LET THE BIG DAWG READ: More than 800 CCSD second-graders experienced firsthand the magic of reading during a special event this morning at the University of Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum with former UGA and NFL football player-turned children's author and literacy advocate Malcolm Mitchell! After a read-aloud with Malcolm and other fun activities, all students left with their own free copy of Malcolm's brand-new book, "My Super Duper Me!" Thank you to Malcolm and his Share the Magic Foundation as well as the UGA Athletic Association for once again putting on a terrific event for our Thriving Students and promoting a Culture of Literacy across CCSD and Athens-Clarke County!
Athens: We asked, and you have answered the call!
We are thrilled to announce that our community has stepped up to raise $400,000 to fund Gifted Savings for our Class of 2027! That money unlocked a match of $400,000 from an anonymous donor for a total of $800,000, which means that, for the second year in a row, every CCSD high school senior will receive a real $1,000 investment portfolio that they will watch and learn from throughout the year!
Once our seniors have completed all the Gifted Savings learning modules, graduated, and turned 18, that portfolio will become theirs! Thank you, Athens, for helping shape the future of our community one student at a time.
Learn more about this financial education and literacy program and how you can help keep the momentum going for the Class of 2028 and beyond at www.clarke.k12.ga.us/giftedsavings.
Employee of the Month nominations for the 2026-27 school year are now open! Nominate any full-time CCSD employee with at least one year of service to the district at bit.ly/CCEmployeeAward
Scenes from a wonderful first day of school! Thanks to our students, staff, and families for bringing the energy all day! See the full gallery on the CCSD Facebook page!
Congratulations to new District 8 Board of Education member Johnelle Simpson II, who was officially sworn in today! Thank you, Mr. Simpson, for your willingness to serve CCSD students and the Athens-Clarke County community and for your advocacy of public education!
At CCSD, we're continuing to build on the momentum of making Athens the first community in America where every student has the opportunity to graduate high school as an investor, and we need your help!
We have approximately $77,000 left to raise by Monday, August 10, to meet our $400,000 goal of fully funding real $1,000 investment portfolios for every member of the Class of 2027 at Cedar Shoals High School, Clarke Central High School, and Classic City High School through the Gifted Savings financial education and literacy program!
Help us cross the finish line by Monday, August 10! Donate to the CCSD Gifted Savings Fund through the Athens Area Community Foundation at bit.ly/GSCCSD. Check out this video to learn more about the life-changing impact of Gifted Savings on CCSD students in year one, and get inspired to be a part of creating brighter futures for our youth! Learn more at www.clarke.k12.ga.us/giftedsavings.
Pictured: Thank you to Gifted Savings Executive Director Josh Landay for leading the presentation at today's kickoff meeting of the Gifted Savings Advisory Council and to the members of the council for leading the way in these efforts!
Yesterday proved just what an amazing year we're going to have and was a phenomenal showcase of Optimized Talent, Thriving Students, and Connected Culture - all working hand-in-hand to make CCSD and Athens-Clarke County Better Together! Convocation 2026 is in the books, but the fun is just getting started!
And we're off! Convocation 2026!
Almost ready to go here for Convocation 2026, a full day of professional learning for all CCSD employees to make 2026-27 the best school year yet! Thank you to The Classic Center and Akins Ford Arena for hosting! And a big THANK YOU to our sponsors who made this event possible!
Last week, Mayor Kelly Girtz was joined by members of the Executive Board of the Clarke County Association of Educators and issued a proclamation declaring today, July 27, as "You Matter" School Personnel Appreciation Day. The proclamation recognizes the vital role all school employees play in encouraging academic achievement, fostering personal growth in students, and building positive relationships that shape the future of our community. Thank you to Mayor Girtz and ACCGov, and thank you to all the members of our CCSD team who show up and Raise the Bar for students every day!
The journey starts here! If you have a new student to enroll in CCSD, grades Pre-K-12, come see us at the District Office, 595 Prince Avenue! Our Student Registration Center has extended hours this week, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. today, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday to help your student slide into school smoothly! More info at www.clarke.k12.ga.us/registration
Best of the Best: Yesterday, our Business Services Division started a new tradition of handing out the top yearly Bookkeeper Awards. Congratulations to these seven award winners and thank you to all of our bookkeepers who consistently excel at their roles in keeping our schools functioning smoothly!
2025-26 Distinguished Bookkeeper Award: Consistently exceeds expectations through exceptional professionalism, dedication, reliability, proactive leadership, and unwavering commitment to excellence; sets the standard for others through outstanding work ethic, exemplary integrity, sound judgment, and serves as a trusted resource and role model for fellow bookkeepers.
• LaTasha Lester, Timothy Road Elementary School
• Torya Johnson, Winterville Elementary School
• Beth Holliday, Athens Community Career Academy
2025-26 Exemplary Bookkeeper Award: Consistently demonstrates professionalism, integrity, and a strong commitment to high-quality work; dependable, organized, and dedicated to meeting deadlines while maintaining accurate financial records and supporting the daily operations of their school.
• Vicki Lee, J.J. Harris Elementary School
• Tyvee Porter, Coile Middle School
• Alejandra Contreras-Gomez, Clarke Central High School
2025-26 Rising Star Bookkeeper: Demonstrated exceptional growth throughout the school year and, through a commitment to continuous learning, has made remarkable progress and embraced every opportunity to improve and demonstrate a genuine desire to grow professionally.
