| Employees of the Month
daring to do better! | |
Robert Brown
Head Custodian
Moreland Road Elementary
for maintaining order & stability among staff, keeping building impeccable; humble, kind, and gracious to all staff & students Lavette Terry
Mathematics Teacher
Kennedy Road Middle
for effective communication with parents - posting homework assignments & daily classroom summations on the school website
These two employees were selected from all of September's Employees of the Week. |
| Employees of the Week
daring to do better! | |
ANNE STREET
Valerie Trice & Jocunda Reed
for pooling their resources and making sure the children (and their parent) who lost everything in a fire had what they needed and were back in school after missing only one day
ATKINSON
Melanie Lynch
Media Specialist
for doing an outstanding job with READ 180
BEAVERBROOK
Phillip Beck
a valuable asset on our staff and for his assistance with the ARRA grant
COWAN ROAD
Bonnie Aderhold
Instructional Technology
Favorite quote: "Did you put in a ticket?"
Cares for our staff, takes ownership of solving technical problems - Goes above and beyond!
CRESCENT
Connie Howard
4th grade math for dedication to students
FUTRAL ROAD
Nancy Williamson
Secretary
for doing an excellent job working with teachers and central office staff on FTE reporting
JACKSON ROAD
Alicia Stratton
Metro RESA Media Specialist of the Year
for being a wonderful staff trainer for all tech issues, keeping the media center as the hub of the school with school wide events, & trying new and innovative ideas which keep the school on the forefront of learning
JORDAN HILL
Jane Taylor
SPED Paraprofessional
for always smiling and showing great love and compassion for students
MOORE
Angela Foster
for her diligence and willingness to learn new jobs as her role evolves
MORELAND ROAD Randy Wesmiller
EIP Teacher
always willing to go above and beyond and also volunteering to assist others when she recognizes a need
ORRS
Paula Sanders
for great work with RtI and being the best counselor in our school system
Middle Schools
CARVER ROAD
Kay Barker
Media specialist
for going out of her way to make our book fair a huge success
COWAN ROAD
Roderick Sylvester
for being an exemplary 1st Year Teacher
KENNEDY ROAD MIDDLE
Marian Sorensen
the consummate team player whose focus is on winning the AYP challenge. She continually provides instructional support for teachers as well as providing one-on-one time with struggling students
REHOBOTH ROAD
Pat Bourne
for stepping into our Nutrition Management position to assist RRMS and for being a great help keeping things running smoothly and operating appropriately
High Schools
GRIFFIN HIGH
Rhonda Vining
for displaying exemplary customer service and doing her very best to assist school stakeholders
SPALDING HIGH
Dee Joiner
for the great leadership and guidance she provided during homecoming activities
TAYLOR STREET ACHIEVEMENT CENTER
Valeria Gladney
for taking on extra responsibilities to ensure that TSAC remains an efficient, productive organization
KIDS IN ACTION ELEMENTARY
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
Rhonda Atkinson
for kind and nurturing spirit & truly making a positive difference for children
NUTRITION
Laverne Sims
Lead Manager
a dependable leader willing to constantly learn and empower others to do their jobs
Russell Starr
his dedication transporting students of Spalding County spans four decades |
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| The 3am phone call |
a message from Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones
Do you remember when Hillary Clinton ran a commercial during the 2008 presidential election that had a phone ringing at 3am in the morning and the question was asked, "Who do you want to answer this phone call?"
That commercial also applies in education. Earlier this week at 3am there was a phone call. A young female voice said, "May I speak to my principal?" The principal answered the phone and the conversation went like this...
"My house just burned down."
"Our house just burned down."
"Are you serious? Is anybody hurt?"
"No, nobody is hurt. We're okay."
"What happened?"
"Our house burned down."
"We're over at this other place where we are staying."
"Did everything burn? Did you lose everything?"
"Our house burned down. Yeah."
"Thank God nobody's hurt. Give me a call later today and we'll see what we can do to get you guys some help."
And that's when the Griffin-Spalding County School System went into overdrive.
Phone calls from one principal to another, to the parent engagement specialist, and the school social worker led to community and state services being made available to this family of eight where there are children attending elementary, middle, and high school.
That same day I saw an email from the high school principal acknowledging the fire had occurred. One of his students was being affected and the school was preparing to provide wrap-around services to help the family.
The 3am phone call - who do you want to be there to receive it?
You've demonstrated over and over again the ability to create relationships with students so they have confidence in you.
In this sad situation when the parent may not have thought about calling the school, the student did... because they believe in you.
Never doubt you have an effect. Never doubt you have good relationships with our students. Never doubt you make a difference...
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Board of Education puts 2011-2012 school calendar on first reading
Taking into consideration the timeline of the renovation of Griffin High School scheduled to begin shortly, the Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education voted to place on first reading a 2011-12 school calendar that begins school on August 8, ends school June 1, and includes balanced breaks through the year.
Denise Burrell, Deputy Superintendent said, "While the school calendar Dr. Jones recommended to the board for adoption was the second most preferred of respondents in a preference poll, the superintendent is recommending this calendar to give contractors one more week in the summer of 2011 to work on the Griffin High School renovation project before students return."
In a school calendar poll conducted online September 10-20, 1,872 respondents indicated their preferences on school calendars:
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42.1 % chose option 1 with an August 1-May 25 school year and balanced breaks.
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32.7% chose option 2 with an August 8-June 1 school year and balanced breaks and
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25.2 % chose option 3 with an August 15-May 25 school year and short breaks.
Over 5200 hits have been recorded on the 2011-2013 school calendar link on the Griffin-Spalding County School System web site in September so far.
The calendar version that was recommended is for the 2011-2012 school year only.
The progress and scope of the extensive renovation work at Griffin High School over the summers of 2011 and 2012 will guide future recommendations by the superintendent on school calendars. A calendar for the 2012-2013 school year is planned to be in development in the fall of 2011.
While the school system is not required to seek opinions of stakeholders on their school calendar preference, a process to gather feedback has been followed since 2002.
T
he public can comment on the calendar version on first reading now to the October 26 Board of Education meeting when the board will formally adopt a school calendar for 2011-2012. |
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GSCS Pre-K Receives $80,000 Grant
The Griffin Spalding School System has been selected by Georgia's Pre-Kindergarten division in Bright from the Start Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning to receive an $80,000 Transition Coach Grant. The Transition Coach program is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States. The publicly funded preschool program has been in existence since the early 1990's and has remained an innovative leader throughout its existence.
"We are very excited to be able to add a Transition Coach to our Pre-K Team." said Louisa Melton, Griffin Spalding School System Pre-K Coordinator. "Appropriate development of language and literacy skills are one of the cornerstone's of Pre-K. The grant will allow us to continue the successful literacy programs we have established over the past 2 years as well as create additional services to support our students in their transition from home or daycare to Pre-K to kindergarten and above."
--Click here for more information-- |
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Coming Soon!
Education Foundation grants &
Partners in Education mini-grants!
This year's grant application window will be opening after fall break. Watch for information and links in upcoming Communicators!
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Health Insurance Open Enrollment
A message from Christina Crane, Benefits Specialist
View the "Active" decision guide. |
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