Braves blast Warriors in home opener

(Union Recorder)

Expanded exploratory options in place at public schools

(Union Recorder)

September is Attendance Awareness Month

The Baldwin County School District is pleased to announce our participation in Attendance Awareness Month. This campaign takes place during the month of September and is an incredible opportunity to build awareness in our schools and community about how critical attendance is to the academic development and success of our students. Under this year’s theme, Engagement = Attendance, we are emphasizing the important role everyone can play in creating a welcoming and engaging school environment that motivates students and families to come to school every day.

“Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students attend school every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life”, said Superintendent Dr. Noris Price. 

Absences can add up quickly. A child is chronically absent if he or she misses just two days every month! That’s why the Baldwin County School District is joining a nationwide Superintendents Call to Action: Missing School Matters and pledging to make improved attendance a top priority for this school year. By supporting the Call to Action, our district joins a growing national movement of school leaders looking beyond average daily attendance and truancy numbers to identify and address the challenges that keep students from getting to school every day. 

“We are committed to dedicating the resources and attention to reducing chronic absenteeism rates, with a focus starting as early as kindergarten. We are working hard to build awareness so that students and their families know the key to their future success depends on them walking into our schools and classrooms every single day. When you miss school, you miss out,” said Superintendent Price.

Each school in the district will be developing their own respective campaigns to highlight the importance of attendance to their students and families throughout the month of September.

Schools cannot do this alone and that is why we are calling on the whole community to help. Please join us in our effort to make every day count!   

On August 21, 2017, the students and staff of the Baldwin County School District were treated to the largest science lesson in the galaxy as the glaring sun and heat were briefly calmed as the moon made its way between the earth and sun. The partial solar eclipse even dimmed the lights enough for our facilities automatic light sensors to think the sun was setting and night falling over central Georgia.

 

Thanks to Georgia College, one of the BCSD's Partners In Education, every student in the district received a free pair of eclipse glasses so that they could enjoy this once in a lifetime experience safely and with their own eyes. 

(Click here to be taken to the facebook photo album)

Thanks to the Georgia Youth Science and Technology Center (GYSTC), the Midway Hills Primary Bears were treated to a tour of the stars in the StarLab Planetarium. Starlab, a mobile planetarium, affords schools the opportunity to organize in-house field trips that provide interactive learning experiences for our students. The StarLab replicates the night sky and allows our students to learn about the stars and constellations along with their movements across the sky during different seasons. This lesson was led by Erin Youman and Dean Laskey of GYSTC.

The Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers is dedicated to promoting student interest and achievement in science and mathematics. As their mission states, Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers, Inc. strives to provide quality programs for teachers of STEM subjects that improve the teaching and learning process at the kindergarten through eighth grade levels. 

Last month a representative from Healthways (Wellness Program with State Health Benefit Plan), Ms. Conya Gibson conducted a wellness session with our bus drivers and bus monitors. They participated in a meal demonstration entitled "salad in a jar" and learned how to prepare healthy meals.

Events like the hosting of Healthways is just one example of the many events that we host throughout the year to promote healthy living for our staff, keeping them healthy and strong to continue the good work we're doing here at the Baldwin County Schools.

The Baldwin County School District staff hosted Georgia Forward's Young Gamechangers program, organized by the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce. 

Superintendent Dr. Noris Price, along with Baldwin High School (BHS) Principal Dr. Cloise Williams, Assistant Superindent Dr. Sharon Simmons, and BHS student-ambassadors, led the Young Gamechangers on guided tour of BHS. The group was able to see all of the amenities and programs we're able to offer our students and families here in Baldwin County. BHS has undergone an incredible transformation over the past three years setting an all-time record high graduation rate of 86%, an increase of 20% over the same timeframe and a full four points higher than the state average. They were also treated to a tour of the Baldwin College and Career Academy, boasting a 98% graduation rate among participants, a program that prepares students to be college or career ready the moment they graduate. 

 

Young Gamechangers is a leadership action program that brings together 50 of Georgia’s brightest minds under the age of 40, to help solve persistent challenges of one Georgia community. Each class works for six months to generate big ideas and recommendations for persistent challenges in a Georgia community which they present to the community at the conclusion of the program.

The Baldwin County School District hosted national education speaker Dr. John Tanner as he discusses some of the drawbacks school districts face with regard to accountability measures from state and federal governments. Dr. Tanner focused on the growth of the school rating movement across the nation, misconceptions about school ratings, how ratings are impacting states, and the need for community-based school accountability plans.

 

The event was open to the public and business leaders, elected officials, school boards, community members, PTOs and other parent groups, chambers of commerce, clergy, realtors, school teams and district administrators.

 

Within communities across Georgia, there is disillusionment with the national trend of using A-F scales to rate schools. To help community builders understand school accountability measures, PAGE is hosting statewide meetings featuring national speaker John Tanner, author of “The Pitfalls of Reform: Its Incompatibility with Actual Improvement.”

Student Information Specialist Jennifer Combs comes to us from Wilkinson County with 23 years experience. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Georgia Southwestern State University in 2014. Ms. Combs has held the position of Bookkeeper, Lead Registrar, and Student Record Specialist. She has worked at the Primary, Elementary, and High School levels.  Ms. Combs has also worked with various Student Information Systems including Osiris, SASIxp, and PowerSchool. She has been using PowerSchool since 2004. 

