2011 January - Fayette County Schools

January 2011
Inside This Issue:
2 After School
Program Helps
Struggling Families
2 State Names
Distinguished
Schools
3 Students Score
Almost Perfect on
Writing Test
3 Register Early for
Kindergarten
3 100 Pre-K Students
to Get Free
Monthly Books
3 Sandy Creek
Selected for Pilot
French Program
4 Student Highlights
4 Faculty Highlights
Published &
Designed
Internally by
the Office
of Public
Information
Nearly 50 percent of Fayette's
public schools have been recognized by the
state for promoting excellence in student
achievement.
Out of the county's 28 schools, nine
elementary, one middle and three high
schools received award designations of
platinum, gold, silver or bronze based on
their performance on state curriculum
exams and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
status.
The state awards were given in two
categories: greatest gain, for schools that
showed the greatest improvement in
scores on the Criterion-Referenced
Competency Tests (CRCT) or the Georgia
High School Graduation Test (GHSGT), and
highest performance, for schools that
demonstrated the highest achievement on
the CRCT or GHSGT.
All awards received by Fayette
County Public Schools were in the highest
performance category.These awards make
up three percent of the 345 awards given
statewide, and are part of the release of
the state's annual K-12 Public Schools
Report Card.
Fayette County Public School System
GA Recognizes 13 Fayette Schools
for Academic Performance
Platinum award: Peachtree City
Elementary, Peeples Elementary, and Starr's
Mill High.These schools made AYP for
three consecutive years with a minimum of
35 percent of students exceeding
standards, and 98 percent or more meeting
and exceeding standards.
Gold award: Braelinn Elementary,
Crabapple Lane Elementary, Kedron
Elementary, McIntosh High, and Tyrone
Elementary.These schools made AYP for
two consecutive years with a minimum of
30 percent of students exceeding
standards, and 97 percent or more meeting
and exceeding standards.
Silver award: Huddleston
Elementary.This school made AYP for two
consecutive years with a minimum of 25 of
students exceeding standards, and 96
percent or more meeting and exceeding
standards:
Bronze award: Cleveland
Elementary, Rising Starr Middle, Spring Hill
Elementary, and Whitewater High.These
schools made AYP with a minimum of 20
percent of students exceeding standards,
and 95 percent or more meeting and
exceeding standards.
Watch Dr. Bearden’s
Message to the Community
Comcast Cable Channel 24 and on demand at www.fcboe.org

Fayette County Public School System
After School Scholarship Program Helps Struggling Families
The holidays may be over, but the gift of giving is
still going strong.
Many Fayette County students and their families
are in need of help for after school care so that they will
have a safe place to stay until their parents can get home
from work.
A scholarship fund set up in
the name of a long-time advocate and
retired employee of the Fayette
County School System's After School
Program is aimed at providing
temporary assistance to struggling
families by providing scholarships for
after school tuition.
The Lois Woodward After
School Scholarship Fund is named in
honor of Lois Woodward, who retired
from the school system in October
2010 as a field supervisor of the after
school program. She worked for the
school system for 25 years, first as a
paraprofessional before heading up
the first after school program at
Kedron Elementary and later at
Cleveland Elementary before
becoming the program's field supervisor.
During her years with the program,Woodward
worked diligently to make it a safe haven and a place to
belong for every child. She disguised learning as
exploration and fun, and included families as part of the
after school community.Woodward created many
activities that are used in the program today such as
“Share Your Talent Day,” “High Five Club for Fifth
State Names Distinguished Schools
A total of eight of Fayette's elementary and
middle schools have been named Title 1 Distinguished
Schools by the Georgia Department of Education.
The county's schools are among 868 public
schools statewide to receive the designation. Schools are
given “distinguished” status based on having made
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) three or more years
consecutively. Since all of Fayette's schools receiving the
honor have met AYP six or more years in a row, they will
each receive a monetary award, paid out of federal funds,
as well as a certificate recognizing their achievement.
Both North Fayette Elementary and Robert J.
Graders,“and” Family Day.”
