Good
morning! Welcome to the fifth edition of GaDOE Updates, a newsletter from the
Georgia Department of Education. Every other week, we send out a roundup of
news, information and spotlights on K-12 public education in Georgia. In
between, keep up with GaDOE on Facebook
and Twitter.
State
schools celebrate graduations
Last
week, Georgia’s three state schools graduated a total of 43 students – each of
them a fighter. Each room of Georgia Academy for the Blind, the Georgia School
for the Deaf, and the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf graduates last week was
a room full of overcoming. There wasn’t a dry eye around. Read more here.
Meet
the 2015 Georgia Teacher of the Year
Amanda
Miliner is a product of public education, a military child who found constancy
in relationships with her teachers. In 2006, she became a first-generation
college graduate and, in 2011 and 2012, respectively, she became the first
member of her immediate family to earn master’s and specialist’s degrees. Her
math Early Intervention Program classes have consecutively had 100 percent pass
rates. She is, her principal wrote in a recommendation letter, “the epitome of
what all educators need to be.” As Teacher of the Year, Miliner will be a voice
for others like her, teachers who daily choose the classroom because it’s where
their passion lies – who felt that call deep inside them, and heeded that call,
and stayed. Read more here.
Meet
the students representing Georgia in the National Spelling Bee
Two
students represented our state in the National
Spelling Bee on Wednesday, May 28 and Thursday, May 29 in Washington, D.C.
Sumedh Garimella is an eighth-grader at Hull Middle School in Duluth; he can recite pi up
to 75 digits and his favorite book is Animal Farm. Charles Li is in
fifth grade at Stevens Creek Elementary in Martinez; he hopes to study
finance, loves Mozart and Harry Potter, and won his regional spelling bee with
the word “calypso.”
Around
DOE lately
We
announced our 2014 Summer Reading Challenge this month. Find more info here: http://bit.ly/1rh9RBH and visit the Read a
Book, Georgia website here: http://www.lexile.com/fab/ga/.
You can also view several speeches from
the event.
Chief
Academic Officer Dr. Mike Buck and Michaela Claus-Nix, program specialist for
World Languages and Workforce Initiatives, attended a ceremony May 14 to honor
seven schools that received the PASCH Award for progressive approaches in
teaching the German language. Read a write-up of the event on the website of
the German Embassy: http://bit.ly/1ouqh7Q.
Around
the districts
Floyd
County Schools represent one of the best education values in the country, according
to a recent analysis that rated communities based on education, safety, and
the tax rates paid by citizens. The study concludes that Floyd residents are
“getting a deal – better public schools and lower crime rates compared
to the amount of money they pay each year in property taxes” (emphasis ours).
Alec
Kumpf, a student at Kell High School in Cobb County, was one of 10 students
nationwide presented with the FIRST Robotics Dean’s
List Award by FIRST founder Dean Kamen. The award
aims to celebrate “outstanding student leaders whose passion for and
effectiveness at attaining FIRST ideals is exemplary,” per the FIRST website.
Georgia’s
public schools in the news
New
graduate donates hair to fellow student (Rockdale Citizen): http://bit.ly/1pkfflG
Companies
train students for future work (11 Alive): http://on.11alive.com/1k3AgxN
Miliner
named Georgia Teacher of the Year (AJC): http://bit.ly/1mrvsAu
Save
the date:
June
3-6: Institute
Designed for Educating All Students (IDEAS) Conference, Epworth by the Sea,
St. Simons
June
16: Applications due for SAMHSA “Now is the
Time” grants for LEAs (supports training of school personnel and others to
detect and respond to mental illness in children and youth)
June
19 and 20: Georgia Virtual Learning’s
Professional Learning Symposium
(register by TODAY)
July
8-10: Safety
in Our Schools Conference, UGA Hotel and Conference Center, Athens
July
13-16: Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education’s 67th Annual Summer Conference, Cobb Galleria
Center, Cobb County
July
13-16: Georgia Association of Educational Leaders Summer Conference, Jekyll
Island Convention Center, Jekyll Island
**Remember:
Send your tips, ideas and events to mfrick@doe.k12.ga.us
and mcardoza@doe.k12.ga.us. We’re
interested in ideas for in-depth feature stories, too.