VALDOSTA — The Valdosta Board of Education is expecting to establish an Early College Program for middle school students after entering into a partnership with Valdosta State University during the January work session held Monday.

The board has been considering establishment of the program since learning of the EC initiative in September, which is designed to redirect low-performing students toward higher academic achievement and on to post-secondary education through on-campus learning at university/college institutions.

The ECP was first introduced in Georgia in 2006 with start-up funding provided through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Robert Woodruff Foundation. Six EC schools now exist around the state and serve nearly 600 students. The program boasts a 90 percent high school attendance rate among its students, an 89 percent high school graduation rate, and 90 percent of ECP students earn college credit while enrolled in the program.

Because of that success, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents announced intentions to sponsor the establishment of a fourth cohort of Early College Programs in Georgia, slated to open in 2008. After considering the project and reviewing the finical feasibility of supporting the program and obligations of the school system, the board voted unanimously to enter into a memorandum of understanding with VSU to began the process for establishing a local program. The ECP will be housed at the S.L. Mason facility.

“The facilities committee met and we went over what the program is all about and I answered any questions that they had, and we came out with a recommendation to move forward with entering into the memorandum of understanding,” said Dr. Bill Cason, finance director and superintendent-elect. “At this point, we must form a committee and they will help us come up with all the details concerning personnel, but I can assure you that it will be in our budget because FTE funds will follow students as though they’re on the regular campus.”

As the school initially opens to about 40 sixth-grade students, Cason anticipates needing only two classroom teachers, a principal and some additional staff, with some salary compensation being provided through a $100,000 start-up grant being offered through the Board of Regents.

“Now that the board has approved the memorandum of understanding, it only needs to be signed by President (Ronald) Zaccari and Dr. Louis Levy, and then we will have the funds,” said Dr. Brian Gerber, associate dean of the College of Education.

Members of the system’s nursing staff came before the board Monday to share a presentation about their daily duties, and also to ask that the board consider increasing school nurse salaries to those comparable in the region.

Speaking on behalf of the group of nurses, Rebecca Green, R.N., explained the work nurses do within schools each day, ranging from attending to sick and injured students and staff to planning and teaching health workshops to administering daily medications and keeping documentation.

In addition to the expected tasks, the staff must also be ready to respond to a number of students with specific conditions. According to statistics gathered by the nursing department, within the system’s nine schools: 1,060 suffer from asthma; 215, from severe allergies; 103, from hypertension; 69, from seizure disorder, and 48 from diabetes. Also, there are 19 students who suffer from sickle cell anemia and 19 who have been diagnosed with having clinical migraines, and an additional 250 students have been identified as having other specific conditions that could require emergency care.

“These things – asthma, severe allergies – can be life-threatening, and every second counts, because children can go into anaphylactic shock, and there isn’t time to wait on 911 to arrive,” said Green. “We also see a lot of injuries. Just last year, we had 15,000 visits to our clinics, and that’s a lot for nine nurses.”

In the midst of a national nursing shortage, Green asked the board to consider the educational training and work of the nursing staff, as two of the system’s nurses have now moved on to serve in a hospital setting where salaries are significantly higher.

“We love our jobs as school nurses, and we’re not asking to make the $60,000 we could expect to make as nurses in the hospitals. We’re just asking that the system step up the salary scale to other systems in the area,” said Green. “We are licensed professionals with college degrees and some of us have Masters Degrees, and we’d like to be on the salary scale of other certified staff in the system.”

Green suggested the board consider increasing the nursing salary budget by $39,664. While no decision was made during the work session, the board agreed to consider the request, and also asked if there were any facility or equipment upgrades that should also be considered.

The board is preparing for its annual board retreat friday, Feb. 1, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The retreat will be held at the Georgia Department of Labor.