On the day of her retirement celebration, the
after school program had raised over $1,700 for the
scholarship fund, part of the donations came from
children and parents at Kedron Elementary who now
benefit from what Woodward started.
Woodward recently visited
the students in the after school
program at Kedron to thank
them for their donations and
read out loud a copy of Shel
Silverstein's book,“The Giving
Tree.”
Woodward hopes the
community will remember the
following when deciding to make
a donation to the fund:“I want
the after school program to
always be something kids want
to do.We had a child once who
asked for the program for his
birthday present.The scholarship
is our present to children and
Lois Woodward reads “The Giving Tree” to families. It takes all of us to make
After School students at Kedron Elementary.
it better.”
Donations are taxdeductible
and can be made in honor of individuals.
Contribution checks should be made payable to the
FCBOE/Lois Woodward ASP Scholarship Fund,Attention
Jane Gough, Fayette County After School Programs,
LaFayette Educational Center, 205 LaFayette Avenue,
Fayetteville, GA 30214.
Burch Elementary have met AYP for 12 consecutive years
and will each receive a $1,484 award. Both schools have
been recognized as distinguished for 10 years.
Fayette Middle, Fayetteville Intermediate, Hood
Avenue Primary, Inman Elementary and Oak Grove
Elementary have made AYP for eight consecutive years
and will each receive a $742 award.These schools have
been recognized as distinguished for six years.
Flat Rock Middle has made AYP for seven
consecutive years and will receive a $742 award.The
school has been recognized as distinguished for five
years.

Register Early for Kindergarten
Parents with children entering kindergarten for
the 2011-2012 school year can register their students at
the Welcome Center from January 24-April 1. Georgia
law requires students to be 5 years old on or before
September 1, 2011 to be eligible for kindergarten.
Early registration is encouraged to avoid long wait
times.The Welcome Center is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Monday,Wednesday,Thursday, and Friday with extended
hours every Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.The center is
located at 205 LaFayette Avenue in Fayetteville.
Visit www.fcboe.org, the Fayette County Public
School System's website, for additional registration
information. Click the “student registration” link on the
right-hand side and then select “kindergarten
registration.”
Parents can also contact the center by calling
770-460-3990, ext. 362.
100 Pre-K Students to Get
Free Monthly Books
The Rotary Club of Peachtree City and the Fayette
County Public School System is working to help improve
literacy skills among the county's pre-k students.
The club has signed an agreement to establish the
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy program in
Fayette County. It has committed to funding 100 eligible
pre-k students enrolled in the county's school system.
Students participating in the program will receive a
book delivered to their homes each month via U.S. mail
until their fifth birthday.
The purpose of the program is to increase early
literacy skills by encouraging parents to read to their
children at home. Research shows that the more words a
child hears, the larger the child's vocabulary, and the
more likely the child will be a proficient reader. Parents
cite one of the main reasons why they do not read with
their child is the lack of quality books in the home.
The program is free to participating families in
Georgia and is made possible through private donations,
corporate sponsorships, and grants.
For more information about the Ferst Foundation
for Childhood Literacy program, contact Clarice Howard,
coordinator of the Fayette County Public School
System's pre-k program via email at
howard.clarice@fcboe.org or call 770-486-0149; or
contact Karen Stephens of the Rotary Club of Peachtree
City via email at karenannstephens@yahoo.com.
Fayette County Public School System
Sandy Creek Selected for
Pilot French Program
A partnership between two schools, Sandy Creek
High and Lycee Emmanuel Héré in Nancy France,
promises to provide a unique learning opportunity for
students.
Sandy Creek is one of seven high schools in the
state selected by the Georgia Department of Education
to participate in a pilot program aimed at bringing
French students in contact with their counterparts in
France. Sandy Creek was chosen because of its
successful French program headed up by teacher
Stephane Allagnon.
For one week last month, the school hosted a
French ambassador student,André Peltier, from its
partner school.
Peltier stayed
with Sandy
Creek's
American
ambassador
student, Omari
Allen.
Peltier spent
his time learning
all he could
about the
American school
system. He says
he was amazed
Host ambassador Omari Allen (left) and
school principal Roy Rabold presented
André Peltier with a Student of the Week
certificate and a book about Georgia
to commemorate his visit.
to see how well
everybody got
along and the
amount of
respect between
students and faculty.
