2 New Roswell Schools Open On Monday

ROSWELL, GA -- It's that time of year again! School bells will soon ring across Fulton County as classes resume on Monday, Aug. 8.

The Fulton County School System continues to be the fourth largest school district in Georgia, with a projected 2016-2017 enrollment of approximately 96,500 students – an expected increase of about 800 students from the previous school year.

The system includes 105 schools – 59 elementary schools, 19 middle schools, 17 high schools and 10 start-up charter schools.

Here is what you can expect as your little ones head back to classes with their friends and neighbors:

New Schools

Three new elementary schools open this fall – Esther Jackson Elementary School (1400 Martin Road, Roswell), Vickery Mill Elementary School (1201 Alpharetta Street, Roswell) and Wolf Creek Elementary School (4440 Derrick Road, Atlanta) will open its doors to students.

Esther Jackson Elementary is reopening on its original site on Martin Road after being temporarily relocated during its construction to the school now known as Vickery Mill Elementary. Wolf Creek Elementary is now the official name of “Derrick Road Site” elementary school.

Two new charter schools open this fall – Fulton Academy of Science & Technology (FAST) and Skyview High School. FAST is envisioned as a school that focuses on design thinking and problem-solving with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The school will begin with kindergarten through seventh grade and grow to K-8 as students move on to the next grade level.

Skyview High School aims to serve high school students who have dropped out or are in danger of dropping out. The school’s primary focus is on underclassmen who, after successfully completing their remediation, are returned to their original school to complete their high school program and graduate with their original class.

Personnel and Staffing

New Teachers and Principals. By the summer’s end, Fulton County Schools will have welcomed nearly 900 new teachers for 2016-2017. This will bring the district’s total teaching force to about 6,670.

In addition, the following schools have new principals this year:

• Bethune Elementary School: Taylor Pratt
• Cliftondale Elementary School: Kimberlie P. Gibson
• McNair Middle School: John Madden
• Sandtown Middle School: Estella Cook
• North Springs Charter High School: Scott Hanson
• Tri-Cities High School: Termerion McCrary-Lakes

New Programs and Curriculum Offerings

Achievement Zone. Two years ago Fulton County Schools established an “Achievement Zone” to provide additional supports and resources to students in the district’s most challenged schools. The Achievement Zone is a geographic area that makes up Banneker High School and its feeder elementary and middle schools. The 10 schools within this area experience a greater rate of mobility, more poverty and a higher risk of community crime as well as more limited academic supports for struggling students.

As a strategy to drive improvement, schools in the Achievement Zone will follow a different school day and calendar year during the 2016-2017 school year. For these schools, the school day will be extended by 30 minutes and 12 student release days are built into the calendar, allowing teachers and staff more time for professional development that targets their students’ diverse academic and socioeconomic needs.

The schools making up the Achievement Zone are Banneker High School, McNair Middle School, Woodland Middle School, Bethune Elementary School, Brookview Elementary School, College Park Elementary School, Feldwood Elementary School, Heritage Elementary School, Asa G. Hilliard Elementary School and Love T. Nolan Elementary School.

Personalized Learning through Mobile Devices. Fulton County Schools’ personalized learning concept is the unique way its schools customize instruction so that every student’s educational needs, diverse skills and specific interests are met. One way this is accomplished is through instruction with mobile learning devices. The district is continuing a large-scale device roll-out to schools during the 2016-17 school year.

Fulton uniquely uses a marketplace model where schools can choose from Apple iPads, Microsoft Surfaces, Dell Latitudes, and Dell Chromebooks to design their personalized learning technology plans. Since its start, approximately 17,000 student devices and 1,600 teacher devices have been deployed to 24 schools.

By the 2017-18 school year, approximately 65,000 devices total will be issued to students and teachers in all Fulton schools. The device roll-out plan calls for middle schools and high schools to issue one device per student, and in elementary schools, classroom sets are used to foster collaborate learning among students.

Fulton Schools College and Career Academy. Fulton Schools College and Career Academy will open this August. This is a half-time program for students interested in Audio, Video, Technology and Film and Digital Media and Animation; Culinary; Construction; and Aviation. This new program will allow students to complete a career pathway in one year, achieve industry credentials and also participate in internship and job shadowing opportunities. The program is located adjacent to Banneker High School and has a projected enrollment of 200 students.

