The 2022 STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) Students and Teachers for the Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS) were announced at the Kiwanis Club of Griffin luncheon today. They are:

Kaylee Collins – STAR Student

Jada Ingram - STAR Teacher

Jhaycee Barnes- STAR Student

Dr. Jhondee Barnes - STAR Teacher

To be named a STAR student, a high school senior must have the highest score on any single test date of the SAT taken through the November test date of their senior year and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average. The STAR teacher is selected by the declared high school STAR student for making the most significant contribution to their academic development.

GHS STAR Student Kaylee Collins plans to attend the University of Pennsylvania to major in Nursing. Collins chose her business communication teacher Jada Ingram as her STAR Teacher. Collins said, “Ms. Ingram is a very compassionate educator. She supports her students and is passionate about them being successful.”

SHS STAR Student Jhaycee Barnes plans to attend college to major in Economics-Political Science. Barnes chose her fifth-grade gifted teacher and mother Dr. Jhondee Barnes as her STAR Teacher. Barnes said, “I chose my mom because she has been the biggest teacher in my life both academically and morally.”

Spalding High School STAR Student Jhaycee Barnes and her STAR Teacher Dr. Jhondee Barnes were announced as the county-wide district STAR Student and Teacher. The district STAR Student will compete for region-wide honors in the 12 STAR Regions. Region winners and their STAR Teachers then compete for the Georgia state STAR scholarships and awards.

The Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) serves as the state coordinator of the STAR Program. The program is now in its 65th year and has honored more than 26,500 students and their teachers.

Griffin High School Students Asiyah Moten and Megan Pitts are Health Occupations Student Association (HOSA) State Champs in CERT. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team. This competition tests their knowledge in disaster preparedness and response. They will now be moving on to the International HOSA competition in June. Congratulations!

Thank you to Griffin Fire Chief John Hamilton who worked with them each week throughout the school year to prepare them for this competition.

On March 15, the Griffin High School Bear Battalion received the designation of “Honor Unit with Distinction” during an intensive JROTC Program for Accreditation (JPA) formal inspection from the United States Army. This type of designation is the highest accreditation level that an Army JROTC program can receive across the United States. The Bear Battalion received an overall score of 98.6 percent out of a possible 100 percent.

“Despite a global pandemic, our cadets worked very hard in the classroom and in the community over the last two years to maintain their Honor Unit with Distinction,” said Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Nathaniel Flegler Jr., Senior Army Instructor in charge of the JROTC program at Griffin High School.

Carver Road Middle School (CAMS) Media Specialist Holly Brown is Griffin-Spalding County School System’s (GSCS) 2022 Library Media Specialist of the Year (LMSOTY).

The LMSOTY is awarded for individual excellence in the library media field through service to students, teachers and community at the K-12 level. Brown, nominated by her principal Naja Douglas and CAMS staff, received the highest score on her application by the judging committee and was identified as the school system’s LMSOTY.

Brown’s application stated, “Although Ms. Brown has a passion for reading, her true passion is sharing her love for learning with students. She works tirelessly every day to create a safe and fun environment for students to explore their world through books and crafts. Through events and themed activities, she encourages students to come to the media center, which provides many students with a sense of belonging. Ms. Brown is more than a media specialist. She is also a technician, therapist, social media maven, poster-making magician and the list goes on. She is always willing to lend a helping hand wherever needed. She is beloved by students and staff alike.”

Brown has been the media specialist at Carver Road Middle for two years. She also serves as the school’s Communication Ambassador and Parent Engagement Liaison.

Brown stated, “It is an honor to be named the District Media Specialist of the Year! I love my job here at CAMS. The staff are truly amazing.”

Brown will represent GSCS in the Georgia Library Media Association (GLMA) state-level competition.

Students must be four years old on or before September 1, 2022, to be eligible for the Georgia Pre-K Program.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR ENTERING A GRIFFIN-SPALDING COUNTY SCHOOL

ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

AND ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

Online Registration can be completed at: tinyurl.com/gscsregistration. Kiosks and registration assistance are also available at GSCS Central Registration, 234 E Taylor Street, Griffin, GA 30224. Please retain your Confirmation PIN Number. Required documents can be uploaded during online registration.

For more information, visit www.spalding.k12.ga.us Central Registration page or contact the GSCS Pre-K Office at 770-229-3700 or email chris.bearden@gscs.org or laurie.griffith@gscs.org

Click HERE for the Spanish flyer.

