the gscs COMMUNICATOR

week of September 6 - 10, 2010
the Griffin-Spalding County School System staff e-newsletter
published by the school & community services department

the gscs COMMUNICATOR

system-wide straight talk

Our
Employees

of the Week
...daring to do better!

Anne Street Elementary

Tiandria Wright & Marcie Blackmon
Teachers
Co-sponsors of school dance team

Atkinson Elementary

Tiesha Alexander
Computer Teacher
for an outstanding job with ALEKS

Beaverbrook Elementary

Celeste Martin

for her love of teaching and students

Cowan Road Elementary

Mandy Colwell
Science Lab Teacher
for coordinating successful fundraising activities supporting grade level field trips

Crescent Elementary

LaQuida Brown

Teacher
For genuinely caring for students as if they were her own children

Futral Road Elementary

Marsha Gamble
Kindergarten teacher
for outstanding PBIS implementation

Jackson Road Elementary

Allison Buntyn

Music Teacher

started elementary choir with 61 students

Jordan Hill Elementary

Kelly Hinson
Supported Instruction Paraprofessional

doing a great job with 5th grade students

Moore Elementary

Nicole Manns

2nd Grade

new teacher going above & beyond expectations

Moreland Road Elementary

Robert Brown

Head Custodian

maintains order & stability among staff, keeps building impeccable, humble, kind, and gracious to
staff & students

Orrs Elementary

Marsha Clark, AP
for everything she does for Orrs

~~~

Carver Road Middle

Dr. Gloria Brown, API

Organized & held planning day for new teachers

Cowan Road Middle

Vegas McCain

6th Grade Teacher

for contributing to a positive school culture & supporting school improvement initiative in and out of school

Kennedy Road Middle

Jackie Copeland Secretary

for being principal's right hand person

Rehoboth Road Middle

Sonja Sands

7th Grade

for coordination and collaborative planning of PBS

~~~

Griffin High

Joanie Mullins
AP secretary
for being an integral part of the daily effort to positively impact our students and school community

Spalding High

Lee Thomas, Teacher

In honor of being SHS TOTY

~~~

Mainstay Academy

Monica Owen

Fayette County Outpost

for Collaborating effectively with home schools

Transportation

Pat Blackmon

Driver of 98-35

for doing a superb job

Nutrition

Freida Maddox

for organizing & holding bookkeeping training

A. Z. Kelsey Academy
Hazel Parks, Secretary

for being the heart of A.Z. Kelsey Academy

2011-2013
School Year Calendars

Click here to view the draft school year calendars.

Public Notice Regarding Funding Waivers under Title I, Part A

Please click here to read the waiver notice.

Last week's Spalding High - Griffin High Cross-town Football Game
by Dr. Curtis Jones, Superintendent

This week, for the first time, I met with our teacher advisory council comprised of past and current teachers of the year. I shared with them some information including:

The diagnostic assessments that we did during the first two weeks of school,
The CRCT Erasure Analysis investigation, and
Current information about the education jobs bill

For this meeting we had an open agenda so council members could have an open dialogue. The first thing they asked me was about the Spalding High / Griffin High Football Game. The specific issue was, "Why didn't we have an email from you explaining what had happened and how we're responding?"

And so I thought this would be a good topic to share with you today. I simply didn't know enough on Monday to tell you anything at that time. Unfortunately, some started filling in the blanks on their own.

Please know that when we do have information, we will share it and we'll do so appropriately. So let me share with you now what we have done since the shooting last Friday night in hopes we can build your confidence in what we are doing.

After the shooting, I spoke with Keith Simmons, the principal of Griffin High School, because his school was the home school and was responsible for the game security. Details were sketchy that evening. We didn't know much.

Saturday morning I had a conversation with Derrell Jeffcoat about what had happened the evening before. And again, information wasn't complete.

In between those two conversations, probably around 11:30 pm Friday night, I had a conversation with Griffin City Manager Mr. Kenny Smith. I asked him to allow the police department, as they were doing their own investigation, to share information with us. Mr. Smith responded that when information became available, he would share what he could and that the City of Griffin would work with us.

On the Monday after the shooting, Assistant Superintendent Mr. Jim Smith organized a meeting with the two high school principals and resource officers, City Police Chief Frank Strickland and Griffin City Manager Mr. Kenny Smith. We discussed the plans we had in place, what did and didn't work, what we could have done differently, and how we wanted to move forward.

Because this game had been problematic in the past, we had extra security in place. We usually have between 8 and 10 police officers at a game. For Friday's cross-town game, we had 16. The City of Griffin Police had another 16 to 18 officers at strategic locations throughout the city.

We also talked about:

Having wands so individuals could be scanned for concealed weapons.
How the crowd interacts with players and students.
Vehicle parking.

At the meeting's end, we made decisions about future games.

We will continue to maintain a minimum number of security officers at all ball games.
We are adding two additional officers specifically tasked for using wands for security scans (at the officer's discretion).
These two additional officers will clear the street in front of the stadium after halftime when tickets are no longer sold. We believe a lot of the problems come from people hanging outside the stadium waiting for the game to end.
And we agreed to continue to look at other safety measures and to make decisions about next year's cross-town ball game. We will look at issues such as the day and time the game can be played and if it should be played.

A lot of effort has gone into this since last Friday. A student has now been charged with the shooting. We are interested in seeing how he will be dealt with in the courts. In addition, we will most likely follow-up with our student tribunal hearing process.

I hope our employees and our community know that we would not continue with football games if we thought our students were being put in danger. We will continue to address the issues and to partner with the City of Griffin to create an even safer environment so our students can have extracurricular activities - which are a part of growing up and community life.