To the editor:

It is almost here! The 2007-2008 academic year is within our grasp. The teaching faculty and support staff at the School of Discovery Genesis Center are poised for the beginning of another school year on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007. The school wide goals for this year are for pupils to score above the annual measurable objectives in percentage of proficient students on both the reading (78 percent) and mathematics (48 percent) components of the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test (ARMT), and for students to score above the fiftieth percentile on the Stanford Achievement Test 10 (SAT-10).

The school is fortunate to have a group of quality instructional leaders in the classrooms.

The administration realizes that distinguished teachers have knowledge and insight about effective instruction that can help improve student learning

Kudos is proper for the Selma City Board of Education. Each year this governing body assembles a clan of thoroughbred educators to guide instruction and to provide support services to students at the School of Discovery. The faculty and staff members for the 2007-2008 academic year are Andrea Curtis, Rebecca Nichols, Donald Speed, Barbara Jean Robinson, Demisha Stough, Lisa Baker, Ann S. Thomas, James Allen Bearden, Joy Hobson, Ivery Williams, Patrick Derrick Evans, Cynthia Perkins, Phyllis Parks, Beth Watters, Jacqueline Walker, Becky Chandler, Brenda Jefferson, Erika Smitherman, Lillie Gray Watkins Terry, Kimberly Stewart, John Henry Hunter, Mary Helen Jackson (Jackie) Stokes, Cynthia Burnett, Geneva Moore, Crystal Boykin, Susie De’Angel, Collin Parker Lashley, Paris Solomon, Laura J. Page, Javaris R. Jackson, and Stella Pettway.

We are confident of a highly successful school year.

Gerald Shirley

Principal, School of Discovery