New Career and Technical Education Programs. Fulton County Schools strongly believes in preparing students for life beyond high school, and a robust career and technical program helps students discover their interests and develop their skills. New programs that are beginning this fall include:

• Alpharetta High School – Healthcare Science
• Crabapple Middle School – Architecture and Construction
• Woodland Middle School – Transportation (Aviation)
• McNair Middle School – Marketing
• Creekside High School – Graphic Design
• Renaissance Middle School – Healthcare Science and Engineering

International Baccalaureate Program at Westlake High School. Westlake High School is now an authorized International Baccalaureate School and will be offering its first IB classes to selected juniors and seniors this fall. Similarly, Alpharetta High School and Centennial High School are IB Candidate schools and following the same multi-year process as Westlake to establish their programs.

CBI Expansion at Four High Schools. Fulton County Schools will begin the year with four new community-based instruction (CBI) programs at Creekside High School, Johns Creek High School, Milton High School, and North Springs Charter High School.

The new CBI programs provide high school students with disabilities the opportunity to learn academic, community, daily-living, and career skills within the communities where they currently live, work, and shop.

Over the summer, Fulton modified all four buildings to ensure campus accessibility and provide renovated and appropriate classrooms, home-living centers, sensory/therapy rooms and restroom facilities.

CBI programs already are in place at Alpharetta, Banneker, Cambridge, Centennial, Chattahoochee, Langston Hughes, Roswell, and Tri-Cities high schools, and expansion will occur during the 2017-2018 school year at Westlake, Northview, and Riverwood high schools.

Partnership with Gwinnett Tech to Offer College Classes. Gwinnett Technical College and Fulton County Schools are partnering to build a cohort program for juniors and seniors. This program will be for students to receive certifications, diplomas, and college credit at the Alpharetta Campus of Gwinnett Tech. The areas of study may include:

• Advanced Academics
• Marketing Management/Social Media Marketing Certificate/Diploma/Degree
• Game Development Certificate/Diploma/Degree
• Network Specialist Certificate/Diploma/Degree
• Cyber Crime Certificate/Diploma/Degree

Students and parents will receive information about the program this school year, with enrolled students starting classed by fall 2017. This program is to enhance the existing “Move On When Ready” program, begun last school year, in which 120 Fulton County students were enrolled and will begin taking college courses this fall.

Training for New Social Studies and Science Curriculum Standards. Fulton County Schools will implement the state’s revised social studies and science standards in 2017-18, but teachers will spend the current school year preparing for the changes. The revised curricula were adopted by the Georgia Board of Education in Spring 2016.

Additional Pre-K Classes. Four new Pre-K classes have been added to elementary schools in the district. Sweet Apple and Stonewall Tell will now have one class and Findley Oaks and Hillside will have two classes each. Districtwide, Fulton County Schools now offers 1,750 pre-kindergarten spaces to students.

Construction and Maintenance Projects Funded through SPLOST

Thanks to SPLOST, the summer months have been extremely busy. Construction and maintenance crews have worked on hundreds of school projects throughout the county including the building of three new elementary schools (Esther Jackson, Vickery Mill and Wolf Creek) and an addition adjacent to Banneker High School (Fulton Schools College and Career Academy) to expand career technology options in South Fulton.

The staff and students Vickery Mill Elementary School will take residence in their building on Alpharetta Street/Highway 9 in Roswell as the new Esther Jackson Elementary School re-opens on its original site on Martin Road. Esther Jackson students and staff were housed at the Vickery Mill site for one school year while their new building was being constructed.

Renovations will be finished at more than 36 schools in the district, including those at 25 elementary schools, seven middle schools and four high schools.

Looking ahead to the 2017-2018 school year, the replacement C.H. Gullatt Elementary School is under construction, and in Sandy Springs, a new addition at Riverwood International Charter School is under way. Both have opening dates set for August 2017.

High School Media Center Project. Fourteen high schools will debut redesigned media centers that incorporate the latest in technology and innovative learning. Called “Learning Commons,” the spaces allow for more flexibility in learning and can be easily reconfigured to serve a multitude of uses. Alpharetta, Banneker, Cambridge, Chattahoochee, Creekside, Langston Hughes, Johns Creek, Milton, North Springs, Northview, Riverwood, Roswell, Tri-Cities and Westlake high schools all have the updated media centers. Centennial High School was the first to debut a Learning Commons last school year.

