Rome BOE hears about ELOST collections, grant

Rome City Schools Chief Operations Officer Tim Williams said the system is whittling down its $301,356 deficit in Education Local Option Sales Tax 4 collections during an update at the Rome Board of Education meeting Tuesday.

For four straight months the system’s collections have come in over the estimated monthly average of $434,000.

In August, the system took in $447,275, which is $13,275 more than the anticipated $434,000. Since the start of ELOST 4 in April 2014, the system has gotten $17,492,644, which is over $300,000 under the $17,794,000 anticipated to have been collected through August.

The board approved the use of $350,000 in funding from the fiveyear 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant that the system received. It also approved the appointment of Brandy Money, the system’s director of school nutrition, to be the coordinator for the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program. This program provides dinner to each of the 180 economically disadvantaged students in the ASPIRE after-school program, which the grant funds.

Literacy Coordinator Cassie Parson gave a presentation on the ASPIRE program, which is at four elementary schools — North Heights, Elm Street, West Central and Anna K. Davie — and was implemented at the start of this school year. The program focuses on academic remediation and enrichment, as well as family engagement, she said. The system has partnered with the YMCA, the nonprofit Building Positive Families and Berry College to achieve its aims.

“This is a very competitive grant,” said Superintendent Lou Byars, who added the grant funding depends on the federal government continuing to allocate money for it. “I think we will see benefits of this for a long time.”

North Heights Elementary Principal Tonya Wood gave board members a rundown of what students have been up to at the school during the Focus on Student Achievement portion of the meeting. This year the school is stressing student engagement, she said.