GSCS COMMUNICATOR

System-wide straight talk for employees

January 22-29, 2016

In This Issue

GOVERNOR'S OFFICE VISITS JRE

STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL

GSCS GRIEVANCES & COMPLAINTS

2016 WELLNESS OBLIGATIONS

THE NINJA ACADEMY IS BACK!

PROPOSED NEW SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS OPEN FOR 60-DAY PUBLIC COMMENT

THE SCIENCE OF CLASSROOM DESIGN INFOGRAPHIC

POSITIVE THINGS OCCURRING IN GRIFFIN-SPALDING

GSCS KINDERGARTENERS CELEBRATE THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL!

GSCS
ELEMENTARY
EMPLOYEES

OF THE MONTH

ANNE STREET
ELEMENTARY

Anne Street Elementary

would like to recognize Donnell Cox and Stacy Upchurch as our Employees of the Month. Mr. Cox is a great role model and helps create a positive atmosphere.

Ms. Upchurch is always supportive, pleasant and helpful. She helps make the school run smoothly.

BEAVERBROOK ELEMENTARY

Beaverbrook Elementary School's Employees of the Month are Samantha Bowlden, Marlena Bell and Amber Dean. All three of these teachers are innovative, eager to move forward with technology and always willing to share ideas. They are well loved by students and respected by parents and peers. They are all former students of Beaverbrook Elementary and we are proud of them!

COWAN ROAD ELEMENTARY

Cowan Road Elementary Employee of the Month is Kimberly Farr! Kimberly helps in the office and throughout the school. If she sees a need, she jumps right in to help so that Cowan Road can run smoothly. We love and appreciate Coach K!

CRESCENT ELEMENTARY

Kudos to our Employee of the Month Kathy Pearl for her consistent positive attitude through it all. She goes above and beyond when a new family walks in the door. Transferring mid-year can be difficult, but she helps make that first step into our school exciting and puts minds at ease. She is customer service at its best!

FUTRAL ROAD ELEMENTARY

Nicole Hudson is the Employee of the Month for FRE. Mrs. Hudson has been a wonderful asset to our school! She works hard every day to support our teachers and

make us better. Thank you

Mrs. Hudson!

JACKSON ROAD ELEMENTARY

The JRE Employee of the Month

is Amy Brown. Amy is amazingly innovative. She is always searching for exciting and innovative ways to increase student engagement. She was very instrumental in getting our fabulous Makerspace

running and has also

incorporated interesting ideas

into her instruction. She has transformed her room into an operating room and created "snowmegeddon" in her room to get students excited and engaged.

JORDAN HILL ELEMENTARY

The Employees of the Month for JHE are Anna Rivera and Eva Parker. These two ladies are invaluable to us at Jordan Hill. They stepped out on a limb with me this year to try an experiment with our 3rd graders. It has been a little difficult at times but these ladies have persevered. They also assisted in organizing our needy family project for Christmas as well as Make It, Take It Night for PTO. They are always supportive of administration and willing to take on new challenges. They are a positive influence on everyone here at Jordan Hill. Thank You Anna and Eva!

MOORE ELEMENTARY

Moore Elementary recognizes Lenette Harris as the Employee of the Month. Mrs. Harris works tirelessly in her role as the Academic Coach. She spends countless hours supporting our teachers by modeling lessons, providing professional learning on best instructional practices and researching effective instructional resources to increase student achievement and build teacher capacity. Mrs. Harris is a vital asset to Moore Elementary.

MORELAND ROAD ELEMENTARY

The Employees of the Month for Moreland Road are Lisa McPherson and the cafeteria staff. Twice a year for the past 11 years, MRE has received a perfect score of 100 on their health inspection (except for one 98 many years ago). Those inspections are very thorough. How many restaurants in Griffin, or anywhere, do you see a health inspection score of 100? It is VERY rare! Hats off to our lunch ladies for providing a very clean and safe cafeteria for our students and staff. Awesome job!

ORRS ELEMENTARY

Orr's certified Employee of the Month for January is the Academic Coach Melanie Lockett. Ms. Lockett is a great multi-tasker who gets the job done. She is able to work with teachers and students and meet the needs of all. The classified Employee of the Month is our custodian Greg McWell. He has a great passion and love for our school, students and staff.

GRIFFIN RESA MATH CONTEST

SHS was awarded third place for Division II (Medium Schools) in the 2016 Griffin RESA Regional High School Math Contest. Congrats!

FREE BASEBALL CLINIC

Griffin Native Tim Beckham was the #1 overall pick in the 2008 Major League draft and currently plays for the Tampa Bay Rays. Tim is bringing some of his professional friends for an instructional fundamental baseball clinic.

Camp Date: Jan. 30

Time: 11am-2pm

Location: GHS

Ages: 7-15

Cost: FREE

Click HERE to register.

* The GHS Baseball

Team will host a one-day camp/meet and greet on Feb. 6 from 12pm-2pm.

GHS STUDENTS CHOSEN TO PERFORM IN HONOR CONCERT

Two GHS students were selected to perform with the University of Mobile Honor Band Concert on Feb. 13, in Mobile, Alabama.

Matthew Smith was selected for trumpet. Luke Sisson was selected for trombone.

Students pictured with GHS Band Director Greg Dumas.

