Clarke Central High Media Center Receives High Honor

From Clarke County Schools

The Clarke Central High School media center recently received the highest state honor as a Georgia Exemplary High School Library Media Program. Only three high school programs are honored each year at this level, which requires exemplary marks in areas including student achievement and staff development.

“We humbly accept the Exemplary Library Media designation on behalf of all Clarke County School District libraries, as they are all doing exemplary work with students, faculty and our community,” said media specialists Kacy Tedder and Lindy Weaver. “We hope this recognition reinforces the importance of school library media programs and the positive power they hold in helping shape the lives of the students they touch.”

Some of the innovative programs of Clarke Central media center include:

• Gladiator Book Club, which helps promote many of the school’s programs including Family Literacy Nights, Teen Tech Week, Teen Read Week and Banned Book Week.
• Reading with Service Dogs is a bi-weekly program whereby special education students read to service animals.
• Media specialists collaborate with teachers, offer ongoing digital feedback to students and provide online novels and microphones to assist students who have difficulty reading.
• Media specialists serve an active role on the school’s Technology Team, which is responsible for digital learning opportunities and ensuring a successful rollout of the district’s Innovative Digital Learning Environments initiative.

Clarke Central joins Barrow Elementary School, Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School and Clarke Middle School as other district schools that have either been named Exemplary or Exceptional in the past.

“The reach of our school’s media center touches everyone in the building,” said Principal Dr. Robbie Hooker. “Thanks to the leadership of media specialists Lindy Weaver and Kacy Tedder, literacy and digital learning remain focus areas for our school.”

The Clarke County School District was named the state’s Title I Distinguished District for closing the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students. The district is a state-level model technology school district, 2014 NAMM Best Communities in Music Education and has a nationally innovative Professional Development School District partnership with the University of Georgia. Graduates are offered upwards of $3 million in scholarships annually, not including the HOPE. For more information, please visit www.proudtobeccsd.com.