Thursday August 1, 2024 marks the first day back to school for the children of Bulloch County. Grice Connect visited Mattie Lively Elementary School this morning to hear from Superintendent Charles Wilson about the most important updates for parents and students, and to celebrate the joy that comes with the beginning of another school year.
“We are excited to have the kids back in the building to see their smiling faces,” said Mattie Lively Elementary School Principal, Bernard Bodison.
Tips for making sure this school year is a good one:
In order to ensure the success of your student, Superintendent Wilson urges parents to take a few key steps during the beginning of the school year.
- Register your student as soon as possible and strive for on time attendance daily
- Make contact with your student’s teacher if you were not present at open house
- Familiarize yourself with your student’s school
- Stay patient with traffic in the car lines and ensure your child is at the bus stop on time
- Review the new Student code of conduct
- Check the school calendar frequently for student and parent events
“We’re a growing community, our infrastructure, roads, everything’s been swamped,” said Superintendent Wilson, highlighting the potential frustration that traffic could cause at the beginning of the school year, reminding parents and students to plan ahead.
He also reemphasized the notice that was given to parents and students before the start of the school year that focused on changes to the code of conduct, particularly regarding offenses of Battery, Fighting, Sexual Battery, Threats, Unapproved Items, & Vapes for grades 6-12.
“We have had a reset in our code of conduct,” he said, “I highly encourage every one of our parents to thoroughly understand and read that code of conduct.”
Find the full Bulloch County Schools Student Code of Conduct HERE.
“Our Biggest Strength is Our People”
Bulloch County Schools is the county’s second-largest employer with more than 2,606 full-time, part-time, contracted services, seasonal and substitute employees. The school district has welcomed nearly 300 new employees this year, 80 of which are new teachers, and 64 of those are first-time teachers.
“Our biggest strength is our people,” said Superintendent Wilson. “We’ve tried steadily to attract people that share our belief system and our values… we continue to try to increase our pay for competitive purposes. We want people to want to be here and be part of what we are doing.”
“We’re dealing with the unknown,” he said. “We know there’s going to be growth. We don’t know how much, when or where.”
Superintendent Wilson said it is easy to assume that most of the growth and strain will occur on the South end of the county, but he says that's not necessarily the case, citing higher than normal registration numbers in Portal so far this year.
“The other challenge becomes, what can we now do about it?” He said proposing that, “We’re going to have to figure out how to get creative within the building.”
Just over the summer, five modular units were purchased for Southeast Bulloch Middle School and Langston Chapel Middle School. These units were in addition to the 20 other modular classroom units being used in the district as interim accommodations to growth.
Free breakfast for all, free lunch in majority of schools in the district
All students in the district are able to receive free breakfast everyday, and most will receive free lunch as well as part of the USDA’s Community Eligibility Program.
Brooklet Elementary, Southeast Bulloch Middle School and Southeast Bulloch High School are excluded by the program’s requirements, but eligible students in these schools can still receive free or reduced price lunches. Applications for reduced price and free lunches are available online at myschoolapps.com or you can obtain a form from your child’s school.
Recent improvements and needs of the schools
Just before the start of the school year, the SEB middle school re-flooring project finished, with Superintendent Wilson commending the efficiency and speed at which the water damage issues were remediated.
The AC system of Mattie Lively Elementary School, constructed in 2012, has unfortunately posed a ‘big challenge’ for the district already so far this school year, with maintenance working alongside side educators on the first day to repair issues in a few classrooms.
Well wishes from Superintendent Wilson
“I’m hoping and praying for an easy transition in, a good productive day-to-day, everyone being safe getting home and then working out the kinks so we can continue to move forward more easily,” said Superintendent Wilson.
“Be a part of your school community…know when those events are and try to participate as much as possible,” he said.
BCS resources for parents and students:
