GSCS
CENTRAL OFFICE EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
Denise Epperson in Administrative Technology is the CO Employee of the Month. Dee is patient, generous and willing to give her time to help anyone with Infinite Campus. She has represented Griffin-Spalding well as the president of the Georgia Student Information Systems User Group (GSIS) board this year.
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 GHS
PAWBOTICS TEAM HEADED TO STATE COMPETITION
The GHS robotics team,
Pawbotics, will advance to the state robotics competition on Feb. 14,
at Southern Polytechnic
State University. They were nominated as the runner
up for the most prestigious
award in the organization, the Inspire Award,
allowing them to advance.
The Inspire Award is
given to teams that not
only perform well on the
field but also spread STEM and robotics through their community, track their
ideas and designs through a comprehensive engineering notebook, and embody the idea of FIRST, gracious professionalism.
For more information on
the Inspire Award or
on the FIRST robotics
organization visit:
Congratulations!
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KIWANIS GIVES TO ROTC
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Col. Sylvester from SHS and Col. Pugh from GHS were both presented with $1,600 each from the Griffin Kiwanis Club to help with their ROTC programs.
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SHS COLLEGE AND CAREER FAIR
Spalding High School Career and Technical Education department will be hosting their annual College and Career Fair at SHS on Tuesday. February 10 from 8:30-11 am
Eleventh and twelfth grade students will get the opportunity to speak to local businesses and colleges from around the state about what it takes to be ready for the global market place.
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FREE ADULT CLASSES MEETING WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!
Thirty-two adults attended
the FREE Adult Classes Information Meeting in the
GSCS Board Room on Jan. 28. Southern Crescent Technical College (SCTC) vice president for adult education, Melissa Gordon, and adult education instructor, Carol Taylor,
provided detailed information and answered questions about the free classes. Items of discussion were class locations, schedules, scholarships, General Education Diploma (GED) requirements
and professional growth opportunities.
The next orientation/
assessment for attending the FREE Adult Classes is scheduled for Feb. 17, 2015 at 5:30 PM in the SCTC Academic Building 800, Room 815. Call SCTC Griffin Campus at 770-229-3176 to register.
Click HERE to view
informational handouts.
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TKES & LKES
FEEDBACK
Below you will find two links. One link is to the TKES online survey for teachers. The other link is for leaders to provide feedback on both TKES and LKES. These are the surveys the Division of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (TLE)
conducts bi-annually to
gather additional feedback
from districts across the
state. The surveys will
remain open until midnight
Sunday, February 25, 2015.
Teacher Link:
Leader Link:
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APPLY FOR A GSCS TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP & BECOME A TEACHER
The Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS), in an effort to develop committed, qualified teachers has allocated two (2) scholarships for paraprofessionals or other classified applicants who are employees of GSCS*. The scholarships provide financial assistance toward teacher certification.
Click HERE for more information and the application.
Deadline is March 6, 2015.
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BEARDEN'S
HEROIC CHOICES:
LISTEN UP
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This week the Board of Education approved the recommended 2015-16 administrative assignments. Some of these assignments are different. I wanted to share some of my decision-making behind those reassignments.
First, I want to congratulate Beth Gaff on her retirement this summer. Beth is an outstanding educational leader, has served with distinction and been a strong advocate for the students, staff, family and friends of Crescent Elementary. Beth told me, "I'm not finished yet, Colonel" and I agreed. I wish her the best as she moves forward in her future endeavors. Congratulations Beth!
Beth's retirement gave us the opportunity to move current Cowan Road Elementary principal Natalie Woods to Crescent. Why Natalie? Among many things, Natalie has done a great job incorporating and growing STEM throughout Cowan Road Elementary. Crescent is also on the STEM path allowing Natalie to continue her STEM interest and experience. Also, Cowan and Crescent Elementary have about the same CCRPI scores. This means that Natalie has an understanding of what it takes to get to that level of performance. I know Natalie will continue to move Crescent forward especially when the STEM component is added.
Similar logic is why I believe the move of Evelyn Jones from Anne Street Elementary to Orrs Elementary, and Rachelle Heggie from Cowan Road Middle to Anne Street Elementary is good. Many times when we struggle the most,we learn the most. In both cases, these principals been at the same school for a long period of time and have seen their schools do some amazing work!
