J.P. King receives Golden Bell
Published 10:24 am Friday, March 28, 2014
FRANKLIN—For completing its first year with Priority School partner Catapult Learning, J.P. King Jr. Middle School Principal Lisa Francis accepted the Golden Bell at an intensive training conference in San Diego, Calif.
Stuart Udell, chief executive officer of Catapult Learning, shakes hands with J.P. King Jr. Middle School Principal LIsa Francis. She recently accepted on behalf of her school the award of the Golden Bell. This was given in recognition of the school’s work during the first year with its Priority School Partner. — SUBMITTED
The Golden Bell is an award given to Priority Schools that complete their first year in the program.
“It has been fantastic working with them,” said Ken Porter, director of achievement for Catapult. “Certainly the school has improved drastically in terms of student learning. The culture here is wonderful.”
Porter said the school codes, the mission and the vision are written out for students everywhere, and they are also entrenched in the students.
Francis said it has been a good year.
“It’s been great — we are moving forward,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth. Hopefully, that growth will lead to improved SOLs. We’ve all worked really, really hard.”
Porter said J.P. King has made a lot of progress, but the next goal is achieving state accreditation.
“The goal is to have the children get a minimum of a 75 on reading, and a 70 in everything else,” he said of the minimum SOL scores for accreditation. “I’m looking for them to show increased growth.”
Francis said the conference involved a lot of work, but it was good work.
“I didn’t have time for anything else,” she said. “I didn’t make a trip to the zoo. But it was a good experience.”
