the gscs COMMUNICATOR system-wide straight talk |
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A few signs of the times...
a message from Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones
 Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was visiting my uncle and aunt who lived on a farm in Texas. It was one of the first times I had been away from home, and I was spending it with relatives I didn't really know. I remember my uncle showing me how to milk a cow, seek fresh chicken eggs, and how to feed the pigs. It was amazing.
I relived that memory yesterday while visiting the Kiwanis fairgrounds where many of our students were attending Farm Day. It was satisfying to see our young students being educated about a part of American life that most no longer see. It was also exciting to see older students there as guides to help with the event. I give many thanks to 4-H and the Kiwanis Club for partnering with the school system to make Farm Day an exciting day in our students' lives.
I do wish more farmers could participate in Farm Day. I think that's a sign of the times that we're in, and I hope that we can expand Farm Day next year to give our students an even more enriching and rewarding experience. But, thank you to all the farmers who did participate, and to the participating schools. Teachers: You made us proud! Keeping that number of students organized and moving forward... not everyone can pull it off as well as you do!
Bus drivers were also at Farm Day, and they shared with me some lessons learned this year. One is that drivers have learned ways to make modifications to improve their routes. It will mean partnering with parents to inform them about these better places to pick up students. But, we can be more efficient and effective while still providing quality customer service for bus-riding students. Our bus drivers also talked about and understood the increase in healthcare costs that we're experiencing and how they are a part of it. It's rewarding to see how all employees in our organization recognize where we are, what we're doing, and how they can help improve our operations.
While driving the bus may not directly impact student learning and test scores, it is the bus drivers who get the students to school safely. Drama on the bus would create a harder time for teachers, so there is an indirect relationship to how well our bus drivers perform and how well our students perform.
Bus drivers also told me that some of the hardest days of driving the bus are at the end of the school year. Students have realized the end of school is near. Its spring and the weather is warming. Students want to be outside. Our bus drivers have to demonstrate the same classroom management skills that teachers use. We're all in this together. That came through loud and clear for me yesterday. So, I thank you, bus drivers!
We're starting to come to the end of the testing season, the end of nine months of hard work, helping students grow educationally another year... and so it's time to have fun and celebrate and to be thankful!
Happy Cinco De Mayo Day! Enjoy your weekend, and see you next week!
COLDR |
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Board Briefs
At its regular meetings on May 1, the board of education. . . .
- Approved Standards-Based Report Card Resolution/Waiver Request to send to the Georgia Department of Education to allow the Griffin Spalding County School System to continue to use standards-based report cards in grades 3 - 5.
- Placed Policy FDC - Naming Facilities - on first reading. Comments can be made here.
- Approved a Reduction in Force for 2012 - 2013. Four high school social studies teaching positions were eliminated because of funding and program changes. The coordinator position of Mainstay Academy (Spalding County, Griffin site) was eliminated to create a teaching position.
- Approved FY13 Local Plan for Improving CTAE.
- Approved the Superintendent's recommendation that School Specialty Planning and Student Development Company produce the Griffin-Spalding County Student Handbook/Agendas for the 2012-2013 school year at a cost of $35,458.95.
- Approved the Technology Purchase Order for:
- Approved the FY12 Budget Amendments.
- Approved the field trip request of Orrs Elementary for students to visit the Tennessee Aquarium on Saturday, May 19, 2012.
- Approved the field trip request of the Griffin High School SkillsUSA state winner to travel to Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday, June 23, through Thursday, June 28, for competition.
- Approved the field trip request of Griffin High School students to travel to the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday, July 8 - Wednesday, July 11, for competition.
- Approved the rental request of a private business to lease the C-Building, D-102 and D-103 on the Taylor Street Campus for office space to house the staff of a television program that is to be filmed in Griffin.
Heard presentations on:
Received points of information on:
In other business the board recognized. . .
- System-level Young Georgia Author Competition winners.
- Jackson Road Elementary School students for winning 2nd in the state in the Council of Economics Stock Market Game.
- Hugh O'Brian Leadership Award winners:
- Emiliee Poole, Spalding High School
- Sarah Brown, Griffin High School
- Duke Talent Identification Program winners:
- Tanner Thompson, Cowan Road Middle
- Dylan Poisson, Kennedy Road Middle
- Turner Jordan, Rehoboth Road Middle
- Christian Smith, Rehoboth Road Middle
- Leonora Clarkson and Betsy Foulk (Central Office) for receiving the 2012 SSTAGE Award for Promising Practices.
- The top three winners of the Salvation Army 2011 canned food drive. They are: Futral Road Elementary: 6,570 cans, Kennedy Road Middle: 6,000 cans, Rehoboth Road Middle: 3,366 cans
- The nutrition departments of Anne Street Elementary, Atkinson Elementary, Beaverbrook Elementary, Jackson Road Elementary, Moore Elementary, Orrs Elementary and Carver Road Middle for High Level of Student Participation in the School Nutrition Program.
