GSCS
CENTRAL OFFICE EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH
Pre-K Director
Pearla provides exceptional service to the students and families in Spalding County. Always ready to take on any task, Pearla keeps her focus on student success.
Cathy Bagley,
CO Custodian
Cathy helps everyone with a smile. No matter what is asked or how behind she may be with her planned work, she is always willing to lend a hand. Cathy is faithful to GSCS and is a friend to everyone.
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PIE GRANTS AWARDED TO SHS
The Griffin-Spalding Partners in Education awarded four additional grants this week to Spalding High School teachers. This brings the final total to over $33,000 in grants awarded to teachers.
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SHS teacher, Dee Joiner, jumps for joy to get $300 for the "Statistically Significant SEC" field trip!
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Click HERE to view the updated list of 2015 PIE grant winners.
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DIABETES AWARENESS MONTH
This November, the American Diabetes Association is inspiring Americans to eat well by equipping them with tips for planning and preparing healthy meals.
Click HERE for great go-to resources like meal planning guides, shopping tips, grocery lists, food prep tips and tricks and delicious recipes from some amazing chefs!
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SHOES FOR GRIFFIN PROJECT
The Shoes for Griffin project supports the efforts of the Spalding Collaborative Backpack Food for Kids program. The goal of Shoes for Griffin is to provide a new pair of shoes for each of these students for Christmas.
Click HERE to view the flyer for more information.
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GHS NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTION
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Pictured: GHS Principal Dr. Darrell Evans, Faculty Adviser Amy Lawrence and the 10 newest members of the GHS Chapter of National Honor Society.
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 Dear (Contact First Name),
This was a big week for our school district. Two very important decisions were made that impact our instructional program significantly.
The first was the adoption of a 2016-17 school calendar by our Board of Education. To put the discussion into context, consider that when we think of resources at our disposal to conduct school we often immediately identify personnel and financial resources. However, time may be just as important as either of these and maybe even more so. Time spent with students, time engaged in professional development and time dedicated to planning and collaboration underpin the effectiveness of our instructional program. Calendar discussions centered on the best use of the time we have available. I heard that teachers are too often taken from the classroom to attend professional development activities. One change to the school calendar that was proposed and subsequently adopted transformed five student days into five professional development days spread throughout the school year. As a result, teachers will work a 190-day contract but students will attend 175 days. While this may not totally eliminate the need for additional professional development time, having those five days dedicated to professional learning will reduce the disruption of class time. In addition, professional learning days are placed near the end of the nine-week grading periods and semester breaks allowing time to review instructional progress of students and make modifications accordingly. Yes, originally proposed calendars included only a long weekend break in October. But we carefully considered the results of our request for feedback. Many of you took time to respond to the survey and we appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Based on the feedback received, staff looked for ways to meet our desire to include dedicated professional development time while also satisfying many traditional parameters such as start and end dates, breaks, testing windows, etc. It is hard to meet every interest. But, in the end, the Board adopted a calendar incorporating feedback you deemed important while also meeting our objective of transforming the use of our time. Fall Break is back in for 2016-17. The second important decision that was made was that the State Board of Education approved our contract making Griffin-Spalding a "Strategic Waiver District" formerly known as IE2. The contract allows flexibility from various state laws and regulations in exchange for accountability to meet defined improvements in our CCRPI scores. We now have flexibility to design our instructional program without the traditional constraints of expenditure controls, class size requirements, program formats, seat time, etc. In short, we can assess our needs and design accordingly, free from many external requirements. We just have to demonstrate targeted growth in student achievement as defined under the CCRPI formula. The creative use of many flexibilities will find their way into our new five-year strategic plan currently under design. This is an exciting opportunity for GSCS! Thanks for what you do in service to the students who pass through our doors daily.
Jim Smith
Superintendent
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| GSCS 2016-17 TEACHER OF THE YEAR |
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| | McGavin was recognized at the November BOE meeting. |
Candidates from all 19 schools completed the screening process that included judging by three committees consisting of last year's Teacher of the Year finalist, community leaders and retired educators from other districts. These three teachers had classroom observations from instructional specialists and participated in a personal interview. Our winner will now represent the district in the state Teacher of the Year process.
