UNDATED - It's back to the classroom in Jefferson Monday - and by the end of the week the same will be true in Gainesville and Hall County, where the number of students will top 30,000 for the first time.
Friday is the first day of class for Gainesville and Hall County students, as well as those in Jackson County and Maranatha Christian Academy in Oakwood.
The bells will ring in Barrow County on Thursday and the new school year will begin at Jubilee Christian Academy in Hall County Wednesday.
Hall County expects an enrollment of nearly 25,000. Spokesman Gordon Higgins says that's a 922 or four percent increase over last year. Higgins says the system has been averaging a four percent each year for the past "six or seven years."
Higgins says there are still eleven faculty positions that need to be filled "mostly in special education in the East Hall area." He says the shortage will no hamper classroom instruction. The system will use "provisional" teachers - instructors who are not yet fully certified as teachers but are working toward certification. In all, the county school system will have about 1,700 teachers this year.
There will be no new schools in the county this year but Higgins says three major renovation/addition projects are winding down and will go right "down to the wire" at the opening day of classes approaches.
Included are a "complete enlargement and remodeling" of Lula Elementary School; the addition of ten classrooms to Sugar Hill elementary; and, a new technology computer center, counselor center and art room at South Hall Middle School.
Higgins says 54 portable classrooms will be in use on opening day, including 34 new ones, mostly at schools in South Hall. That's where the county's next new school will be built, Higgins said.
"We have been looking for about six months and are close to making a deal on a couple of parcels."
About 5,600 students are expected in the Gainesville School System the first day of the new year, an increase of "about 400 students," according to Superintendent Steven Ballowe. Ballowe added that all teacher slots in the city have been filled and that the city will also be using portable classrooms again this year.
"We will have 27 new mobiles," he said, "a the middle school, the high school and Gainesville Elementary. But these are not your traditional mobiles. These are actually portable wings that will be attached to the buildings."
Of the schools in Hall County, four private ones have the latest start dates - August 21.
According to the state Department of Education, some schools in Georgia have been in session for about two weeks. Early County had the earliest start date among traditional schools - July 20. Classes resumed in Dooly County on July 21. Among year-round schools in the state, those in Atlanta opened their doors for the new year on July 17.
Here is a list of the dates for the start of classes at schools and colleges in the immediate Gainesville area:
PRE-K through 12
Jubilee Christian Academy, August 2
Barrow Thursday, August 3
Gainesville City, August 4
Hall County, August 4
Jackson, August 4
Maranatha Christian Academy, August 4
Banks, August 7
Lumpkin, August 7
Forsyth, August 7
White, August 7
Commerce City, August 9
Westminster Christian School, August 9
Dawson, August 10
Habersham, August 10
Lakeview Academy, August 11
Riverside Military Academy, August 21
Hopewell Christian Academy, August 21
Heritage Academy, August 21
Brenau Academy, August 21
COLLEGES
Piedmont, August 10 (new student orientation August 7)
Truett-McConnell, August 15
Gainesville State College, August 17
Gwinnett College, August 21
Young Harris, August 21
Toccoa Falls, August 21 (new student orientation August 12)
Brenau University,August 22
North Georgia College & State University, August 23 (cadets report August 9)
Southern Catholic, August 28 (new student orientation August 25)
Lanier Tech, October 3
North Georgia Tech, October 4
Friday
May 17th, 2024
6:57AM
