ninth-grader Payton Waite, Phillips Elementary first-grader Koby Ross, Washington Elementary first-grader Averiegh Farnsworth and Marietta Elementary fifth-grader Aurora Brown.

Staff award winners were Phillips Elementary School custodian Sean Wright and Phillips Elementary School first-grade teacher Cindy Burton.

A press release from the district announcing the winners included an excerpt from a nomination for Wright that said, “Sean goes beyond his duties to help the staff out. He never complains when we ask him to do something. The tractor here at Phillips wasn’t working and he started to shovel snow by hand the playground. The kids had been inside for recess for 12 days. I can’t say enough about how Sean is a great team player.”

The release said Burton is in her final year before retiring from the district and those who selected her “agree that she will leave a legacy of excellence, compassion and an unwavering dedication to her students.”

“That’s the most important part of our board meeting this evening is celebrating and valuing the student-teacher relationships and making much of some of the amazing things that are taking place in our district,” board President Cody Parman said.

Superintendent Mary Schaeffer’s State of the Schools presentation focused on performance levels, trends compared to similar districts and academic growth trends based on data she collected and provided for the board.

“The data you’re looking at is five districts and when I say ‘like-district’ these districts are similar to us in demographics and enrollment patterns,” said Schaeffer. “This is so we have a clear understanding of comparing apples to apples.”

Schaeffer said during her presentation that a decline in enrollment was due to fewer people having children. She pointed to upward trends in academic growth and said the purpose of reviewing the data was to see where they were doing well and what areas needed improvement in comparison to similar districts.

“We want to make sure we’re investing in our students and that we have the right curriculum and that we have the right resources for their instructional needs and for our staff,” she said.

Director of Curriculum and Technology Tim Fleming said his main goal is to ensure all students are receiving quality academics.

“When we’re looking at curriculum and we’re looking at access, that is one of the main things that drive me, that we have these high-quality experiences for every student no matter where they are,” he said.

Fleming presented an overview on the Path to 95%, a strategic plan focused on implementing depth and structure to the learning process. The goal is to ensure students are receiving coursework that is challenging at a level they can process and handle.

“We’re focusing on student-specific needs but also looking at the instructional floor,” said Fleming. The instructional floor is the baseline of academics in the classroom.

He said they’re working on implementing research practices, comprehensive literacy and consistency throughout the classrooms.

Director of Student Services Alison Woods provided the board with an overview on the district’s special education profiles. She said the district has 540 students with IEPs (individualized education programs).

Woods said there are currently 88 students pre-enrolled for kindergarten.

Parman said the Building and Grounds Committee reached out to consultants to execute an assessment of the district’s facilities.

“Keep in mind, the last time we did a district-wide assessment of all of our facilities was in 2017,” said Parman. “We’ve done a lot of things to our building since 2017.”

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com