The start of the new school year is just days away for Hall County Schools, and the district has several plans in development that parents, students, and faculty alike can look forward to.
Stan Lewis, the Communications Director for the district, highlighted that Hall County Schools will focus on continuing to combat the loss of learning in students for the upcoming semester.
“We've got a very laser– like focus on literacy right now,” he said. “And doing some catching up with some learning loss that occurred during the pandemic that we're seeing statewide, with our students, particularly our young kids.”
Lewis also said with this emphasis on literacy in students, the district also plans to improve education by creating an effective communication chain to provide feedback to students, teachers, and faculty.
“Part of the learning loss and addressing it is going to be timely and effective feedback,” he said. “Those are things that our superintendent and our deputy superintendent and our teaching and learning department have really focused on and talked to principals about ‘what does that feedback look like? What does effective feedback look like for a teacher to a student? What does it look like for principal to a teacher on improving instruction?’”
Aside from the focus on quality education within the district, Hall County Schools is also bringing attention to student mental health by ensuring that students believe they have a support system within their school.
“Every year we do a Student Health Survey of ninth graders,” Lewis said. “And one of the questions on that survey– and it's a statewide survey– one of those questions is ‘do you have somebody in the building– a trusted adult that you feel like you can go to?’ Statewide, those numbers sadly dropped. But here in Hall County School District, those numbers went up. So, we're doing something right on that end, we realize that kids need somebody that they can turn to. And so, we'll continue to focus on the trusted adult piece.”
Student’s physical safety is also a priority in Hall County Schools. Over the summer, schools in Hall County have conducted emergency crisis drills and have been coordinating with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, which specializes in security on how to ensure all students can feel safe at school.
“Our parents are bringing us their most precious gifts," Lewis said. “So we've got to make sure that we're taking care of them.”
The district also has a lot to look forward to in terms of infrastructure with the anticipated completion of a meat processing plant as an expansion to the school system’s agribusiness center.
The processing plant, which initially was announced in 2021, is expected to officially be completed by December, and open to students at the beginning of the spring semester. The plant will have two butchers on staff, and will allow students from all around the county who have an interest in agriculture to observe the process of meat processing as well as allow them to have hands — on experience in the trade, as a part of the school system’s Career, Technical & Agricultural Education programs.
“70% of the economy in the state of Georgia is somehow connected to agriculture,” Lewis said. “And so, what we've done with the agribusiness center out on the Cleveland highway, is just phenomenal– the opportunities that we are providing our students so that they can be exposed to these careers in agriculture.”
In addition to the new facility, Hall County Schools is also continuing to grow excitement for Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School, which is slated to open for the 2024-2024 school year and will serve to merge Riverbend and White Sulphur Elementary Schools.
Keri Smith, Principal of Riverbend and future Principal of the upcoming school, said that this school year, she hopes to continue to bring families from the East and North ends of the county that the school will serve closer together.
“This first year as we continue, I will be working with both faculties,” she said. “And both staff just got to know more people at White Sulphur, I've been at Riverbend for a full year now. So my goal will be to go to both schools and spend time just getting to know people and build relationships.”
The new building for Sandra Deal Elementary School is still heavily under construction, but Smith said the building will have several features to replace the decades-old infrastructure Riverbend and White Sulphur currently have.
“There will be a very nice Learning Commons, for kids to come read and have little places to do group projects and kind of communicate with maybe even different grade levels,” she said. “I know that's going to be an upgrade for both schools. There's also a very nice, fine arts area, like there's a stage that's right off of the music room, and we were able to kind of see the groundwork for that. So I think it's going to present a lot of great opportunities for our kids to be able to just have a brand new building, but then also a little upgrade of what they're used to.”
The forthcoming state-of-the-art building will have a capacity to serve roughly 1000 students. Additionally, by merging the staff of both elementary schools, Smith estimated that there could be approximately 100 to 120 teachers in the building.
Hall County Schools officially welcome students back on Friday.