Congrats to Spalding High School Math Team for winning 2nd place in the Griffin RESA 2022 Regional High School Math Competition! Way to go, Jags!

Congrats to Spalding High School Student Rylie Newman for winning first place in the Argumentative Essay at the Regional Literacy Meet in Perry earlier this month. She competed at the GHSA State Literary Championship in Milledgeville, GA on Saturday.

Cowan Road Elementary School Counselor Tonya Jones is the Griffin-Spalding County School System’s (GSCS) 2022 School Counselor of the Year.

GSCS introduced School Counselor of the Year three years ago as a way to show appreciation and give special recognition to our outstanding school counselors.

Nominees must demonstrate many high-quality attributes and skills including, but not limited to the following: the support of students in the areas of career education, social-emotional intelligence and academic development; demonstrating positive leadership; advocacy for students’ and staff’s best interests; collaboration with other professionals and outside programs and service. The nominee must exhibit the highest levels of professionalism and personal ethical standards.

GSCS School Counselor of the Year candidates may be nominated by school administrators, staff, students, parents or fellow counselors. A committee comprised of three administrators (one from each grade-band) select the GSCS School Counselor of the Year based on the nominations that are submitted, supporting documents that include an essay and question responses and a formal interview with selected finalists.

In her essay, Jones wrote, “My goal as a school counselor is to ensure student success and in order to fulfill this goal students must be emotionally and mentally healthy. I am proud to have meaningful relationship with staff and students that is built on trust and honesty. My leadership style is that of a servant leader in which my main goal is to serve. Ultimately, serving the students is the most important to me.”

Jones nominees wrote, “Ms. Jones exhibits an abundance of knowledge on how to support our students. Her roles go beyond her normal duties. She encourages, supports and expresses genuine love to all our scholars. She always makes sure that students’ academic and emotional needs are met with fidelity. She is a great advocate for our students.”

Click HERE for more information on school choice.

On March 7 and 9, the Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS) Human Resources Department surprised 11 employees in their classroom with checks for $1,500. These employees were awarded a Grow Our Own Scholarship to assist them in their journey to become certified educators.

Qualified employees must be enrolled in a Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC) approved teacher preparation program at a college/university or in Georgia Teacher Academy of Preparation and Pedagogy (GaTAPP) to earn their initial teaching certification. Candidates for the scholarship completed an application that included two professional references and a personal essay outlining their desire to teach and the contribution they would make to the profession. The applications were judged by a panel of district office administrators and 11 scholarships were awarded.

Congratulations to these GSCS Grow Our Own Scholarship Recipients:

Alicia Best-Orrs Elementary

Ashley Smith-Cowan Road Elementary

Courtney Bridges-Crescent Elementary

Crystal Hardy-Futral Road Elementary

Diana Nicolson-Beaverbrook Elementary

Jennifer Anthony-Mainstay Academy

Niesha Middlebrooks-Jordan Hill Elementary

Quantico Dodson-Williams-Jordan Hill Elementary

Stephanie Roberts-Cowan Road Elementary

Tyesha Corbin-Atkinson Elementary

Brittany Jackson-Beaverbrook Elementary

GSCS is committed to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our entire school

community. As part of that commitment, it is critical that every member of our community has an easy way to engage with us and be provided the highest quality customer service.

That’s why we’re using Let’s Talk!, a cloud-based customer service solution that makes it easy for you to ask questions and share concerns. It is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any computer, tablet or smartphone.

Have a question about back-to-school or safety protocols? Want to learn about volunteer

opportunities? Know a teacher or staff member who should be recognized for their hard work?

Simply click the Let’s Talk! button on our district website at www.spalding.k12.ga.us or go directly to Let’s Talk! by clicking HERE. Then select a topic to start a conversation. A timely, accurate response is guaranteed. You can also download the Let's Talk app by searching Let's Talk in your App Store or using these links:

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/my-lets-talk/id1089103047

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myletstalk

Our customer app code is: GS3241

Thank you for being a part of the GSCS family. We look forward to hearing from you.