Jonathan McGavin has been employed by the Griffin-Spalding County School System for almost 10 years. He began his teaching career in 2006 at Beaverbrook Elementary where he taught first and fourth grade. In 2008, he transferred to Orrs Elementary and is currently teaching fifth grade math and science. In addition to teaching, he also serves on the school's character education team, National Jr. Beta Club team, Fathers Being Involved (FBI) program and as a new teacher mentor.
"Watty Piper wrote it best in the book, The Little Engine that Could. The quote, "I think I can, I think I can," holds true in my classroom. I believe that if you think you can do something and put in all of the necessary work to achieve a goal, you will succeed. I teach my class everyday based off this belief and I do my best to instill this belief in each and every student that crosses my threshold. Too often students say 'I can't' when the going gets tough but in my class those words are not acceptable," stated McGavin.
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| 2016-17 GSCS SCHOOL CALENDAR |
 Click HERE to view the board
approved 2016-17 school calendar. |
Click HERE to view the November 3, 2015,
Griffin-Spalding Board of Education meeting briefs.
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| The Lady Bears were recognized for receiving the NSCAA High School Team Academic Award for the 2014-15 school year for having an outstanding grade point average.
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| | October's District Most Valuable Parent (MVP) Judy Baumann from Futral Road Elementary |
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| NOVEMBER PAYROLL |
 Mark you calendars....
November's payroll will be
paid on November 30, 2015.
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STRATEGIC WAIVER DISTRICT VOTE
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 The state Board of Education approved the GSCS application to be a strategic waiver district. |
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"MOST SUCCESSFUL MEN HAVE NOT ACHIEVED THEIR DISTINCTION BY HAVING SOME NEW TALENT OR OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED TO THEM. THEY HAVE DEVELOPED THE OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS AT HAND."
~ Bruce Barton
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| GSCS SOCIAL SECURITY SEMINAR |
 HR will host a Social Security and Your Retirement Seminar on November 12, in the GSCS Learning Center from 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm.
This educational seminar from VALIC will cover:
- How Social Security benefits impact retirement
- Strategies to maximize your benefits
- Converting your retirement savings into income that meets your retirement needs
Click HERE to see the flyer for more details. |
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OPINIONS OF OUR FINANCIAL AUDITORS
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 In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of Griffin-Spalding County School System, as of June 30, 2015, and the respective change in financial position thereof and the respective budgetary comparison for the General Fund for the year then ended in accordance with the principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Congratulations to the GSCS Finance Department for a job well done! |
| GSCS CUSTODIANS TREATED FOR CLEANLINESS |
On November 5, the custodians at Kennedy Road Middle School (1st place) and Moreland Road Elementary School (2nd place) were treated to a celebration luncheon for having the cleanest schools in the Griffin-Spalding County School System. The lunch was provided by Specialty Products of Griffin which provides the cleaning supplies for all GSCS schools. Construction and Facilities Director Bruce Ballard said, "We are very proud of their efforts and the cleanliness of their schools. They do an outstanding job and it shows!"
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Pictured (L-R): Front row - Linda Colquitt (KRMS), Norma Stansell (MRE) and Katrina Boggs (MRE). Back row - Ralph Berry (KRMS), Jerome Barkley (KRMS), Lynwood Goodrum (KRMS), Robert Brown (MRE) and Tommie Coleman (MRE).
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| SHBP WELL-BEING INCENTIVE CREDITS |
 Did you know that if you enroll in any of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia or UnitedHealthcare non-Medicare Advantage plan options, you will be eligible to earn up to 480 well-being incentive credits? The State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP) is once again offering you and your covered spouse the opportunity to earn well-being incentive credits for the 2016 Plan Year.
For more information on how to earn well-being incentive credits, click HERE and listen to SHBP's latest educational podcast. |
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| | Look how KRMS is using the data from their student health survey. |
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