• Tasha Colquitte, Classic City High School
A huge THANK YOU to everyone in the community who joined us today — either in-person or online — for an introductory glance at the work CCSD has been and will be doing to build a Culture of Literacy throughout all of Athens-Clarke County, starting at birth, so that every child can read, thrive, and succeed. Also, a THANK YOU to the Get Georgia Reading team for their presentation on viewing literacy through a public health lens and giving us a great perspective on how we can strengthen literacy in our community.
The work is just getting started!
If you weren't able to attend or missed the live stream, view the replay of the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/live/w6nB4QoRhEU
If you or your organization would like to join our effort and want to learn more about how YOU can make an impact, please complete our interest form at bit.ly/COLPartner. Much more to come as we write the Next Chapter!
Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Scott stopped in during today's Innovate U session at UGA to speak with CCSD high school students about leadership and the importance of working in and having high-functioning teams.
Launched in 2021, Innovate U is a collaborative initiative between CCSD, the UGA Fanning Institute for Leadership, and the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Designed for rising freshmen through juniors, the program helps students build leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills through hands-on experiences in leadership development and human-centered design thinking. Throughout the three-week program, students work in teams alongside UGA student mentors and local industry professionals to develop innovative solutions to real-world community challenges.
This year’s theme is "Achieving Higher Levels of Health and Well-Being," and students will make their final team presentations next week to complete the program. Thanks to UGA for your continued partnership on this initiative!
#CCSD2026
#CCSDThriving
#CCSDConnected
#CCSDCommunityPartnerships
#CCSDBetterTogether
Launched in 2021, Innovate U is a collaborative initiative between CCSD, the UGA Fanning Institute for Leadership, and the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Designed for rising freshmen through juniors, the program helps students build leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills through hands-on experiences in leadership development and human-centered design thinking. Throughout the three-week program, students work in teams alongside UGA student mentors and local industry professionals to develop innovative solutions to real-world community challenges.
This year’s theme is "Achieving Higher Levels of Health and Well-Being," and students will make their final team presentations next week to complete the program. Thanks to UGA for your continued partnership on this initiative!
#CCSD2026
#CCSDThriving
#CCSDConnected
#CCSDCommunityPartnerships
#CCSDBetterTogether
REMINDER that our Rolling Registration starts TOMORROW (Tuesday, June 16) with visits to Nellie B and Parkview! If you live in or near these neighborhoods and have a child to enroll in school (grades PK-12), we'll be there to help! Look for the big blue bus! More info: www.clarke.k12.ga.us/registration
Congratulations to our Human Resources Division on winning the Platinum Award - Best in Class - for Employee Benefits Process - from the Georgia Association of School Personnel Administrators! Pictured, from left, are Dan Swartz, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources; Audrey Carlisle, Executive Director of Human Resources; and CCSD's benefits broker, Ali Stinson, Vice President of Clear Concepts.
There's still plenty of time to join us at the District Office TODAY for our Special Education Teacher and Paraprofessional hiring event! No need to register today - just bring your resume and be prepared to interview! Come see us from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and find the opportunity to join our team at CCSD!
#CCSD2026
#CCSDTalent
#CCSDBetterTogether
#CCSD2026
#CCSDTalent
#CCSDBetterTogether
Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Scott kicked off our two-day June Leadership Meeting yesterday with a message focusing on strengthening the Culture of Literacy in CCSD and throughout Athens-Clarke County as the core of our work.
School and district leaders also heard a presentation from Dr. Garry McGiboney and Arianne Weldon of Get Georgia Reading, focusing on literacy as a public health issue with multiple influencing factors and providing strategies on how we can effectively address and improve literacy rates in our schools and throughout the community.
Leaders spent the second half of the day with a deep dive into their student performance and attendance data from the past year, sharing successes to build off and areas of growth to focus on. The work will continue all day today with a more intensive look at their school improvement plans and building a game plan to best position their schools to have the best year yet in 2026-27!
School and district leaders also heard a presentation from Dr. Garry McGiboney and Arianne Weldon of Get Georgia Reading, focusing on literacy as a public health issue with multiple influencing factors and providing strategies on how we can effectively address and improve literacy rates in our schools and throughout the community.
Leaders spent the second half of the day with a deep dive into their student performance and attendance data from the past year, sharing successes to build off and areas of growth to focus on. The work will continue all day today with a more intensive look at their school improvement plans and building a game plan to best position their schools to have the best year yet in 2026-27!
In a called meeting this evening, the Clarke County Board of Education formally approved the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Scott as Superintendent of the Clarke County School District, promoting her to the position full-time after she held it in an interim capacity for the past 11 months. Our district team looks forward to building on the momentum from the past school year as we follow Dr. Scott's call to Raise the Bar in Pursuit of Excellence in all that we do in service of our students and families. Under her leadership, we look forward to continuing the work of achieving a brighter future for Athens-Clarke County, Better Together.
School may be out for the summer, but our leaders are hard at work preparing for next year! CCSD's Opportunity Culture school teams gathered today for a day of professional learning focused on strengthening instructional coaching systems that support consistently good teaching. Participants explored strategies to strengthen coaching consistency, develop instructional leaders, and build stronger supports for teachers and students as part of our work to boost student results in the classroom and close achievement gaps.