Central Registrar Ms. Shonta Fluellen is a two time graduate of Georgia Military College with A.S. degrees in Business Administration and Criminal Justice. She is currently pursuing her B.A. in Technical Business with a minor in HR at Devry University. After graduation from GMC, she launched her career in the financial industry. That eventually lead her to a six year career change into communication sales for a Fortune 500 company until finance called her back home. As a result, for the last two years she served as a Personal Banker before transitioning into Service Manager for Wells Fargo. With over 10 years of combined experience in financial solutions, management, and communication. Ms. Fluellen believes greatly that customer service is at the heart of who she is and that every job is a self portrait of the person who does it so you should autograph your work with excellence. Ms. Fluellen looks forward to embarking on this new journey and joining the BOE team.

student services. Coordinator of Assessment & Accountability Shane Purdy comes to Baldwin County with 20 years of educational experience. He has been a teacher for 12 years at the high school level in the area of English and Language Arts as well as teaching AP courses. During those 12 years, he also served as a coach in basketball and football. He then moved his career forward in the area of administration. He has been an assistant principal and principal at the high school and middle school levels. He also has served as the athletic director at those those levels. Most currently Mr. Purdy has held district office positions overseeing curriculum, operations and other

Executive Assistant to the Superintendent, Ms. Gina Whitaker comes to Baldwin County from the Georgia School Board's Association where she worked for eBOARDsolutions. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from The Montevallo University in Counseling & Guidance and a Master of Science Education from Walden University. Her focus was on lesson plan development and the learning styles of students. She comes to Baldwin County with 6 years of experience with the Pike County Board of Education where she supported all departments in their day-to-day operations and 7 years of experience working with the Spalding County Department of Family & Children Services, as an investigator. Ms. Gina is looking forward to making Milledgeville her permanent home and working with the Baldwin County School System.  

Attendance Officer Willie Mae Wright is a graduate of Lithonia High School in Dekalb County, GA. She received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master in Criminal Justice from Georgia College and State University. Before coming to the Baldwin County School system Ms. Wright worked with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice as a Supervisor over the Intake Unit in Bibb County. She has also held the position of Foster Care case manager with Bibb County DFCS and a home health case manager with SOURCE Care Management. Ms. Wright has been fortunate to work with individuals from all walks of life from the mentally ill, individual dealing with substance abuse, to working with individuals incarcerated in our prison system. But her greatest pleasure is working with our youth and trying to make a positive difference in their lives. 

(Photo Courtesy of Janet Callaway)

The Baldwin High School Braves put on a dominating performance in their 2017 home opener against Wilkinson County, putting up 45 points while holding Wilkinson scoreless through the entire contest. 

 

While the Braves did have a few kinks to work out that come with early season games, their offensive and defensive units put on solid performances overall, dominating both on the ground and through the air. 

 

The Braves have an upcoming bye week and will resume play on September 8th as they travel to take on Washington County. 

 Please come out and support our Baldwin Braves under the Friday Night Lights. 

The 2017-2018 Football Schedule can be found below.

Please find below a link to the tax digest notice to citizens of Baldwin County. You can click the link below to download the pdf notice.

(Click here to download the Tax Digest Notice)

Never worry about where your child's bus is ever again! Thanks to new and innovative technology that the Baldwin County School District has invested in, parents of our students can now get real-time updates on their child's bus location through the MyStop app, available for download in the iTunes or Android marketplace. 

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MyStop provides parents or legal guardians a live look at their child's bus while in transit using GPS technology. Parents can see the exact location of the bus, as it's moving along its route and can even provide an estimated time of arrival.

The app, produced by Tyler technologies, also offers parents other information like what school they're zoned for, what bus number their child will ride and the closest bus stop from their home. You can find more information about the app and its features by going to the website, hovering on "Parents" and making the "Where's My Bus?" selection from the drop down menu.

The Georgia Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) is a free online tool developed by the Georgia Department of Education to help districts, schools and teachers make data-driven decisions to improve student learning. 

Parents now have access to their children's SLDS data through the SLDS Parent Portal . The SLDS Parent Portal is accessible to parents directly through PowerSchool, our student information system - that means no additional logins and passwords to remember!

PowerSchool is the Baldwin County Schools Student Information System and provides parents with an incredible tool that will monitor the progress of your child. Go to our website and login now to gain access to your child's attendance, grades and more!

PowerSchool has made some changes to make accessing your child's information quick and easy. Just follow the link to the directions on our website to setup your account, or if you are already familiar with PowerSchool, you can login now!

The BCSD wanted to let all of our stakeholders know about an exciting option that's available for our students and families who qualify. Charter Internet offers a discounted price of $14.99 month for high-speed internet access to our students who are also recipients of one of the following programs:

National School Lunch Program (NSLP); free or reduced cost lunch

Community Eligibility Provision of the NSLP

Supplemental Security Income

For more information on how to take advantage of this incredible deal, please follow the link below.

Click here for more information about this offer