READ TO GROW: This week, we welcomed about 100 Read to Grow volunteers back in our first-grade classrooms to help with individualized reading support! Volunteers assist with one-to-one and small group reading, literacy games, and vocabulary. They're making a HUGE difference in the lives of our students and so can you! We'd love for you to join our team! A training session will take place tomorrow, September 8, at 65 Gilreath Road. No registration required. Before school systems nationwide were impacted by COVID-19, we had significantly more volunteers. We're hoping to reach those numbers again soon to increase literacy success in Bartow County!
A DILL-ICIOUS DAY: What's better than participating in garden-based learning and growing cucumbers while studying the life cycle of a plant? These second grade ESOL students in Mrs. Martin's class would say, "nothing!" They loved every minute of harvesting, prepping, and serving cucumber salad with the help of School Nutrition Program Operational Specialist Jessica Chandler! Every student was offered this specialty #farmtoschool snack with their lunch today! White Elementary's very own Mr. Pickel was first in line to taste test the final product!
READY, SET, GROW...IN BARTOW: The District Mentor Program wishes to spotlight Regina Hicks, our media specialist at Adairsville Elementary, for exhibiting best practices in mentoring and support in her building. Regina defines what it means to be great in Bartow!
COME ONE, COME ALL: The ever-popular Story Trail at Hamilton Crossing Park is featuring a new book called Fall Mixed Up! Check it out this holiday weekend!
EMPTY BOWLS 2023: Clays a flyin’ in hopes the Bartow County community will be a buyin’!
The Laney’s are at it – again – helping the community one beautiful bowl at a time! This past weekend, they gathered dozens of students, past and present teachers, and community members to make original, hand-crafted bowls for the Empty Bowls event September 24th at the Bartow County College and Career Academy!
A $25 ticket will get you a one-of-a-kind ceramic bowl, all-you-can-eat soup buffet from 15 local restaurants, and great entertainment, featuring the Wandering Willows and Natalie Goodwin!
ALL proceeds go to support the Backpack Buddies initiative, which feeds food insecure families on weekends in Cartersville-Bartow County!
Help make this 12th annual event a HUGE success. Tickets are available now through your child’s school or the General Store Café in Adairsville.
Thank you, Adairsville Elementary School Assistant Principal Kristy Laney and Adairsville High School Art Teacher Jayme Laney! Your impact in this community is immeasurable!
CENTRAL OFFICE CELEBRATIONS: When you work in a school system and community like this, you have a lot to celebrate! And, if you know Superintendent Page, then you know he likes to celebrate the RIGHT WORK. In the Bartow County School System, the right work supports learning, collaboration, and results. That's what we value.
This month, we celebrate and honor Rebecca Franklin, our School Nutrition Services Supervisor. Of course, she supports learning, collaboration, and results. She also does not shy away from hard work in any situation. Rececca gets the job done professionally, all the while interjecting a level of wit and charm that will leave you smiling for days or even weeks. She radiates positivity, and she's positively special to our 20 schools and Central Office. Rebecca absolutely makes us all better! Congratulations!
RIGHT WORK: Let's recognize our new Ms. Dot STAR Award winners for going above and beyond in their line of work. Their impact can truly be felt districtwide!
CONGRATULATIONS:
Claudia Perkins, Lead Custodian, Euharlee Elementary School
William Pickel, Lead Custodian, White Elementary School
Jennifer Whitlock, Registrar, Adairsville Middle School
MARK THOSE CALENDARS: JOIN OUR WORLD-CLASS TEAM!
TOO COOL TUESDAY: We love seeing our Project SEARCH graduates take the skills they learned from us and apply them to their new jobs they recently earned! Congratulations!
READY, SET, GO: The 7th Annual Downtown Cartersville 5K supporting Backpack Buddies was one for the record books! Nearly 1,000 people participated over the weekend! The heat couldn't slow down the success. Hamilton Crossing Elementary School had the most participants out of any school in the county! Thank you to everyone who supported this cause! Because of you, children will not go hungry on the weekends, while they're away from school.
SIGNATURES AND SMILES: You know you live in a special community when Mission Road Elementary School staff members, past and present, come out in droves to sign the very last beam that will be raised into place next week, competing their new school's frame! 🖋
MRES MILESTONES: Another historic moment for the Bartow County School System as the last steel beam is now ready to be placed atop the new $30 million Mission Road Elementary School!
