After a summer vacation that was extended by a day thanks to furloughs, Fayette teachers are now officially back in their classrooms and preparing for the new school year that begins Monday.
The school system is still tallying the number of students it anticipates to begin the year, said spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, who added that the final number usually can’t be tabulated until after Labor Day. While most teaching positions are filled, she pointed out the school system is still looking for a couple of special education teachers as well as paraprofessionals to work in the area of special education.
Students who will be attending school for the first time or who are changing schools are invited to attend orientations to meet their teachers and familiarize themselves with the building.
All elementary schools will hold orientations Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. Middle schools and high schools have scheduled orientations at varying times for their new students.
Several elementary schools will have special orientations Thursday for the youngest students. Brooks Elementary will hold pre-k orientation from 8 to 9:30 a.m. and kindergarten orientation from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Crabapple Lane will hold kindergarten orientation from 9 to 11 a.m., as will Huddleston Elementary.
Pre-k and kindergarten students at North Fayette Elementary can attend orientation from 10 a.m. to noon. Kindergarten students at Peeples and Peachtree City elementaries, as well as pre-k and kindergarteners at Burch, are invited to orientation from 9 to 11 a.m. Kindergarteners at Spring Hill Elementary will gather at 10 a.m. Thursday for orientation.
J.C. Booth will hold orientations tomorrow. Sixth-grade orientation will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m., followed by seventh- and eighth-grade from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Bennett’s Mill Middle School will hold orientations on Friday. Sixth-graders are scheduled from 2 to 3:30 p.m., while new seventh- and eighth-graders can attend orientation from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Rising Starr and Whitewater middle schools will have orientations for sixth-graders on Thursday from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and for seventh- and eighth-graders from 1:30 to 3 p.m.
Fayette County and Flat Rock middle school sixth-graders should report for orientation on Thursday from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Fayette County seventh- and eighth-graders will have orientation on Thursday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., while their peers at Flat Rock should report on Friday from 4 to 6 p.m.
McIntosh High held its orientations last week, but all the county’s other high schools will be holding orientations Thursday. Ninth-graders and new students in other grades can visit Fayette County High from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and Sandy Creek and Starr’s Mill from 6 to 8 p.m. Whitewater High will hold orientation for 12th-grade students from 8 to 10 a.m.; 11th grade, 10 a.m. to noon; 10th grade, 2 to 4 p.m. and ninth grade, 4 to 6 p.m.
A new school will be opening this year, but only for about 40 special needs students. Rivers Elementary on Tillman Road was completed this summer, but, as a cost-cutting measure the school board voted in February not to open the $10.65 million facility built for 600 students.
Rather than allow Rivers to sit empty, system officials decided to move the Mainstay program. Mainstay serves special needs kindergarteners through 12th-graders who must be removed temporarily from their regular schools. The program is currently at the Lafayette Educational Center. In addition to the Mainstay staff and students, the school system’s special education department will be headquartered at Rivers. Berry-Dreisbach said not all of the school building will be utilized, and energy saving measures will be employed.
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