Aug. 1 marked the first day for our students for the 2018-2019 school year. At Ingram-Pye Elementary, students got a red-carpet welcome from Macon-Bibb County's Peddy and Pedora, United Way of Central Georgia and Lizzie Chapel Baptist Church, and the students at Miller Magnet Middle School were preparing for a great year as Mustangs.

"It sets a tone for the rest of the year," Miller Principal Jim Montgomery said of the first day. "It really lets them know what kind of environment they're going to be learning in for the rest of the year."

At Northwoods Academy, the students were learning all about walking in lines and even enjoying recess. We hope everyone in the District has had a great start to the school year!

The School Nutrition Department staff helped collect and donate food for The Joy FM's #bethejoy event. Held at the Chick-fil-A on Zebulon Road, this event provided food for the Backpack Buddies program, a ministry of local churches that helps feeds District students over the weekends.

Bernd Elementary School students who turned in their summer reading logs got to enjoy bouncy houses, water slides, hamburgers and hot dogs as a reward. Bernd also opened its media center three times over the summer to keep kids reading while Macon-Bibb County libraries were closed, and it will also be open for occasional Saturday events to allow students to take Accelerated Reader tests. Way to go, Raiders!

Earlier this week, the District honored its Teachers of the Year with a celebration at The Douglass Theatre. This event included a reception catered by students and faculty in the Culinary Arts pathway at Hutchings College and Career Academy, as well as a recognition ceremony.

Jarred Moore, a teacher at Northeast High School and the District's 2019 Teacher of the Year, was among the speakers. He highlighted the great things he's seen in classrooms across the District.

"As we move forward with the rest of this academic year, I want to encourage us to take advantage of the opportunity to prepare scholars for a global society," he said.

Superintendent Dr. Curtis L. Jones Jr. also addressed the teachers, family, friends and administrators that gathered for the celebration. He said that coming together to recognize each school's selected Teacher of the Year was important.

"This is how we reinforce what 'Victory In Progress' means," he said.

Thank you to all the community partners that made this evening special:

• MidSouth Community Federal Credit Union

• AXA Equitable

• Middle Georgia RESA

• Rutherford Trophies & Awards

• Donaldson, Garrett & Associates, Inc., Professional Land Surveyors

• Solomon Deaton & Buice

• Macon Marriott City Center

• Raffield Tire Master

• Jimmy John's

• Texas Roadhouse - Macon

• Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers Macon, GA

• McAlister’s Deli on Zebulon Road

• Forest Hills United Methodist Church

• Spud Dogs

• Barnes & Noble

• MidSouth Financial Consultants

Jonathan Merrill, an eighth grade social studies teacher and department chair from Howard Middle School, was selected to participate in a special online webinar and discussion series from September to December 2018. This is in conjunction with the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and National History Day.

Participants will learn about the impact of World War I in a national and international context. There were over 300 teachers national wide who applied, and one was chosen from each state. Merrill will receive a tuition waiver of all fees and graduate credits from the University of San Diego.

Southfield Elementary held auditions and interviews for school-wide student readers this month. A total of 23 students from grades 3-5 auditioned and these 16 students (4 third-graders, 5 fourth-graders, and 7 fifth-graders) made the cut! These readers will be recorded conducting a read-aloud of the Book of the Month and it will be shown school-wide. After the recording is shown, all students will complete various activities around the Book of the Month.As a part of The Leader in Me program and a school-wide focus on reading, Southfield is producing leaders, and what better way than to have students reading to their peers!

Several teachers in Bibb County classrooms are pulling double duty as both students and educators. These individuals are seniors at local colleges and universities, and they're interning as full-time teachers at the same time.

Veterans Elementary has three third-grade teachers going through this process - Taylor Cravey, Kathleen Davis and Angel Harris - who are Middle Georgia State University students. Cravey said that her MGA classes are valuable, but there are some hands-on lessons that can't be taught from a book.

"I've learned a lot more here, things I wouldn't have learned being in college," she said.

Cravey also said that she's benefited from having Dr. Felice Bryant in her classroom. Bryant, who has been in the field for 28 years, stepped away from having her own class to help mentor the three interns at Veterans.

"It really gives them that first-hand knowledge, and it gives them that support in the classroom," Bryant said.

There are also two intern teachers at Rosa Taylor Elementary School - Courtney McCoy in the third grade and Stephanie Mixon in the fourth grade.