- Superintendent Dr. Curtis Jones for receiving the Georgia School Superintendents Association Presidents Award.
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A message from Art Cain, Continuing Education at UGA Griffin, about this summer's upcoming Kids University
Attached are three documents: (1) Position descriptions for Kids U, (2) our Course Proposal Form; and (3) an electronic copy of the titles of those courses we plan to offer at Kids U. I welcome any new course a GSCS faculty or staff member is interested in teaching or exploring some of the courses listed in the attached document. The Lead Instructor position is the position in which I think GSCS faculty and staff members would be most interested. If a faculty or staff member is interested, please have them call me ASAP at 770.229.3478. I will help them with the position application with HR, with Course Proposal Form, and answer any questions they might have. The positions for Kids University are posted on the UGA HR website. But, they are not easy to find if you start at HR's homepage ( www.hr.uga.edu). So, below is a shortened instruction: (1) Click here.
(2) On the left hand side (LHS) of the page, there is a navigation link that says: SEARCH POSITIONS. Click on SEARCH POSITIONS.
(3) Under Advanced Search Option and under Search Posting and then beside Location of Vacancy, there is a drop-down menu where you choose a location. Choose "Griffin Area." (You will not need to enter anything else on this page.) Then click on the SEARCH button below.
(4) There are 4 positions, all together, that are Kids U positions. The easiest way to know which positions are for Kids U is to look to the last column on the right hand side under Department and all these positions read: 541-Continuing Education - CES. Under Official Title on the LHS, the titles are listed as follows:
- Temporary Administrative (Recreational Activity Leader)
- Temporary Administrative (Instructor Assistant)
- Educ Program Specialist (Coordinator)
- Educ Program Specialist (Lead Instructor)
The titles in parenthesis above are the position titles in the attached document. The University call those titles Temporary Administrative and Educ Specialist.
If you have questions or if you can't find the positions, call (770.229.3478) or email me and I'll help. Thanks! -- Art |
Spalding County students win big at 4-H Area Project Achievement competition
Griffin-Spalding County School System elementary and middle school students received 79 awards from the 4-H Area Project Achievement competition on Saturday, April 14, in Douglasville, Georgia.
"We had an outstanding day," said Cherry Hovatter, the County Extension Agent for 4-H Youth Development. She continued, "Over 380 students from 12 counties participated - and 102 of those were from Spalding County!"
At the 4-H competition, the Griffin-Spalding County School System had:
- 31 - 1st place winners
- 22 - 2nd place winners
- 16 - 3rd place winners
Spalding County 4-H won 3 plaques for:
- Most participants
- Highest Percentage of Winners
- Highest Percentage Increase of Participants
Dr. Curtis Jones, Superintendent of the Griffin-Spalding County School System, said, "I am very pleased with how our school system has partnered with Spalding County 4-H to give our students more opportunities. Our students presented and won awards on a wide range of projects at the competition, and we are proud of all of them!"
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Breaking news!
Our Human Resources Department just won three awards on Friday, May 4, 2012! Check them out!
Congratuations, HR! |
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Employee of the Month
Support &
Central Office
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Nutrition
Flo Aaron
Head Cashier at Cowan Road Elementary
Ms. Aaron has been willing to work at various school this year for the betterment of our nutritional team. She loves children and works well with others. Congrats!
Transportation
Ms. Johnnie Lewis
Bus 11-108
Ms. Johnnie is dedicated to the safety of our students, drivers and the citizens of Spalding County. She demonstrates this in many ways. She serves as president of our local drivers association, she writes and edits a monthly news letter for transportation, "The Yellow Bus News"; and is instrumental in organizing our annual Road-E-O (driver skills competition). She also demonstrates her interest in the operation of the school system by consistently attending the monthly board meetings. She is truly an involved, and motivated employees.
Central Office
Gail Patterson
Superintendent's Secretary
I would love to be able to list all the reasons that she deserves this but I can summarize this way: Gail is retiring May 31. There are hundreds of reasons that she should be the Employee of the Month, and probably could have been the Employee of the Month numerous times. She is kind to everyone, she always listens and makes the other person feel better, she always knows where to locate something or how to do something, she can make you laugh first thing in the morning, and she can write her name backwards better than anyone else we know. We are going to miss her tremendously.
(Nominated by Denise Burrell)
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REMINDER:
Please remember that both parts of the WELLNESS Promise (the Health Assessment and the screenings) must be completed by June 30, 2012, to be eligible to enroll in a WELLNESS plan option for 2013. The screenings are considered preventive care and are covered at 100%, at no cost to you, so please remind your physician to use a preventive care code when submitting the bill so there is no charge. |
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