Exciting Times in Henry County Schools

henrycounty.com

August, 2019

Exciting Times in Henry County Schools

By JD Hardin, Director, Communications & Public Relations, Henry County Schools

It is the start of another school year in Henry County, and believe it or not, kids love going to school. It may not sound like it when they have to get up in the morning, but they do enjoy it. And to be honest, what’s not to love? You have growth opportunities, social time with friends on a daily basis, and a cadre of adults who truly care about your wellbeing and development as a person. And as we all remember, the first day and first few weeks of school bring even greater excitement as we welcome the start of another year and all the newness that it brings. New classes, new teachers, new subjects,new school attire, and even new friends. Those things make getting up early in the morning – a stark shift from our summer routines – a little bit easier.

School and district officials have been working since before the summer began to prepare for the first day of school on August 1, and the district is excited to introduce a few new items. Of note, there are two brand new schools opening to students. Mc- Donough High School and McDonough Middle School are opening their doors for the first time. Each school is a replacement school for the former Henry County High School and Henry County Middle School. Thanks to E-SPLOST voters in 2016, these two schools are allowing the same students from HCHS and HCMS to attend school right across from each other like the majority of our high schools and middle schools. The buildings they leave behind will be repurposed to support student learning and district administrators. The former high school will now be completely dedicated to the Academy for Advanced Studies, the district’s college and career academy. The middle school will be converted into administrative office space for district officials.

You might also see some big green ‘birds’ on the road this school year. That’s because Henry County Schools now has 23 brand new Blue Bird buses fueled by propane to provide environmentally friendly, or green transportation to students across the district. The buses are still yellow, but the clean fuel transports will sport a green bird instead of their customary blue bird logo. The buses will give the district its first set of regular buses with air conditioning while adding new buses to the special needs transportation fleet that already has air conditioning on them. Safety and security upgrades have been implemented in the county as well. All high schools will now have single-point entry access like their elementary and middle school counterparts. This was a suggestion from members of the community, and the construction of these added safety measures has been completed.

The HCS Board of Education supported an ambitious slate of new measures that will positively impact HCS for years to come. Pictured: (l. to. R.) Annette Edwards, Holly Cobb, Josh Hinton, Chair, Mary Elizabeth Davis, superintendent, Sophe Pope, Dr. Pam Nutt.

The Henry County Board of Education was responsible for approving the aforementioned new items, and several other actions were taken this past school year to set the 2019-2020 school year up to be one of the best ever. Thanks to their support, district employees received salary increases this year, which ensures our employees are competitively paid to perform one of the most important jobs in our country, teaching children. And to help teach at the highest levels, they will also have new core content instructional resources and materials after the board approved this recommendation. Early learning models that were piloted with success this past year will now be implemented in all elementary schools. This effort will have a continued ripple effect to maintain the highest levels of learning for our students as they enter and progress through our school system.

It is an exciting time to be a part of Henry County Schools! We are on the ambitious pursuit of becoming the fastest improving and highest achieving school district in the metro Atlanta region while prioritizing and being known for student connectivity and belief in student capability. Parent and community support is vital to helping us achieve these goals. We look forward to an exceptional school year in Henry County, and we cannot wait to get started! #ExpectExceptionalHCS