henrycounty.com A HENRY COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PUBLICATION
auGusT 2015
YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS
HAMPTON • LOCUsT GrOVe • MCDONOUGH • sTOCKBriDGe
IN THIS ISSUE chair’s message business profile calendar sbdc youth leadership henry chamber briefs henry happenings leadership henry chamber membership business after hours business boosters luncheon golf classic call for sponsors Ribbon cuttings
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School Year Off and running Yellow buses are rolling. Retail stores are packed to the gills. Swimming pools are getting somewhat quieter. Without even having to look at a calendar, it all can only mean one thing – school is about to start anew.
Comfortably South of Atlanta The Henry County Chamber of Commerce serves as the voice for the business community, provides quality services and programs that meet the needs of its members, improves the economic environment of the community and creates a legacy of leadership for the future.
Each month the Chamber Ambassadors make Chamber Connection Visits, where we drop in on an unsuspecting member and surprise them with a gift bag. You can have a promotional item from your business included in the bag, and you are more than welcome to join us on our visits.
Henry County Schools will welcome back over 3,000 certified personnel and well over 41,000 students on August 3 for the start of the 2015-2016 school year, and this year promises to be better than before. Whether a family is gearing up to send a child off to kindergarten or prepare a senior for their final year, each family, regardless of their child’s grade level, will find many opportunities to watch students achieve academic success. It will always be the mission of the school system to ensure success for each student. After a year of continued recognitions for students and staff, the upcoming school year is bound to produce even more. The Board of Education, recognized in December as a Distinguished School Board by the Georgia School Boards Association, welcomed two new members this year and continued its work to support employees and students in their collective efforts to produce students who are college, career, and life ready. Their actions have afforded the school system its largest general operating budget which means pay increases and no furlough days for a second consecutive year for all employees. There have been additional staff members welcomed to the central office to assist districtwide with such matters as discipline and safety, leadership development, and specialized focus on teacher development to name a
Please plan to JOIN US on September 28th for the Henry County Chamber of Commerce 15th Annual Golf Classic at the Eagles Landing Country Club. Read more on pg 13
few. Despite the additions, the district still spends less on district administration than 174 school districts across the state. After opening its tenth regular high school in 2014, the district will now be down one elementary school after the closing of McDonough Elementary. The building housing the former elementary school now houses the new EXCEL Academy, formerly known as Patrick Henry Academy. Seven schools will welcome new leaders this fall. Dutchtown Elementary, East Lake Elementary, Hampton Elementary Charter, Locust Grove Elementary, Smith-Barnes Elementary, Eagle’s Landing Middle, and Union Grove High School have new principals ready to step in and replace the many great leaders who have assumed new roles or retired. The district also continues its 2020 vision push towards all schools being personalized learning schools in the next five to six years. Henry County Schools’ vision for personalized learning is that learners must play an active role and be given significant voice and choice related to what, when, where, and how they learn. Learners must be active, self-regulated participants in the development and design of their learning and should co-create their learning plans based on their interests, strengths, passions, and aspirations. Teachers play an even more essential role in helping students with their learning due to classroom instruction designs resulting in opportunities for more one-on-one interaction. With prudent leadership, development, and planning, Henry County Schools is poised to continue its role as a district offering its citizens and students one of the top educational experiences in the state. This all is possible while operating with sound fiscal management geared towards ensuring schools, teachers, and students have the tools necessary to achieve academic success.
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