Greetings GCSS Team,

Thank you all for a great start to 2023 and our spring semester! Although the school year is technically half over, we still have a lot of work to do. I am so proud of how the year has gone thus far and the students' successes that have been exhibited. Our students are excelling in the classrooms, in extracurricular activities, in their personal interests, and in the community as a whole. Every day I hear about good things our students are doing that are not only exciting and wonderful to hear, but really make me proud to be a Tiger!

I am pleased to share that raises of $2,000 across the teacher salary schedule are expected in Governor Kemp's FY24 budget. While this raise will be mandated by the state, 75% of the cost for that raise is locally funded here in Greene County. Similarly, the cost for health insurance is increasing by 60% this year, but that will not come out of your pockets. The cost will be born by the district, to the tune of nearly $2 million for all employees, but the cost to each employee will not increase this year. These are just a few of the ways we are working to keep today's rising prices from impacting you, in addition to the 9.9% local supplement provided by the Board of Education, which is entirely locally funded.

As we enter the new year, we are hopeful and optimistic about what lies ahead. I thank you all for bringing your very best to our campuses and facilities every day, a fact that is evident as I visit schools, classrooms and departments across the district. Students are engaged, closing gaps in their learning, developing relationships with their peers and mentors, and growing strong as our next generation of critical thinkers and problem solvers. Once again, Happy New Year, and here's to a great 2023!

Congratulations to Anita White Carson Middle School's NEGA RESA Regional Science & Engineering Fair winners! CMS students brought home 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. More than 10 middle schools and high schools were represented at the regional science fair. All of our CMS students did a wonderful job at presenting and had an enjoyable science fair experience.

Jaxxson Armour - Project: "Purified or Spring"

Ryan Daniels - Project: "Music Waves"

India Armstrong - Project "Will It Grow?"

McCall Jones - Project "Growing Plants"

Jaylen Greene - Project "Heat Production Using Lightbulbs"

Lacey Tucker - Project: "Jui-C or Juicy"

EDUCATOR APPRECIATION DAY

SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2023

9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Join Zoo Atlanta for the 2023 Spring Educator Appreciation Day! Educators enjoy free admission and discounts for accompanying guests on March 11. Spend time interacting with Zoo Educators at activity stations where families can engage in fun, science-based, conservation exploration. Up to four family members or guests accompanying educators will enjoy $5 off general admission on the day of the event. In addition, educators receive 10% off food at Nourish Café and gift shop purchases.

Additionally, the Zoo will host Biomechanics Day on March 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Biomechanics Day will be a day of learning and experiencing biomechanics of animals from around the world. This event will feature representatives from the Georgia Institute of Technology in biomechanics, as well as partners from University of Akron and Clemson University, sharing their work with Zoo Atlanta guests. This event is included with admission.

Same-day registration will be available at the educator check-in area located across from Zoo Admissions.

Mr. Garrett's 3rd grade students recently studied chemical changes through a fun, week-long rock candy project. They first studied how rock candy is similar to the formation of igneous rocks, and then discussed the transfer of heat, solutions, saturated, and supersaturated, boiling point of water, and evaporation. The group also had use their math skills to figure out how to convert the recipe for 19 students, as the original recipe only made 3 servings. The class also maintained daily lab sheets where they listed the procedures and drew a model of the daily changes in their cups. On Friday, the students were allowed to eat their delicious science projects!

The new Greene County Elementary School building on Meadow Crest Road is currently in water/sewer phase of the project. The waterline extension project by the City of Greensboro to the construction site has completed the design and bid phases, and a contractor was approved by the Greensboro City Council in November 2022. The sewer project is in the design phase. At the January Board of Education meeting, the BOE voted to approve $5.5 million for the advance purchase of building materials for the new school. This allows the builder, Evergreen Construction, to proceed with ordering essential items such as roofing, HVAC equipment, joists, door frames, and other items that have lead times ranging from 12 to 60 weeks. Evergreen is expected to break ground on the building in March.

Educator Appreciation Ticket Packages
ATL Hawks vs. SA Spurs | Saturday, February 11th | 7:30pm
ATL Hawks vs. MIN Timberwolves | Monday, March 13th | 7:30pm

Join the Atlanta Hawks for one of their upcoming games and enjoy an Educator Appreciation Ticket Package! Each ticket purchased through the link below for February 11 or March 13 includes $10 worth of food and beverage credit as well as an Atlanta Hawks T-shirt (while supplies last).

Visit the link below to purchase tickets today!
hawkspromos.com/educator

*For groups of 10 or more…or for tickets to a different game, please contact Ryan Coller
at ryan.coller@hawks.com or at 404-878-3714. Ticket prices and availability are subject to change, so order your tickets today! Tickets are mobile entry only. TICKETS WILL SELL OUT!

Mrs. Tanisha Wright has been named Associate Principal of Anita White Carson Middle School. Following the upcoming retirement of Principal DeAndra Lanier in May 2023, Mrs. Wright will become the school’s Interim Principal for the 2023-2024 school year.

Please join us in wishing Mrs. Lanier congratulations on her upcoming retirement and her outstanding career in education. Throughout her career in the Greene County School System, she has served as Principal and Assistant Principal at CMS, Interim Principal at GES, Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction at GCHS, and several years in administration at GES prior. Mrs. Lanier has demonstrated flexibility and a willingness to work wherever needed in the school system, moving schools 4 times in the last 8 years based on the needs of the system, and done an outstanding job everywhere she has served. During Mrs. Lanier’s tenure as Principal at CMS, the school was named an Amazon Future Engineer School and launched a comprehensive STEM Program including coding and robotics, received the No Place for Hate School designation—a student-led school climate improvement and anti-bullying program that cultivates student leadership in sustaining positive school culture—and implemented the Academic Parent-Teacher Teams family engagement initiative, among many other achievements.

Mrs. Wright brings to the table 17 years of experience in education over 9 grade levels, having begun her teaching career at Greene County Head Start before moving to CBJ Preschool in 2008, where she was named the school’s Teacher of the Year in her first year. She moved to Greensboro Elementary School in 2013 as a kindergarten teacher and was named GES’s 2015 Teacher of the Year. She came to CMS as Assistant Principal in 2019 and in 2021 received the Hal Beaver Georgia Outstanding Assistant Principal Award from the Georgia Association of Middle School Principals. This award is presented to assistant principals in Georgia who have demonstrated strong leadership in guiding their schools as an effective middle school as defined by state and national standards.

For more information about these leaders and their accomplishments, follow this link to read more on our website.