Fannin County Middle School- 8th REACH Signing Ceremony

Community, Fannin Middle, Featured Stories

Fannin County Ga- Fannin County Middle School hosted the REACH signing ceremony on Thursday October 13, 2022. Realizing Educational Achievement Can Help (REACH), is a Georgia educational program to aid in student long term success.  This ceremony was the eighth signing hosted for Fannin County Middle School Students. 

REACH is a needs-based mentorship and scholarship program designed to encourage students starting in middle school, to persist in their education pursuits. Students are provided tools, resources and support needed to graduate high school, and achieve post-secondary success.

Among the guests were: Dr. Michael Gwatney- Fannin County Superintendent, Lynne Riley- Georgia Student Finance Commission Agency President, Mark Young- Fannin County Middle School Principal, Keshia Dover- Asst. Principal, Matt Rosenberger- Asst. Principal, Shandra English- Counselor, Dr. Scott Ramsey- Fannin County High School, and a special video presentation from David Ralston. 

In the opening of the ceremony, Dr. Michael Gwatney said “[REACH] is an opportunity to change the path of your lives.” The contract, signed by both students and parents, outlines the expectations by stating make good decisions, earn good grades, have good attendance, maintain a HOPE academic status, attend REACH events, check in with your support system and mentor, graduate high school, and graduate college. 

As of June 2022, there were 3,000 students involved in the REACH program across Georgia. 95.8% of REACH students will graduate from high school, and 76% of the students are eligible for the HOPE scholarship. As of today, Fannin County has had 45 REACH students, with a number of them receiving post-secondary education. Among the Fannin County Recipients were Lesly Alvarado, Sarah Brawley, Ronald Kendall, Jamari Patterson, and Elijah Queen. Congratulations to all the students for their accomplishment and acceptance into the program.

Qualified Candidates for 2022 General Election

Board of Elections, Election
Fannin Co. qualifying candidates

FANNIN, COUNTY — Fannin County candidates hoping to fill one of three county positions had until March 11 at noon to qualify. During the May 24, 2022 General Election, one county commissioner seat and two school board seats will be on the ballot.

Nine candidates qualified before the March 11 deadline.

Post 2 on the Fannin County Board of Commissioners:

Incumbent Republican Glenn Patterson qualified to run for re-election for the Post 2 seat. Four other candidates have also qualified for the Post 2 seat. The three Republican candidates are Larry Sosebee, Greg Staffins, and Anita L. Weaver. Larry Syputa is the only Democrat candidate that has qualified

Two seats on the Fannin County Board of Education:

Incumbent Vice Chair Mike Cole, a Republican, has qualified for an unopposed re-election campaign. Bobby Bearden, also an incumbent Republican has qualified, but will face a challenge from Republican candidates Clarence Farmer and Debi Holcomb.

 

Election information can be found on the Fannin County Board of Elections’ website, and at https://sos.ga.gov/qualifying-candidate-information.

Fannin County four-year graduation rate is 95.2 percent

Board of Education, Community, Rebel's Corner
graduation rate

BLUE RIDGE, Ga – Fannin County Schools (FCS) has a four-year graduation rate of 95.2 percent. The rate is well above the statewide graduation rate of 83.8 percent.

Assistant Superintendent Sarah Rigdon shared the numbers during the November 2020 board of education meeting. FCS is still waiting on the five-year graduation and overall graduation rates.

Only 29 counties in Georgia have a graduation rate above 95 percent.

COLD (Curriculum Online Learning Days) were also discussed for 2020-2021 school year. The first four weather days are forgiven, but missed days 5, 6, 7, and 8 for students who are face to face students. Online learners continue working on their respective platform.

If the school misses more than eight days, then the school calendar will be adjusted. On November 13, Kindergarten through fifth grade students received four days’ worth of assignments from core classes. In the event of poor weather or canceled on-campus classes, students will complete a COLD packet. The COLD assignments are expected to take two hours of time. sixth through twelfth grade students will have assignments posted in Google Classroom. Each class will assign between 45-60 minutes of work per class for a total of 3 to 3.5 hours of work per missed day. Middle school students will find their work in the “COLD” unit in their teacher’s Google classroom.

Milestone testing will take place for the 2020-2021 school year because the United States Department of Education rejected Georgia’s request to suspend assessments this year.

Spring Online Learning

Online learning (OLL) options for January through May 2021 are currently being discussed. Kindergarten through Eighth grade online learners are allowed to continue in the program through the end of the year.

On November 13, parents and guardians received a survey to identify how many students will remain in the program. If a student is not performing well in an online setting, the parent/guardian will be required to meet with the school to develop a plan to get their child back on track.

As for high school students, they have been surveyed about continuing the program and another survey was sent to their parents on November 13 about the same subject. Students who are underperforming will be encouraged to return to in-person classes. All students will use the Edgenuity platform and will have access to FCHS content area teachers for support and as well as virtual support. Parents/guardians of online students will receive a progress report every Monday.

Financial Update

FCS is 25 percent into it’s operating budget for the 2020-2021 school year. Three months in revenues are at 4,855,910.89 and expenditures are 8,350,991.66. SPLOST collections are up 26.20 percent.

Financial update through September 2020

The board also approved technology purchases.

  • Chromebooks for Blue Ridge Elementary: $45,360.00
  • 49 Desktops for West Fannin Elementary: $33, 565.00
  • 21 Desktops for East Fannin Elementary: $14,385.00
  • 9 Desktops for Fannin Middle: $6,165.00
  • 22 Desktops for Fannin High: $15,070.00

Fannin County technology department also sold old equipment through GovDeals.com and brought in $44,213.00 in revenue.

SPLOST numbers

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