We trust and hope that the health and safety of your community is well and that as a state we continue to move in the right direction. We know that you are continuing to handle the immediate concerns and needs of your students, teachers, staff, administration and community. In doing so, GSBA pledges to continue to support your work as you deem appropriate and we are able to do so.
School districts all over our state have begun to settle into digital learning and/or take-home materials, ensuring services are still reaching students. While many challenges still exist, public education in Georgia is finding a semi-routine for meeting the needs of the district and conducting the operations and business of boards of education. Each district is finding creative pathways to rise to the occasion.
As GSBA reaches out to each board chair to check in, we are hearing about and documenting some of these ideas and stories. We wanted to share a few examples in this email and where you can find more. We are also posting these stories in the GSBA HUB, your social app built specifically for Georgia’s school board members and superintendents.
See below for a few examples and click the button to read more about handling events such as graduation, grading, and even donating personal protective equipment.
GSBA continues to stand ready to support Georgia’s school boards.
See District Best Practice Stories & Examples
Twiggs County
Utilizing a parent coordinator and staff, they’ve been delivering books in areas. Books and materials are also being delivered with meals. They’ve used the Old Paper Boxes and made little libraries for children to pick up books, pens, journals, paper, etc. in various areas (churches, neighborhoods).
Savannah-Chatham
They developed a new partnership with Comcast, who gave them an entire public access channel to use however they want, so teachers are putting long-form and short form classes on the channel for their students. In addition, their local TV station, WSAV, is letting them use some airtime to put up short lessons (5 mins) on things like math concepts, language arts lessons, etc. This is a great way to showcase their top teachers in various subjects as well as the current and former teachers of the year to their students and broader community.
Marion County
Doing food distribution through an independent grocery program/nonprofit. They do not have an online learning program in place, so take-home packets are available at the schools each week for pick up. Teachers are also calling students twice a week to check in.