Beginning Monday, September 9th, 2012, Monroe County School System will move to an on-line application system in the search for new employees.

This system is Applitrack, and it is a component of the school system's effort to secure high quality employees while utilizing efforts to minimize paper and streamline processes for the applicant and the system.

With this online application system, Monroe County School System will provide job applicants the opportunity to create a single sign on where an application can be maintained electronically.

With the current process, paper copies of all applications are distributed, and an applicant has to fill out multiple applications for positions. Through this process, the system can maintain an archive of applications while allowing applicants to maintain their applications in case of openings in a more efficient manner.

Applitrack also provides applicants with a phone or tablet app to track their application status. Applitrack allows the system to take the application process electronically for both classified and certified employee positions.

Through this online tool, principals and supervisors will be able to review applications and consider applicants quickly and more efficiently.

TeachGeorgia  use will continue for certified applications, but the AppliTrack system replaces the paper forms certified applicants also completed as part of the process.

As we transition to our use of a paperless application system, we encourage past applicants and new applicants to utilize Applitrack and get your applications into the new system. Access the link on the Monroe County Schools webpage under "Prospective Employees" or click here.

A computer will be available at the board office for applicants to use if needed. If you might have questions, please call Diane Czarnowsky at the Monroe County Board of Education

(478-994-2031).        

A parent or guardian coming into a classroom to observe teaching and learning in his or her child's class, is allowed to do so for the purpose of observing. Teachers are practitioners working with boys and girls with various intellectual and instructional needs. During a class and lesson, teachers are to be focused on the teaching and learning of ALL of the students in the class. They are not there to provide a breakdown of instructional practices to observers during instructional time. Doing so would be disruptive to the teaching and learning process.

System and school administrators are accountable to all stakeholders to protect the instructional time for teachers and learning for all students. Based on the classroom type, regular or special needs classrooms, observations can be disruptive and/or problematic for individual or groups of students (not just the child whose parent is observing but the other students in the classroom). 

Parents who feel they need to observe in their child's classroom are welcome to do so but they must schedule the observation and a conference afterwards for a review of the observation. The reason for updates to the guidelines for observations in classrooms by parents is to ensure the privacy rights and the integrity of the instructional time for all of the students in the classroom.
 
Parental/guardian classroom observation guidelines are not meant to inhibit parental involvement. Likewise, they are not meant to discourage stakeholder engagement. Educationally, it is best for parents to volunteer in the schools where their children attend but not in the classrooms where their children are receiving instruction during instructional times. Volunteering in a child's school typically has a different purpose than when parents request to observe in their child's classroom.

Parents/guardians/community members have been and will continue to be welcome in Monroe County Schools.  As has been past practice, "visits" to the schools cannot be a distraction from the educational process.

To schedule a classroom observation in your child's classroom, contact his/her teacher. 

To volunteer in an elementary school or at the middle school, contact the Parent Coordinator.  To volunteer at the Mary Persons High School, contact the Graduation Coach.

Pertussis- What Is It and Why All the Fuss?

Pertussis, also known as "whooping cough" is a highly contagious disease that can be fatal for infants and immune-compromised people. About 75% of babies contract the disease from a household member, with about half of the cases coming from a parent. Vaccination against pertussis is recommended as the best way to lessen the risk of exposing young children and immune-compromised people to this potentially deadly disease. When parents, other adults and caregivers get vaccinated they are not only protecting their own health but they are also protecting the health of others. Pertussis, in recent years, has become more common because many people are choosing not to be vaccinated.

Pertussis can cause serious illness in infants, children and adults and can even be life-threatening for infants and the immune-compromised.

Pertussis is also known as "whooping cough" because of the "whooping" sound that is made by infants and children when gasping for air after a fit of coughing. In adults, it can often be misdiagnosed as a common cold or bronchitis.

Coughing fits due to pertussis infection can last for up to 10 weeks or more; sometimes known as the "100 day cough."

Pertussis can be easily spread through a sneeze or a cough.

The most effective way to prevent pertussis is through vaccination with DTaP for infants and children and Tdap for preteens, teens and adults - protection from the childhood vaccine fades over time.

Pertussis symptoms typically start 7-10 days after exposure.

In 2010, 27,550 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) were reported in the U.S., but many more go undiagnosed and unreported.

In 2010, an increase in reported cases among 7-10 year olds was seen. A dose is now recommended by the Center for Disease Control for persons between 11-64 years of age.

More than half of infants less than 1 year of age who get pertussis are hospitalized. Pertussis infection may also cause other serious problems such as pneumonia, seizures, brain damage and death.

Vaccination of preteens, teens and adults - including pregnant women - with the Tdap vaccine is especially important for families with new infants.

Pertussis is treated with antibiotics which control the symptoms and prevent infected people from spreading the disease.

Please consult your healthcare provider or your local health department to update your vaccination against pertussis, it can literally be a matter of life or death for yourself, your child and others.