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Forsyth Co. closes on site for 6th high school; system eliminating 'snow days' in its calendars

By Ken Stanford Contributing Editor
Posted 10:20AM on Friday 14th November 2014 ( 9 years ago )
CUMMING - Forsyth County school officials have closed the deal on a site for the county's sixth high school and the school system has announced a plan to eliminate "snow days" in favor of making up the lost time online.<br /> <br /> The new high school will be built on a 118.45-acre tract off Fowler Road with frontage on both Fowler and Mullinax roads. The land purchase price was $12.8 million which is funded by a 2014 bond. The high school will be officially named in 2015 and will be similar in design to Lambert and West Forsyth high schools.<br /> <br /> The school system already has land purchased for other additional schools, including Brandywine Elementary School and DeSana Middle School, both projected to open in 2016. Also, the district owns land for another high school, East Forsyth. <br /> <br /> Plans already in place call for the five existing high schools to undergo additions and renovations within the next four years.<br /> <br /> To review the purchased land (pg. 1), and student enrollment and projections (pg. 2) at the system's current schools click on the first link below. Click on the second link for a list of bond projects.<br /> <br /> NO MORE 'SNOW DAYS'<br /> <br /> Forsyth County Schools has announced a plan to recover instructional time lost due to school closures by utilizing asynchronous (not at the same time) online learning using itslearning, the district's online learning management system.<br /> <br /> For the 2014-15 school year, two Inclement Weather Days were built into the calendar when it was approved in November, 2013. If both Inclement Weather Days are used this year, additional lost instructional days will become asynchronous online learning days. For the 2015-16 and beyond school calendars, there will be no Inclement Weather Days built into the school calendar. For school closures, all days will be made-up with asynchronous online learning.<br /> <br /> School officials say they had had "positive success" in 2013-14 when the district utilized itslearning to recover lost instructional time due to inclement weather. Additionally, many of the county's teachers currently utilize blended learning (face-to-face and online) with their students.<br /> <br /> The district has been training its teachers on itslearning over the last two years and will hold an Online Learning for School Closure Practice Drill on the recommended date of Monday, January 5, 2015 (Professional Development Day). Each teacher will instruct students on where to find school closure activities in their itslearning classroom and students will have five days to complete the Practice Drill posted in itslearning.<br /> <br /> Forsyth County Schools is providing Parent Training Classes on itslearning from 6:00-7:00 p.m.:<br /> <br /> Monday, December 1, North Forsyth HS Cafeteria<br /> Tuesday, December 2, South Forsyth HS West Hall Cafeteria<br /> Thursday, December 4, Forsyth Central HS Performing Arts Center <br /> <br /> Online training for itslearning is also available at http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/44389

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