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The Communicator - March 5, 2019
ECSD Community,

March has arrived and the rapid pace of the second semester seems to always ring true this time of the year. Fifty-five days of the school year remain and we have much to accomplish.

GSAPS reviews have now been completed at each of our school sites, except Blackwell Learning Center. Thank you to all school personnel for your preparations and participation in these school reviews conducted by external teams of educational professionals. We now have up-to-date quantitative and qualitative data from classroom observations, certified staff survey, student achievement results, and interviews providing us a clear picture of the strengths and identified areas of need in each of our schools. This data will be central to the development of our 2019-2020 District and School Improvement Plans.

Work is underway on the FY 2020 Tentative Budget. We are currently focusing on operational plans, staffing, and enrollment projections as we cast our eyes forward to the 2019-2020 school year. Administrative and instructional recommendations for the upcoming school year will be made to the Board of Education at its regular meeting on Monday, March 18. Following Board action at that meeting, our plan is to issue 2019-2020 contracts to certificated personnel on or before Friday, March 29.

March is Music in Our Schools Month and National Nutrition Month. This is the perfect time for us to remind our school community that we have highly successful music programs in each of our K-12 schools, as well as great plans for the future. Likewise, our school nutrition program is a state leader having been recognized as a Golden Radish Award winner (highest level) and a trailblazer in the Georgia Farm to School program. Other celebrations this month include: Girl Scouts Day (March 12), National Pi Day (March 14), St. Patrick's Day (March 17), Spring Equinox (March 20), and many more .

Finally, I hope you are following along with our district and schools through our websites and various social media channels. Last week, we announced the release of our district's new mobile app that can be downloaded for free at Apple or Google Play. Using the mobile app, it has become easier than ever to keep up with news, events, announcements, notifications, etc. from all of our schools. We always value your feedback, so don't hesitate to let us know what you think of this new all-in-one communications tool.

As we enter the month of March and work to balance the hectic pace presented during this time of year, I encourage all of us to find moments where we can stay present and enjoy the gift each day provides.

Sincerely,

Chuck Bell, Superintendent 
Congratulations to our Young Georgia Authors Winners
The purpose of the Young Georgia Authors (YGA) writing competition is to encourage students to develop enthusiasm for and expertise in their writing, to provide a context to celebrate their writing successes, and to recognize student achievement in arts and academics. This prestigious competition has been engaging Georgia students for more than two decades and is open to any student currently enrolled in Georgia public schools, grades K-12. The competition is sponsored by the Georgia Language Arts Supervisors (GLAS) and the Georgia RESA Network with support from the Georgia Department of Education. 

Congratulations to each of our grade level winners for the 2018-2019 school year. Keep up the great writing!

Kindergarten - Thomas McCoy
1st Grade - Kale Hall
2nd Grade - Cayla Grubbs
3rd Grade - Geraldine Vera-Saldana
4th Grade - Alyssa Brown
5th Grade - Kaylen Rucker
6th Grade - Walker Layne
7th Grade - Mireya Yanez
8th Grade - Nicolas Smith
9th Grade - Jade Partain
10th Grade - Ethan Cone
12th Grade - Hannah Driver
Recognizing Our Board of Education
The Elbert County School District is joining in a statewide celebration this month to salute the efforts of our local
school board members. The week of March 18-22, 2019, has been proclaimed School Board Appreciation Week in Georgia. The weeklong observance calls attention to the contributions of local boards of education.

Members of the Elbert County Board of Education include: Board chairman Ben Baker, Vice Chair Teresa Barnett, Keith Harper, Mike Turner, and Samantha Rucker. For more information about the Elbert County board, visit  www.elbert.k12.ga.us.

The Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) sponsors this annual emphasis. GSBA’s mission is to ensure excellence in the governance of local school systems by providing leadership, advocacy, and services, and by representing the collective resolve of Georgia’s 180 elected boards of education. For more information visit http://www.gsba.com .
March 2019
Dates to Remember

Monday, March 4 - ECCHS Winter Sports Awards Banquet, 6:15 p.m. FBC Outreach Center
Tuesday, March 5 - Teacher Retirement System (TRS) Meeting, 4:00 p.m. BOE Staff Development Room
Monday, March 11 - New Teacher Induction Meeting, 3:30 p.m. Board Office Staff Development Room
Monday, March 11 - BOE Work Session, 5:30 p.m. Board Office Staff Development Room
Monday, March 18 - BOE Regular Meeting, 5:30 p.m. Board Room
Saturday, March 23 - Miss ECMS Pageant, 7:00 p.m. ECMS Auditorium
Friday, March 29 - Spring Break begins

Community Announcement
Click on the image above to learn more about this "Books for Keeps" event.
Elbert County Educators Participate in Edcamp Georgia 2019
One of our school district's strategic objectives is to "effectively integrate technology into all K-12 teaching and learning processes, and use available technology to its fullest potential." Within this goal area is the commitment to provide ongoing, high quality professional learning opportunities for teachers and staff to effectively use technology tools and integrate them into their curriculum and assessment.

Embracing the belief that fellow educators can be some of the most valuable professional development resources for their colleagues, the Edcamp movement was organized in 2010 and has expanded across the globe. At Edcamp, there is no single expert in the room. Participants are there by choice to learn from each other.

On Saturday, March 2, 12 Elbert County educators engaged with educators from other northeast Georgia school districts. Not surprisingly, it was shared that the morning was full of fun and quality learning. Thank you to all who took advantage of this great learning opportunity!

This year's Edcamp participants from Elbert County were Clint Winter, Tiffany Haltom, Dot Rutherford, Kathryn Aston, Tia Tilley, Sandee Drake, Amber Trotter, Shamiya Brown, and Kim Bowen
Posting the Positive!

We are promoting the use of video to show off the amazing things happening in your classrooms, labs, and other learning spaces.

Go to   Bluewayondisplay.com   and upload short videos (up to 2 minutes), tag your school, and we will put it on display for all to see. Don't forget we must have media release forms for students who appear in the videos.
Our Mission, Vision, and Beliefs
Elbert County School District
50 Laurel Drive, Elberton, GA 30635