Both principals' current schools have a lower CCRPI score than their new schools. So faculty and staff at Anne Street and Orrs should not be overly concerned about new principals coming in and completely starting over. They know you are doing well. This is an opportunity for both principals and schools to create synergism and find new ways to move their new schools' CCRPI scores even higher.
Last but not least, Dexter Martin will be moving from Orrs Elementary to Cowan Road Middle. Cowan Middle has worked hard, made AYP and implemented some truly outstanding practices to change performance outcomes. The advantage Dexter brings is that he knows what good performance levels look like and what it takes to achieve them. Dexter has high school and elementary school experience. He understands what fifth grade students need to advance to middle school and what eight grade students need to advance to high school.
I am excited about these changes for next year. Teachers have opportunities to change students every year, grade levels or subjects. Administrators don't have those same opportunities. Moves are more in-frequent and change can be good for administrators. I congratulate these administrators for accepting the challenge, getting out of their comfort zone, moving to new schools and continuing to grow and develop. I am confident that GSCS will be better next year because of these changes.
Have a great weekend!
COLDR
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 2015-16 GSCS PRINCIPALS APPOINTED At the February meeting, the Griffin-Spalding Board of Education appointed these principals for the 2015-16 school year effective July 1. |
School
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Principal
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Anne Street Elementary
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Heggie, Rachelle
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Atkinson Elementary
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Allen, Aveory
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Beaverbrook Elementary
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Bozeman, Ken
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Cowan Road Elementary
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vacancy posted
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Crescent Elementary
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Wood, Natalie
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Futral Road Elementary
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Steele, Ben
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Jackson Road Elementary
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Jordan, Laura
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Jordan Hill Elementary
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Aikens, Anthony
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Moore Elementary
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Brown, Gloria
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Moreland Road Elementary
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Mangham, Stan
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Orrs Elementary
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Jones, Evelyn
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Carver Road Middle
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Taylor, Tiffany
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Cowan Road Middle
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Martin, Dexter
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Kennedy Road Middle
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Sands, Dexter
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Rehoboth Road Middle
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Jones, Larry
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Griffin High
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Simmons, Keith
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Spalding High
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Scott, Lindy
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A.Z. Kelsey Academy
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Cassady, Jamie
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Mainstay Academy
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Briggs, Chris
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Pictured: Stephanie Windham, attorney; Natalie Marshall, Flint River Regional Library; Alex Perez-Sandi, Catepillar; John Quinn, Spalding Regional Hospital; Jeff Jordan, UGA - Griffin Campus; Clay Davis, Sun City Peachtree
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STRATEGIC PLAN FEEDBACK
Business Leaders joined other community members in a focus group this week. The feedback will be used to prepare a new GSCS strategic plan.
You can provide input too by clicking on this link and taking a brief survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CE-GriffinSpldg
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"Passage of the eSPLOST is essential to our ability to provide adequate opportunities to our students. This funding will provide the means to establish our College and Career Academy and allow our students and teachers to leverage technology for instruction."
~ James R. Westbury, Jr., Chairman
Griffin-Spalding Board of Education
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 GSCS IMPLEMENTS NEW MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM - PROJECT AWARE
(ADVANCING WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE IN EDUCATION)
The Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS), along with Newton and Muscogee County School Districts, received a five-year grant from the Georgia Department of Education for the implementation of Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education). Project AWARE is a grant program developed and designed to make schools and community safer by increasing mental health awareness and access to resources in our community.
The GSCS Project AWARE team consists of co-coordinators, Greg DeLuzio and Debbie Crisp, mental health clinician Kelly Petaccio and Nicole Jones, administrative assistant. This team will conduct yearly Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings for school employees and adults in the community. After training, Youth Mental Health First Aiders will be equipped to assess needs of students, respond to mental health emergencies and offer support to students in emotional distress.
Read more...
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BOE BRIEFS 
Click HERE for the February 3, Board of Education briefs |
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"eSPLOST V is most important in that it will help us influence the education of our students for the next five years. This is our opportunity to continue to improve our graduation rates which will help transform our community and enhance our economic development.
Since 1997, the citizens of Griffin-Spalding have recognized the fact that our eSPLOST is about our students and their education in a safe, nurturing and learning environment. eSPLOST V will allow us to renovate our schools and upgrade our technology infrastructure to the latest trends. It also provides a regional College and Career Academy, one that will give our students a chance and/or choice to learn a skill or trade. This opportunity will guide our students to a rewarding career thus leading to productive citizens which grows our economy.