Chris Bailey is a history and social studies teacher at Griffin High School. He has been teaching for 15 years and has a certification to teach gifted classes. He is the social studies department chair and the content leader for civics and history at Griffin High. Mr. Bailey describes his journey into education as atypical as he decided to become a teacher instead of a college professor in his senior year of college. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in History and a minor in Political Science from Georgia Southern University. After college, he worked for Target, which had been his employer during college. He then served as a substitute teacher, then an in-school suspension instructor. He became a special education teacher and entered the Georgia Teacher Alternative Preparation Program (GATAPP). GATAPP allows college graduates to work as a teacher while they earn their teaching certification. Chris Bailey now has a master’s degree and teaches Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History, AP Human Geography and U.S. History. His experience as a sub, then an in-school suspension instructor, then various types of teaching roles helped him develop his relational skills and classroom management ability. He knows how to “hook” his students and engage them in interactive class discussions. He works to build relationships with his students and he uses visual aids, art, presentations, interactive projects and other media tools to help the students connect with the curriculum material.

Chris Bailey considers teaching his “calling”, not just a job. He stated, “For many teachers, the day does not end when the bell rings. There are emails to answer, assignments to grade, meetings to attend, parents to call and lessons to plan. It is a tough but rewarding profession. It is a nonstop profession but it focuses on the greater good; helping young people become critically-thinking productive citizens. As teachers, we will never sign twenty million dollar deals or be on posters hanging on the walls but we have more influence than any other profession in the world. We are the profession that makes other professions possible.”

Bailey, who is the GHS Teacher of the Year and a top-three finalist for District Teacher of the Year shared, “I would like to communicate to parents that we (teachers) appreciate and need their support. We need to rebuild the triangle of trust: student, parent and teacher all on the same page. Communication between all members in the triangle will ensure the success of the individual student which will ensure the success of the greater community. Parents play an equally important role in the success of their student; simply by instilling the importance of education in their student, they are setting up their young scholar for success.”

One of his students stated, "Mr. Bailey always makes the effort to care about each student. He takes the time to learn whether each student understands what he is teaching. He believed in our class even when we did not. Mr. Bailey not only prepared us for the AP exam but for life.”

The next Griffin-Spalding Board of Education meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 5 at 6 p.m. in the GSCS Learning Center. You can watch the meeting live at https://youtu.be/QsrvepWs-Pw

Public Comment Link: https://forms.gle/vfCYqe7DfBoSUQ668

Graduation:

Thursday, May 26

9:30 a.m.

Griffin Auditorium

Baccalaureate:

Wednesday, May 18

7 p.m.

First Assembly

Graduation:

Friday, May 27

7 p.m.

Memorial Stadium

Baccalaureate:

Wednesday, May 18

7 p.m.

First Assembly

Graduation:

Thursday, May 26

7 p.m.

Memorial Stadium

Baccalaureate:

Monday, May 16

6 p.m.

Oak Hill Church

GRCCA will have Senior Honors Night on either May 18 or May 19 at 6 p.m. at GRCCA. Students may choose which night to participate.

For more graduation information, check out the GSCS Destination Graduation Webpage.

Click HERE for the registration form.

As of March 2022, GSCS enrolled in Engage Georgia – Student Attendance and Engagement Recovery program – with all funding provided by the Georgia Department of Education. Engage Georgia is a state-wide program offered to Georgia's local education agencies (LEAs) to assist schools and families with student engagement by providing intensive outreach, engagement and enhanced support for eligible students in grades K–12.

GSCS will identify students who need help to re-engage with school, based on attendance and academic data. Engage Georgia will provide our identified students with an Academic Success Coach who will answer their questions, connect them with resources and develop plans with them to help them stay on track and engaged with their schooling.

The student intervention experience through Engage Georgia entails a combination of a) outreach from an assigned Academic Success Coach through phone, email, text, social media and US mail; b) risk assessment support and completion; c) Academic Success Coach assignment, personalized education success plan development and on-going support and communication. The program is also available to students during the Summer 2022 months for those families who wish for the support to continue during that period of time.

If you wish to enroll your children to participate in the Engage Georgia Program, please contact ENGAGE Georgia at (404) 618-1106, or email them at EngageGA@graduationalliance.com

You can review more about ENGAGE Georgia in the links below:

As we approach the final two months of instruction for the 2021-2022 school year, there are many significant academic experiences that are vital for your child to be present at school to participate in. These include concluding the curricular content for each of your child’s classes, to ensure their readiness for the next grade level. These also include their preparations to demonstrate their learning on end-of-year assessments such as Georgia Milestones, MAP, final exams and Advanced Placement exams. Every day of instruction is critical for your child to attend.