During the topping out ceremony, Carroll Daniel Construction, the Bartow County Board of Education, Executive Cabinet, and staff at MRES signed the beam. It will be raised into place next week, completing the building’s frame. Following an ancient construction tradition, two tree branches were fastened to side of the beam during this process.
“The ceremony is an age-old tradition,” said Bartow County School System Superintendent Dr. Phillip Page. “This is a special time to celebrate the hard work that has been done since we broke ground in November. All footings, slabs, precast concrete panels, steel columns, beams, and decking are complete. We are excited to continue this progress and officially open its doors next August.”
“Now that this portion of the project is finished, we can focus our efforts on installing the building envelope, including brick, exterior insulation finishing system, windows, roofing, etc.,” said Zach Nicholson, the project manager at Carroll Daniel Construction. “The main mechanical and electrical systems in the building are already well underway. Once those are complete, we can move into installation of drywall, paint, and other finishes on the interior of the building while the rest of the site continues to develop.”
Demolition of the existing MRES will take place over the summer of 2024. At that time, the remaining parking lot and drive lane construction will be in progress.
“So much of what goes on in constructing a new school happens behind the scenes and even underground,” said MRES Principal Sherrie Hughes. “We know that the building materials are the bones of the school building, but our students, teachers, family, and community stakeholders are the heart of the school. By allowing our staff to sign the beam, our names will forever be part of the foundation of this school.”
MILESTONE MOMENTS: Tomorrow is a BIG day for Mission Road Elementary School and the Bartow County School System! Carroll Daniel Construction and the BCSS will host a TOPPING OUT CEREMONY! Raise your hand if you know what that is! Details and pictures to come! #Historic
FRI-YAY FUN: Capturing our hearts one day at a time in Ms. Padilla's Pre-K class! Learning sure is FUN! #exceptionaleducation #exceptionalresults #betterinbartow
PEPPERPALOOZA: What do you get when you mix peppers and STEM? This! Check out Kingston Elementary & Taylorsville Elementary participating in Georgia Organics #pepperpalooza! STEM programs all over our community are competing in @georgiaorganics Cafeteria Contest to see who can grow, harvest, and then serve the BEST peppers! Contest ends in October! Let's wish them luck!
MORNING SHOUT-OUT: 11Alive Morning News is launching a new series featuring schools across metro Atlanta! Guess who you'll see tomorrow? Third graders from Taylorsville Elementary School! Watch 11Alive between 5-7 a.m. for their morning message! Also, catch fourth graders at Euharlee Elementary Friday morning! #EnjoyToday11
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAD: Find those running shoes and lace em' up for a very important cause! Sign up today! Details below!
BOARD RECOGNITIONS: MODEL PLC SCHOOLS
WOODLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL & RED TOP MIDDLE SCHOOL
Woodland Middle School and Red Top Middle School become the latest Bartow County schools to be named Model Professional Learning Communities for their sustained success in raising student achievement over the last several years!
“I literally yelled ‘yes’ from my office so loud that other staff members wondered what was going on,” said RTMS Principal Wes Dickey. “I then forwarded the notification email straight to our staff to share the great news!”
“I was elated,” added WMS Principal Michael Blankenship. “I was on vacation when I received the email. I just sat back and thought, ‘wow...we finally did it.’ We've been working diligently towards this for several years.”
Congratulations, WMS & RTMS!
TAKE-OFF AND GROW: Buckle up, Woodland Middle School students! A brand-new learning opportunity is about to take off…literally!
It’s a unique offering made possible by 8th grade WMS Social Studies Teacher Michael Adcock and Bartow County Model Aviation! Last school year, Mr. Adcock knew his students had a real passion for the engineering component of Aeronautics. So, he sent a few emails, and BCMA jumped at the chance to help with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and enrichment activities!
Fast forward to today, BCMA President Jeff Holland, Vice President Richard LeClaire, Treasurer Keith Schevling, Safety Officer Paul Napier, and member Greg Roper presented WMS with a $1,000 Academy of Aviation Take-Off and Grow grant. That will be used to purchase drones, but that’s not all. BCMA members are also donating their personal time, resources, skills, and knowledge this academic year. They will facilitate hands-on construction and flying of radio-controlled aircrafts and teach the mechanics, design, history, and career pathways related to aeronautics and aviation.
Thank you, BCMA! Your impact is immeasurable!
Bartow County Model Aviation - BCMA