As this is being written, a cold rain is falling with a chance of snow flurries to follow after nightfall. Winter is upon us and with it comes the possibility of disruptive weather. Our practice has been to monitor forecast developments from the National Weather Service and participate in the webinar updates they conduct weekly as well as those conducted more frequently as conditions warrant. In addition, we consult with local and state emergency management officials on expected changes to road conditions impacting our transportation routes. We remain in touch with neighboring school districts and work to make coordinated decisions on school closures as appropriate. Bus drivers and other staff are contacted for updates on conditions where they live in various parts of the county. As you can imagine, the process is not easy and a lot of factors are taken into account for decisions. We want to base our decisions on the best facts we can gather rather than on fear of the uncertain. But, in the end, safety is the prime consideration. If a decision is made to close schools, we try to make that call as early as possible and use various means to communicate with staff and parents including radio, television, social media, phone trees, etc. We will keep you updated as the season progresses. I'm hoping for warm and sunny!

In that regard, on days when school is open we need all of our students and staff to be in school or in their positions supporting school. I don't want to dwell on the negative, but I do want to give you a snapshot of where we stand attendance-wise this year because attendance is so important. As of the end of the first semester, 2,764 students had missed between three and five days of school. Another 2,210 had missed more than six days in the first semester alone. Of that number, 298 had absences totaling more than 15 days. Keep in mind that our total enrollment is in the 10,200 range so you can quickly see the percentage of students missing significant time from class. Staff attendance rates averaged around the 95% mark in the first semester. The number of substitute teachers needed on a given day has exceeded our ability to fill classrooms several times. While unavoidable circumstances can occur, our need to be at work is important. Please keep in mind that our attendance and demonstrated work ethic serve as models for our students as they develop their base of employable soft skills for the future.

Have a safe and warm weekend.

Jim Smith

Superintendent

GOVERNOR'S OFFICE VISITS JRE

The Office of the Governor's Education Outreach Coordinator Pam Williams paid a visit to Jackson Road Elementary on January 20.

The former educator toured JRE thanking administrators, teachers, custodians and nutrition staff for all they do for education in Georgia.

JRE was also featured on their Facebook page. Check it out at: www.facebook.com/GAEducatorsAndLearners/.

STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL

The statewide drill on Wednesday,
Feb. 3 will be a tornado drill (not a fire drill as stated in last week's Communicator). City and county fire officials will be present to observe the drill and provide feedback.

GSCS GRIEVANCES & COMPLAINTS (Policy KN)

It is the policy of the Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education that grievances and complaints relating to school matters are to be recognized and addressed in an orderly manner. Grievances and complaints shall be addressed from parents, students, staff, private schools and other concerned organizations or individuals in the general public. Grievances and complaints shall be handled and resolved, whenever possible, as close to their origin as possible. For the purposes of this policy, a grievance is defined as any claim by a member of the public that the action or operation of the school district or the Board of Education is in violation of the law or Board policy. Any claim that does not meet the definition of grievance will be considered a complaint and it will be handled through routine administrative procedures.

2016 WELLNESS OBLIGATIONS

Find out how to add money to your SHBP account with 2016 incentives. For more details, refer to the 2016 SHBP Decision Guide on www.mygscsbenefits.com under the "Employee Benefits" tab by clicking on State Health.

BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD AND UNTIED HEALTHCARE:

Go to www.BeWellSHBP.com and complete the well-being actions on this chart with Healthways between January 1 and December 15, 2016.

KAISER PERMANENTE:

Sign up for the Kaiser Permanente Wellness program at my.kp.org/shbp and make sure that you are up-to-date on all four of the activities listed on this chart.

THE NINJA ACADEMY IS BACK!

The new Ninja Academy is housed in Google Classroom. Access the class by visiting classroom.google.com. Click the plus (+) sign in the upper right-hand corner to join a class. The class code for the academy is 4cop8j.

If you have difficulty accessing Google Classroom email lonny.harper@gscs.org.

For more updates, be sure to check your Tuesday Tech Tips email from the GSCS IT Department.

"IT IS THE SUPREME ART OF THE TEACHER TO AWAKEN JOY IN CREATIVE EXPRESSION AND KNOWLEDGE."

~ Albert Einstein

PROPOSED NEW SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS OPEN FOR 60-DAY PUBLIC COMMENT

The State Board of Education has posted, for a 60-day public comment period, the first Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) for science and social studies. If approved, the standards will be implemented in the 2017-18 school year, following a full year of teacher training.

View a simple overview of the science standards HERE and the social studies standards HERE. To give your feedback on the proposed standards, please go to the following surveys:

* Surveys will close on March 14, 2016, 5 P.M.

Click HERE to view full article.

THE SCIENCE OF CLASSROOM DESIGN INFOGRAPHIC

On average, US students spend a whopping 11,700 hours of their lives inside school buildings. Simple changes like a new coat of paint, more natural lighting and less clutter in the classroom can improve academic performance, reduce disruptive behavior and keep students on task. Here are five surprising ways classroom design can help set students up for success.

1. Classroom Layout - Improvements to classroom layout, like creating space for independent work or making a clear pathway to access school supplies, result in a 45% increase in academic engagement.

2. Classroom Color - Purposeful use of color in classrooms and schools can decrease eye fatigue and increase students' productivity.

3. Classroom Walls - Removing clutter on the walls and personalizing student spaces are easy ways to improve student focus, engagement and memorization.

4. Light - Students who are exposed to more daylight in the classroom score 26% higher on math and reading tests than those with less exposure to light.

5. Beyond the Classroom: Digital Spaces - Learning spaces go beyond the classroom walls. Display screens and audio systems are integral to successful digital learning experiences.

Click HERE to view the infographic.

POSITIVE THINGS OCCURRING IN
GRIFFIN-SPALDING