Within the Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS), we believe that student attendance is key to student success and academic achievement. Please ensure that your child attends school every day, with the exception of illness and unforeseen family emergencies. Please take some time to review GSCS’ Guidelines for Student Attendance and Georgia Department of Education’s Student Attendance Protocol, at this Link.

Here are some important facts about student attendance, provided by Attendance Works (www.AttendanceWorks.org):

1. Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year.

2. Half of the students who miss two to four days in the first month of school, go on to miss nearly a month of school during the year.

3. Over eight million U.S. students miss nearly a month of school each year.

4. Absenteeism and its ill effects start early. One in 10 kindergarten and first-grade students are chronically absent.

5. Poor attendance can influence whether or not children read proficiently by the end of third grade.

6. By sixth grade, chronic absences become a leading indicator that a student may drop out of high school.

7. Missing just two days of school per month negatively affects a student’s academic performance.

8. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances of graduating.

The purpose of Griffin-Spalding County Schools Project AWARE is to increase awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth, provide training in Youth Mental Health First Aid, and connect children, youth, and families who may have behavioral health issues with appropriate services.

Crisis Intervention: Project AWARE clinician will coordinate with school staff to support and provide crisis intervention services to students who may be at risk for harm to self or others. Clinicians will work with families to identify and provide appropriate resources in the community that can best suit the needs of the student in crisis. Clinicians will provide crisis follow-up.

Group Counseling: Project AWARE clinicians will provide small group (4-8 students) based counseling. Group topics include but are not limited to: anger, social skills, self-harm, and anxiety. Groups will be completed within school hours.

Caregiver Groups: Project AWARE team will provide support and training to caregivers in all Griffin-Spalding County Schools. Classes will be offered for caregivers of elementary, middle, and high school students. Topics will include: parenting styles, communication, logical consequences, and much more. Classes are provided in Spalding County.

School and classroom-based interventions: Project AWARE team will provide social skills and mental health consultation and support to school personnel regarding all aspects of mental health. Evidence-based practices will be utilized in classroom guidance for schools throughout the school district.

Care Coordination: Project AWARE team will provide support and case management services to connect students and families in Griffin-Spalding County Schools to appropriate service providers.

Youth and Adult Mental Health First Aid Training: The goal of mental health first aid training is to teach members of the public how to respond in a mental health emergency with youth and adults and to offer support to a young person who appears in emotional distress.

If your child needs additional support, please complete the appropriate form below to let our Project Aware Team know that you would like to speak with someone, and one of our mental health clinicians will contact you soon.

In March, the Griffin High and Spalding High Drama Departments teamed up for the first time ever to present Hairspray. The cast was made up of 45 members, including 13 seniors from GHS and SHS. The students auditioned in December and began working together in January. The students worked hard, built great relationships and put on an amazing performance. What an amazing collaboration! Great job to everyone involved!

Apply Today! Tinyurl.com/GSCSSubs

GSCS now uses Verifent to provide verifiers (banks, mortgage companies, apartment complexes, government agencies and more) with employment and income verifications. As an employee when you apply for an apartment, loan, credit card, government assistance, etc. in many cases you'll need to provide proof of your employment and income.

If asked to prove your employment and income, you will let the verifier know the following information:

If you have any questions, please contact the GSCS HR Department at 770-229-3700.

GSCS COVID-19 data update for Friday, March 25. We will post updated data every Friday. For data by school, please visit: http://www.spalding.k12.ga.us/Students--Parents/COVID-19-Data/index.html

Griffin-Spalding Partner In Education Brightmoor Hospice recognized our social workers last week in celebration of Social Work Appreciation Month. They were given a token of appreciation for the work they do for our students. Thank you Brightmoor Hospice!

Click HERE for information about Chick-fil-A Griffin catering from our partners on Taylor Street.

Click Here to learn about Brightmoor services.

Click HERE for more information.

Click HERE for more information.

Click HERE for more information.

230 West College Street Bldg. C

Griffin, GA 30224

Hours: Tuesdays – 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursdays - 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Fridays – 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Saturdays – 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The 1st 50 people to enroll in a program will get two free FDA-approved body sculpting laser treatments ($700 value)! Code: Health (valid through April 30)

Use the code “Education” when you call to schedule your appointment and get $40 off the $49 medical consultation (which includes a metabolic body scan and consultation)!

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