The start of the school year in Forsyth County Thursday also marks the official opening of East Forsyth High School, a new school for the district located off Jot Em Down Road.
Plans for East Forsyth High School first began in 2007 and the school was originally scheduled to be completed in 2011, according to Principal Jeff Cheney. However, the plans for the school were put on hold due to the Great Recession.
After plans for the school resurfaced in 2016, followed by a 2019 groundbreaking, the state-of-the-art school is now opening its doors to students.
“It sits on 90 acres of land, our school’s built for 2125 students, and will serve students in grades nine through 11 next year,” Cheney said. “We anticipate having about 1,100 students to start.”
The nearly $96 million school will draw students from Chestatee Elementary School, Chattahoochee Elementary School and Little Mill Middle School.
“Our goal was to create a vision for this school that the entire four schools could embrace, and we’ve done that,” Cheney said.
Cheney said a key part of that vision is the Be Better Student Support Services program, an innovative suite of services based out of the school which aims to help students and their families academically, mentally and emotionally.
Gabriela Saenz, community and family engagement coordinator at East Forsyth High School, said the Be Better program is collaborating with several local organizations to help students.
“Our three anchor organizations right now are The Place of Forsyth, Mentor Me North Georgia and Family Ties Apex,” Saenz said. “Family Ties Apex will be offering mental health services … we plan, in partnership with The Place, for The Place to actually open a store on campus to provide necessities but also help us create a welcoming student environment.”
Saenz said Mentor Me North Georgia plans to help students with life skills, such as building their resumes and connecting them with professionals in the region.
When it comes to the curriculum at East Forsyth, Assistant Principal Lori Waddell said there are a lot of unique learning opportunities for students.
While all Forsyth County high schools have a teaching as a profession pathway, Waddell said East Forsyth’s early childhood education pathway and its associated early learning center are not available at other schools in the district.
At the early learning center, a pre-k teacher and paraprofessional will teach three- and four-year-old children who primarily speak Spanish. Waddell said East Forsyth students following the early childhood education pathway at the school will also be involved at the early learning center.
“They’re going to provide an opportunity to fill those [language] gaps so that they have access to readiness for kindergarten going into the future,” Waddell said. “We’re super excited to be able to partner with Forsyth County Schools with that program.”
Other programs at the school included building programs, such as architecture and construction, as well as engineering, culinary arts and film.
Even though the school will not have seniors this coming school year, Athletic Director Matt Hollis said athletics at the school will still have varsity schedules.
“We will play in region 7-AAA … the Hall County Schools are West Hall, North Hall and Cherokee Bluff, and then the mountain schools … White County, Gilmer County, Lumpkin County and Dawson County,” Hollis said.
When it comes to football specifically, Hollis said the team will play a 10 game non-regional varsity schedule this fall, kicking off with a scrimmage against White County.
When asked what he would tell East Forsyth High School students ahead of the first day of class on Thursday, Cheney said, “get ready, it’s going to be amazing.”
For a deeper look into East Forsyth High School, click the above photo gallery.