In addition, Westside High School has Monica Stanwick and Lorenzo Harmon working as Mercer Fellows, and Rutland High has Marissa Rondina and Julie Scott as Mercer Fellows. Mercer Fellows are working on their master's degrees in teaching.

Rutland Middle School's FFA chapter kicked off the school year with a "Color War" to attract new students. The new and old members had a blast getting paint and colored powder all over each other - and themselves!

The District will be adding random bag searches to its school safety procedures later in the school year. These searches will be performed at each school, at intervals determined by the central office, with the goal of deterring students from bringing weapons and other illicit items to our schools.

"If we can deter students from bringing weapons onto our campuses due to the perception that they may be caught, we can strengthen our school climate by instilling in the minds of our students that their school is safe," said District Chief Investigator Corey Goble.

The searches come in addition to existing practices like secured vestibules and access-card entry. Further, schools have security cameras and other features to help keep our students safe.

For the first time, the Bibb County School District has added volleyball as an option for female students at Central, Howard, Northeast, Southwest and Westside high schools. The teams began play on Aug. 20, and the season will continue through Oct. 1.

In the new era of Bibb Athletics, we started girls' volleyball to ensure yet another sport and opportunity for female students to compete in the Bibb County School District," said Athletic Director Barney Hester. "It has been a great success so far, and we are looking forward to seeing the results, in the classroom and on the court, for our Bibb County student-athletes at the conclusion of the inaugural season.”

For more information about volleyball and other District sports, visit the new Athletic Department website!

Several District schools had special visitors recently, with literacy and reading as the central focus.

Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, Alexander II Magnet School and L.H. Williams Elementary School got a visit from First Lady of Georgia Sandra Deal. She read "Will Powers," a book by Coy Bowles of the Zac Brown Band, to the students at MLK and told them about the importance of reading at home.

"We try to read books about a lot of different things so we can practice," she said.

Children's author Carmen Deedy came to read at Springdale Elementary School as a guest of United Way of Central Georgia. Springdale faculty and staff provided 100 percent support for the United Way's 2017 campaign.

Deedy told the children stories and said that it's important to engage students in that manner. Mannerisms and participation help students make connections and focus, Deedy said.

"I tell the stories because I'm a big promoter of literacy, but the truth is, children aren't hearing stories anymore," she said.

Thanks to the United Way and other community partners, each of the students received a copy of Deedy's book, "Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale."

On Aug. 13, the Hutchings College and Career Academy graphic design and construction pathways welcomed guest speaker Austin Floyd to speak about lab safety, first aid and fire safety. Floyd is a fire fighter in Centerville and has his own carpentry business, Deep South Carpentry.

The seniors in the Central High School International Baccalaureate Program recently received their IB pins. The students receiving pins are candidates for graduation who have satisfied all IB qualifications to this point.
One of the guest speakers for the event, which also included a candlelighting ceremony to recognize the characteristics of IB students, was 2002 Central graduate Dr. Dilani Weerasuriya. Now the Assistant Program Director for Emergency Medicine at Kennestone Hospital, Dr. Weerasuriya highlighted the lifelong value an IB education can hold.
"We learn how to learn in the IB program," she said. "It's making you a lifelong learner."
Superintendent Dr. Curtis L. Jones Jr. also addressed the students. He encouraged the students to continue to be leaders in school and beyond and told them how vital they could be to changing the world for the better.
"If you're principled in your thinking, you can help solve the problem," he said.
The 2019 seniors were officially pinned by members of the 2018 graduates.
2019 IB Diploma Candidates:
Andrew Barnes
Tre Burton
Sherry Carswell
Ashlynn Crawl
Xavier Darden
Jairus Duhart
Leanna Eidson
Aubrey Heaton
Nicole Hill
Ebony Lumas
Virginia McArthur
Mikayla McElroy
Naved Momin
Emmanuel Olawale
Asif Rahaman
Stephanie Rawls
David Ren
Benjamin Rodgers
Kennedy Ross
Darius Shirley
Lea Walker
Jatavion Williams

Like all our schools, McKibben Lane Elementary School has recently given District logo pins to new teachers and VIP pins to teachers returning for their second year. We appreciate the commitment of all our employees!

We're excited about Howard Middle School being the first to implement K12 Insight's Let's Talk at the school level in our district! Parents and students - even community members - will be able to message teachers directly through Let's Talk!

"As a school, we embrace the opportunity to improve our school level communication," said Principal Kevin Adams.

Start a conversation today at https://www.bcsdk12.net/howard.