The school year began Tuesday for several hundred thousand students across metro Atlanta with new beginnings and some familiar challenges.
Students returned to see new teachers, some new principals and, in Atlanta, a new elementary school.
Classes started in Atlanta, Cherokee, Cobb, the city of Decatur, Paulding, and Rockdale. School will begin later this week and early next week in other metro Atlanta districts, including Clayton, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Henry and the cities of Buford and Marietta.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
With the hot temperatures, school districts hoped to keep classes cool. Jaclyn Berisford, whose 5-year-old daughter Ella was ready for her first-ever day at King Springs Elementary in Cobb, knows that some of the classrooms on the kindergarten hall can get relatively hot. Berisford said, however, that the school keeps students inside when temperatures peak and brings in extra fans as needed.
Cobb County Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said he hadn’t heard of any issues with air conditioning systems. Cobb, the state’s second-largest school district, with about 100,000 students, is already discussing air conditioning projects for next summer in light of what Ragsdale said are “the pipeline, the delays that everyone is seeing.”
Meanwhile, Ragsdale and school leaders across the region asked parents for patience in advance of any delays on some bus routes.
“Bus drivers, I’m convinced, will be a challenge from now until eternity,” Ragsdale told reporters. “The new thing now is to get 100% staff on bus drivers. I’m not sure we can ever see that day.”
Cherokee County school officials said they are staffed for full-time drivers, but still hiring for their relief/sub driver pool. They warned bus routes can run slightly late the first week or two of school due to fluctuations in traffic and ridership patterns.
In Atlanta, families were all smiles at Virginia-Highland Elementary, a new school in the former Inman Middle School building. Some family dogs and younger siblings in strollers made the trip with students to school.
Due to overcrowding at some schools, the school board voted last year to rezone about 500 students from Springdale Park Elementary to the new school. Atlanta Public Schools hired the former Springdale Park Principal Terry Harness to lead Virginia-Highland Elementary.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
“This has been a long day in the making,” Harness said. “Getting to this point is what I have thought about for months and months and months. I could not be happier for our school, our kids, our teachers, myself and this community.”
Students gathered excitedly before class — chatting with each other, hugging Harness and posing for pictures. Fifth grader Heath Overturf was excited for a different reason.
“(It’s the school’s) first year and this place is already in a movie,” he said. Heath said he was an extra in a movie that featured the school. He explained that some of the details are top secret.
“I know the name, but I don’t know if I can say it,” he said.
Meanwhile, a long line of cars snaked around Lovinggood Middle School in Powder Springs before classes began. Students, weighed down by instruments and backpacks, bounded out of their slow-moving vehicles and past a cardboard welcome sign. Inside, middle schoolers carried paper maps of the campus and navigated themselves to homeroom.
Ragsdale celebrated not only that the pandemic is “in the rearview mirror,” but also student performance in recently released Georgia Milestones scores when talking to reporters at Lovinggood. The new school year began with some sadness at one Cobb school. Allatoona High School teacher Lindsay Civitella, 36, died Monday from an aggressive form of ovarian cancer.
Credit: Alice Tecotzky
Credit: Alice Tecotzky
Schools are focusing more on literacy this academic year. State lawmakers earlier this year passed the Georgia Early Literacy Act, which calls for “high-quality” instructional materials aligned to the “science of reading,” which it defines as research that identifies “evidence-based” approaches.
Though she is generally confident about the school year, Berisford does have one persistent fear as a parent.
“Safety is always the No. 1 concern among any educators or parents these days, but I feel like King Springs does a great job,” she said.
Many school districts are enacting new safety and security measures. Henry County, which starts classes Wednesday, has switched to one-point entries and will have security monitoring on all other doors, including detection of any doors left open, said Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis.
Credit: Alice Tecotzky
Credit: Alice Tecotzky
As fifth graders, sisters Nadia and Miraya Tello were ready for their last year at King Springs.
Nadia was excited to enter the school building and see all that has changed.
Among the biggest changes at King Springs is in leadership. The school is one of 13 in Cobb County to get a new principal this year, Ashley Mize. Several parents said Mize is a good fit for the school.
“She was a former King Springs parent, which I feel always helps give a principal a different perspective,” said Meghan Status, whose son is entering second grade.
Staff writers Cassidy Alexander and Toni Odejimi contributed to this article.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: courtesy of Sarah Bullington
Credit: courtesy of Sarah Bullington
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