Bus Transportation

Fulton County Schools’ Transportation Department is prepared to have 788 buses rolling out on the first day of school. Fifty-two replacement school buses have been added to the bus fleet – each funded by SPLOST – and 79 new drivers have been hired to meet the staffing targets set for the new year.

Bus Routes on Website by July 17. More than 1,600 routes have been finalized and will be available via the district website, www.fultonschools.org, for parents and students on July 17. This is being released two weeks sooner than last school year so parents can review them earlier, and any questions or concerns can be addressed and resolved before school begins.

Driver Training and Preparation. Fulton County Schools exceeds the required state training with additional classroom and on-the-road training, and all drivers must pass a criminal background check, have an annual physical, become CPR and first aid certified, and are subject to new hire and random drug and alcohol testing. Driving records also are reviewed monthly and drivers are certified in CPR, First Aid, and the Green Cross Defensive Driving course.

Last year, drivers began using the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) approach with elementary school students, and this year the program will roll out to middle school students. The middle school students’ slogan is “Stay Safe and Graduate,” which models the district’s strategic goal of increasing graduation rates.

Safety Initiatives

The SchoolMessenger “QuickTip” app and web-based site allows parents, students, staff, and other stakeholders to provide safety and security staff with tips or to report situations (anonymously or non-anonymously) that are occurring within and/or around our schools or facilities. The Safety & Security Department closely monitors and aggressively follows up on all tips. The app is free and available for download to Android and iOS devices.

Tips can also be sent via the web/online.

School Nutrition

The School Nutrition Program will have all 95 commercial kitchens, including two new kitchens, operating on the first day of school so that students can receive breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

Meal prices will stay the same this year. For breakfast, the cost will be $1.05 for elementary schools and $1.20 for middle/high schools, with the reduced price for impoverished students at $0.30. Lunch prices are $2.35 for elementary schools and $2.60 for middle/high schools. The reduced lunch price is $0.40. Parents are able to join their student for a meal, pending teacher/administrator consent, at $1.55 for breakfast and $3.35 for lunch.

Free Breakfast and Lunch at Selected Schools. Fulton County Schools is expanding the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to 27 schools this year, five more than the previous year. The program provides students in those schools access to free breakfast and lunch. To qualify, a school must have 40 percent or more of its students eligible for free meals over a four-year period.

The qualifying include: Asa G. Hilliard Elementary, Bethune Elementary, Brookview Elementary, Campbell Elementary, College Park Elementary, Conley Hills Elementary, Feldwood Elementary, C.H. GullattElementary, Hamilton E. Holmes Elementary, Hapeville Elementary, Heritage Elementary, Lake Forest Elementary, Seaborn Lee Elementary, S.L. Lewis Elementary, Love T. Nolan Elementary, Liberty Point Elementary, Oakley Elementary, Palmetto Elementary, Parklane Elementary, Renaissance Elementary, Camp Creek Middle, McNair Middle, Paul D. West Middle, Woodland Middle, Banneker High, McClarin High, and Tri-Cities High.

Parents of students attending the selected schools do not have to complete a meal application or pay any money for their child’s school breakfast or school lunch in 2016-2017. However, if parents want their child to buy extra portions or approved snacks from the school café, they must send money or place money on their child’s meal account.

Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program. Fifteen Fulton County elementary schools were selected by the Georgia Department of Education to participate in the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. This allows the School Nutrition Program to provide a free fresh fruit or vegetable snack to all students outside of the breakfast or lunch meal. The program introduces school children to a variety of free produce that they otherwise might not have the opportunity to sample, while also providing a nourishing snack to help fuel the students’ brain and growing body during the school day. The 15 elementary schools selected are Asa G Hilliard, Bethune, Brookview, Conley Hills, C.H. Gullatt, Hamilton E. Holmes, Hapeville, Heritage, Lake Forest, Seaborn Lee, S.L. Lewis, Mimosa, Love T. Nolan, Parklane, and College Park.

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Photo: Vickery Mill Elementary School in Roswell. Credit: Fulton County Schools