Maxwell Nickel, a KBSutton Elementary School fourth grader, recently won an online poetry competition with his entry, Sweet Africa.  Here is his poem:

Sweet Africa

The buffalo picks insects off its fur at sundown
As the zebras travel in packs at noon
Far from the pyramids of Egypt
To the sun-baked beaches of Madagascar and its islands
The inhabitants of sweet Africa roam

The giraffe sways its long neck in the morning
And as the wild pigs lie in the puddles of mud
the wildlife of sweet Africa thrives

And though it thrives,
I ask myself,
will we still have it tomorrow?
For it thrives, for it thrives!
But the hunters and the fishers,
and their brothers and their sisters,
might someday take our beauties away

So the next time you go visit the Nile
or the outbacks of the Sahara
just enjoy it
for it might be gone, sometime soon

Mrs. Melissa Smith, KBSutton Elementary School Counselor, was recognized for coordinating the schoolwide mentoring program, Roundtable Chatter.  The program was recently recognized by the Georgia Association of Elementary School Principals with the prestigious School Bell Award.

KBSutton Elementary staff members were recognized for their years of service to Monroe County Schools.  They are Leigh Hanson, 5 years; Leanna Linnenkohl, 10 years; Jason Morrow, 10 years; Misti Sikes, 10 years; Johnnie Skelton, 10 years; Patricia Watson, 10 years; Sheri Williams, 10 years; Joanne Binns, 25 years.  Pictured above are:  Assistant Superintendent Jackson Daniel, KBS Principal Becky Brown, KBS Assistant Principal Joanne Binns, Dr. Sheri Williams, Johnnie Skelton, Misti Sikes, Leanna Linnenkohl, and Superintendent Dr. Mike Hickman.

At the October MCBOE meeting, Parent Coordinator Brandi Pye shared parent involvement activities and training throughout the system.  If you are interested in volunteering, see our website at http://www.monroe.k12.ga.us and click on the volunteer badge.  To see the parent involvement presentation, click here.

MCMS staff members Christina Chapman, Instructional Coach, and Ashley Tarver, Remedial Program Teacher, shared the MCMS program for remediation for English/Language Arts and Mathematics.  MCMS uses a variety of means including online learning and the workshop model to impact student progress in these areas.  To see their presentation,

Congratulations to the third grade team at Hubbard Elementary School!  The team is the 2016 Georgia Department of Natural Resources "Conservation Teacher of the Year."  This accolade includes a $1000 grant to maintain their ecological bog that they have developed with their students.  Congratulations to these staff members, Katie Whitley, Tiffani Smith, Marnai Boose, Lynn Grizzard, and Amy Carter for their "Georgia Native Bog Gardens" project!  Their proposal was inspired by their students' idea to divert water from a regularly flooded area between two school wings into a bog garden that they will construct.  In addition to solving a condensation problem, the bog garden will serve as a great place to learn about native plant and animal interactions while covering several K-5 curriculum standards.  Through various activities, the teachers will help their students hone the 4 C's of 21st Century Learning: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication.  Additional support for the project will come from parents, local gardeners, and the Georgia Farm Bureau.  

To make sure the bog garden will be maintained and used as a teaching aid in the future, they developed a long-term sustainability plan.  Furthermore, their students will write a guide explaining how to start and maintain a Georgia bog garden, which can serve as a model for other schools. 

Georgia's 2017 Teacher of the Year, Casey Bethel, recently visited Monroe County Middle School classes.  As a thank you gift for hosting him for the day, he provided lab coats for the students.  Pictured above are Mrs. Jennifer Pippin's eighth grade students in their new lab coats.  Thank you, Mr. Bethel!

	Pictured L to R: CGEMC Board Member Phil Ham; Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber President CEO Cheri Sparks; Monroe County Schools Assistant Superintendent Alicia Elder; Monroe County Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Hickman; CGEMC Vice President of Field Services Ben Thomason.

 

Central Georgia EMC (CGEMC), an electric membership cooperative headquartered in Jackson, Georgia, hand delivered 22 checks this month totaling $107,980.00 to area Chambers of Commerce, School Boards, and Industrial Development Authorities throughout the service territory.

 

These funds come from unclaimed capital credits that remain with CGEMC after five years. Unclaimed capital credits that remain after five years stay in the communities served by Central Georgia EMC for the sole purposes of funding education, economic development, and 501 (c) (3) charitable organizations in the EMC service area.

 

Capital credits are margins over and above the cost of providing service for members of Central Georgia EMC for a specific year, after Central Georgia EMC's financial obligations have been met. According to unique cooperative business principles, capital credits may be returned to each member on a pro-rata basis with a schedule determined by the respective EMC management and the board of directors. The amount of unclaimed capital credits will fluctuate annually, depending on the amount of capital credits refunded to members in a given year. 

 

Central Georgia EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to over 54,000 billed meters in 14 counties (Bibb, Butts, Clayton, Fayette, Henry, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Pike, Putnam, and Spalding).

Monroe County Schools has contracted with Dr. Kevin Raczynski to work with teachers to improve literacy instruction based on a needs assessment from the elementary, middle, and high school levels.  His support will focus on how writing practices should be aligned with curriculum, assessment, and instruction through the use of open-ended assessment items.  

The Georgia Department of Education announced today an online survey to get the public's feedback on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In addition to the survey, eight feedback sessions are being held throughout the state to allow all citizens to give input on Georgia's ESSA plan.

The Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner sponsors a statewide poster, essay, and calendar contest yearly.  Hubbard Elementary School winners in the recent state fire safety poster contest are:
Kindergarten First Place Poster Winner Carly Hicks    

Kindergarten Second Place Poster Winner  Carson Allen   

1st Grade  First Place Poster Winner  Traveona Brown    

1st Grade Second Place Poster Winner  Savannah Grace Banks   

2nd Grade First Place Poster Winner Daniel Jungberg   

2nd Grade Third Place Poster Winner Joey King   

KBSutton Elementary School winners in the recent state fire safety poster contest are:
3rd Grade First Place Poster Winner Alecia Gifford
Honorable mentions are: Breyona Wilson, 4th grade; Caleb Ellison, Annabelle Potts, and Sophie Brown, 3rd grade; Anna Thompson, 1st grade.

http://apps.gadoe.org/schoolclimate/parents.nsf/Survey.xsp 

Monroe County Schools will participate in Red Ribbon Week during this week. Students of all ages can take a stand against drugs.