Dear Baggett Family,
An early Greek philosopher once said, "The only constant is change." How very true it is! This month I wanted to express my appreciation to you, our Baggett Family as we have gone through quite a few changes in the first few weeks of school.
Safety - If you've not been by Baggett in the last few weeks since the tragedy in Barrow County, I want to refer you to the videos we put out the week after the event to share with you how we have adjusted things to keep our front door even more secure. We shifted our check-in/check-out system to the vestibule and are not allowing adults into the building unless they have a true reason to be there. Adults will remain in the vestibule and therefore not have access to the school for the most common reasons that adults show up at the building, for student drop-off, pick-up or to leave something for a teacher or a student. We are also making additional adjustments inside the building to ensure the increased safety of all. Additionally, the school district just pushed out a survey regarding transparent backpacks. Please take the survey and let your voice be heard. Your thoughts and opinions do matter.
Staffing - Baggett has experienced significant growth, with many more students than the district anticipated. We were expected to open the year with 991 students, and we are now at 1051, more than 60 students than we expected. With this growth comes additional staffing. In fact, we were allocated 8 additional staff members including 2 new kindergarten teachers and a kindergarten instructional clerk, a special education teacher and 2 special education paraprofessionals, a Parent Outreach Liaison for the front office, and an Assistant Principal. Over the past few weeks we have hired or received all but one of these new staff members and so excited to welcome them to the family. If your child has been one of the roughly 60 students who has been impacted by a class change, I would like to personally thank you for your understanding and flexibility and to stand by my commitment that each teacher we bring on is not just good enough for your child but would also be for mine. Additionally, during the month of October, we a grateful to have Dr. Jaime Fooks, a Principal Resident, joining our administrative team. Dr. Fooks is in training to become a principal. I am honored to have been selected to partner with Dr. Fooks and the district to give her an incredible experience throughout the month. If you see any of our new staff members, please remember to welcome them to the family!
Instructional Resources - Over the first few weeks of school, Baggett has experienced some changes in our oudoor learning program. We have a new solar panel system, the first of its kind among GCPS elementary schools which should be fully operational before the end of the month. So too, we have shifted some of our other resources, the Small Fry To Go Labitat where we raise 2,000 trout from the egg stage to the small fry trout stage each semester, the aquaponics system where we raise fish and grow plants in a self-contained symbiotic relationship, and our chickens to slightly different locations to create a more cohesive learning environment. In addition to outdoor learning, through grant money from the school district and some additional local funds, Baggett has formed a 5th grade band class, generating one more reason for students to say that they love coming to Baggett!
After School Programs - Our teachers and staff are truly innovators, coming up with new programs to offer our students and you, our family members. We have English classes for adults during the day and after school. We have new student literacy classes after school, and we've seen our extra-curricular programs grow tremendously as well with many more on the horizon. We also opened up our own after school program, Titan Innovation Program, serving students from early in the morning before school (6:30 AM) and going until 6:00 PM after school every single day. Interested in joining us, please scan the QR code below and our director, Ashley Hodges, will be in touch with you shortly.
Other structure components - Our media center is about to experience a tremendous upgrade. As the heart of the school we are so excited that by the end of the month there will be new furniture funded locally, and ten 3-D printers in a newly designed Baggett Maker Space partially funded through a $50,000 grant received from the College Football Hall of Fame. We're anticipating a ribbon-cutting ceremony to take place on October 16th. Please feel free to join us! Additionally, very soon we'll see our long overdue shade structures for the playground equipment.
I hope you feel it! Baggett Elementary School is the preferred education destination that we are aiming for it to be. Thank you for joining us on this journey of igniting innovation at Baggett Elementary!
Mitch Green
Principal
Baggett Elementary School