French students at Sandy Creek seized the
opportunity to increase their knowledge about France
and its culture. By the end of the week, the students had
hammered out details pertaining the schools'
partnership, and students from both schools began
communicating with each other via the Internet.
The two schools will present the results of their
partnership in May to the State Department of
Education.
Pacesetter Award
For excellence in the education of children with disabilities.
Eighth consecutive year!

Student Highlights
• Math paid off in a big way for students at J.C.
Booth Middle as they raised funds for St. Jude
Children's Hospital.The school collected $2,323
for the hospital's Math-A-Thon fundraiser.
• From Poetry recitation, writing, and dramatic
performance, Fayette's middle school students
will show off their talents during Griffin RESA's
Literacy Days Festival on February 3.
Contestants in the poetry recitation are Aubrey
Bennett, sixth grade, Rising Starr Middle;
Simone Jones, seventh grade, Fayette
Middle; and Ellie Klarl, eighth grade, Flat
Rock Middle.
Ready Writers representing Fayette are all from
Rising Starr Middle.The students are Ethan
Roland, sixth grade; Elizabeth Jowers,
seventh grade; and Emma Wernecke,
eighth grade.
The drama team from Fayette Middle will
compete in the drama portion of the event.
Students on the team are Dominque
Boudreaux, Montavia Caudle, Haley Kakis,
Saleena Davani, Sumvia Evans,Anna
Franklin, Kezia Houston,TaNia Nash,
Ashley Orta, and Cecilla Robinson. They will
present “A True Princess,” an original piece
written by the team.
• Publix Super Markets is looking closely at the
ideas of two students for attracting young
employment applicants to their stores.
Whitewater High DECA students Yanna
Banks and Lia Poulson have been selected as
12 semi-finalist teams in the Publix Brand
Champion Challenge, a competition that involves
creating a fully integrated marketing program to
attract 16 to 25-year-olds to apply for work at
the stores. Now the students must submit a
written plan of their employment branding
program. Publix will select three teams to
participate in the final competition round.
• Brooks Elementary collected 1,164 cans of
food and 403 toys during their 2010 Canned
Food/Toy Drive.The school surpassed last year’s
totals.The donations were given to the Fayette
Samaritans and Promise Place.
Fayette County Public School System
Faculty Highlights
• The Georgia Society Sons of the American
Revolution has selected a Fayette middle school
teacher as their Georgia Teacher of the Year for
the second consecutive time.
Salli Rees, an eighth grade Georgia history
teacher at J.C. Booth Middle, has been selected
from a pool of exemplary middle and high school
history teachers throughout the state, both public
and private, as an example of whose instruction
on the Revolutionary War demonstrates
educational efforts in the classroom that exceed
and excel above current and accepted curriculum
requirements. She will receive her award at a
special program on February 5.
As the state winner, Rees will represent Georgia
at the national competition for the Tom & Betty
Lawrence American History Teacher Award.The
national winner will receive an all expenses paid
trip to one of four seminars. Each seminar
provides a professional education opportunity to
an educator who will bring back to the classroom
a heightened level of creativity and enthusiasm
about the American Revolutionary era.
Last year the Georgia Veterans of Foreign Wars
named Rees the Georgia Citizenship Education
Teacher of the Year for middle schools.
• Jenny Ritter, Bennett’s Mill Middle, has been
honored by Beta Club International for her 20year
service as a Beta Club sponsor.
• Larry Singleton, McIntosh High,was
recognized by 11Alive News as a Class Act
Teacher. His interview with reporter Donna
Lowry aired on January 24 during the 11Alive
morning broadcast.
• Valerie Warr Gober, a fourth grade teacher at
Fayetteville Intermediate, has published a
grammar book titled “Grammar Street:A Guide
to Nouns and Verbs.” It is a supplemental guide
for teachers containing a series of mnemonic
devices that give students multiple ways to
remember the rudiments of grammar.
Information about the book is available on
Gober’s website, www.grammarstreet.weebly.com
or via amazon.com.