We have a goal to increase our graduation rate to 80 percent by the year 2020. The class of 2020 is currently in the 7th grade. eSPLOST V can help us reach that goal but it has to be a community effort with all of us working together to support our students. They deserve our best and more!"
~ Pete Graham
Griffin-Spalding Board of Education
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 STATE HEALTH RULE CHANGE Regarding Qualifying Events (any change in family status, employment status, or insurance coverage): - You have 31 days from the date of the event to declare the event with State Health if you don't want to lose the opportunity for coverage between open enrollment periods, however, you must declare the qualifying event on the event date or you will be subject to having a lapse in coverage for one month. Details are found in the decision guide (see below).
- You can declare the qualifying event one of two ways: Call SHBP at 1-800-610-1863 or go on-line through the portal at https://myshbpga.adp.com/shbp/
- Once the qualifying event has been declared, you will receive a Cover Letter from State Health with instructions on how to submit the supportive documentation, a list of what documentation is approved and a dead line to get the documentation submitted. State Health will approve the qualifying event for one month but will cancel the qualifying event if they do not receive the documentation by the deadline. The cover letter will arrive within a couple of days to the address that is on file with State Health.
- Any changes that are made will result in a change with your premium. Please be aware that once State Health makes that change on the bill, it will be reflected on your paycheck.
- If you do not receive the cover letter or new cards once the supportive documentation has been submitted, it will be your responsibility to contact State Health directly at the number listed above.
For more details you can go to our benefits website www.mygscsbenefits.com and hover your mouse over the "employee benefits" tab and click on state health to access the decision guide. |
 2015 TEACHER RETIREMENT WORKSHOP TRS MEMBERS ONLY The upcoming Teachers Retirement Workshop is scheduled for February 24, 2015, in the GSCS Learning Center. You can register online by following the instructions below. All who are interested in the workshop are invited to register.
To register for either event, follow these easy steps: - Visit www.trsga.com
- Click on Account Log-in at the top of the page
- Click on Active Member Login (If you experience difficulty logging in, you will need to contact TRS directly, as HR does not have access to your personal account 404-352-6500)
- Look under: "I Want To" and click on register for an event
- There is NO event code, just search for our school system
- Click Register
- Once you have registered, you should receive a confirmation email
If you have any questions contact Kathy Gossett at
ext. 353 or kathy.gossett@gscs.org.
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"This eSPLOST is vital to the educational needs of our community and I cannot think of a better way to finance those needs. This methodology allows each individual that shops in the Griffin area to help pay for those identified needs. I ask each voter to think of how you were aided with your education. It should be a pleasure to aid those students currently in the Griffin-Spalding County School System."
~ Zach Holmes
Griffin-Spalding Board of Education
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LIVING HEALTHIER WITH LESS
STRESS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COURSE
Provided by: Spalding Regional Hospital
February is Heart Healthy Month!
 On February 13, 2015, medical professionals from Spalding Regional Hospital will provide the professional learning course, "Living Healthier with Less Stress" for both certified and classified employees. This course is being offered in response to the 2014 Fall GSCS Employee Satisfaction Survey which indicated a need for GSCS to provide more health related training. Courses that would lead to reducing stress, having a healthy heart and a more healthy work/life balance.
Heart disease is not just for men. About one woman dies every minute from cardiovascular disease and 64 percent of women who die suddenly of heart disease did not have any previous symptoms. Heart attack symptoms displayed by men and women are considerably different. But you can take an active role in preventing cardiovascular disease by managing your risk factors.
We challenge each employee to take the "Heart Healthy Challenge" and make one heart healthy change this month. Strive to be healthier this year by making heart healthy changes a habit! Read these articles and learn more:
Heart Attach Warning Signs for Women
Heart Disease in Women
Sign up now in PD Express to learn more about having a healthy heart, heart attack symptoms, risk factors, warning signs, stroke prevention and much more!
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"A college and career academy is an outstanding educational model to partner with business and industry, community leaders, school systems and post-secondary institutions to prepare students for life and work. The Griffin Regional College and Career Academy will jump start careers for our students by providing them career paths and will stimulate the economy by providing a trained workforce."
~ Barbara Jo Cook
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Click HERE for our non-discrimination statement.
Laura Beaber, Editor
GSCS Communications and Partnerships Department
PO Drawer N
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