We need your input on "What mitigation strategies, practices, or procedures should we consider as we adjust to living with COVID-19?". To gather your feedback, Gwinnett County Public Schools is using a tool called ThoughtExchange. All of our voices matter, so your participation is crucial and valued.

In January, GCPS joined the nation in celebrating the positive impact of mentoring through the Community-Based Mentoring Program, which pairs caring adults with male and female students in grades 4 through 12. The involvement of a community mentor can lead to a meaningful, lasting connection with a student. Please click here to learn more about how you can become involved.

Members of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council came together for their first-ever meeting with Dr. Calvin J. Watts in January. A group of 63 middle school students and 52 high school students were selected for the council through an application process. At the first meeting, participants, who met by level, had the opportunity to share feedback, experiences, and perspectives on a variety of issues affecting students, schools, and communities with Superintendent Watts. Please click here to learn more and click here to view a Focus Moment about the Council.

January is the month for the Gwinnett County Board of Education to elect its officers, ratify calendar items, reaffirm policies, designate the official media organ (The Gwinnett Daily Post), and approve retained legal counsel (Thompson, Sweeny, Kinsinger & Pereira, P.C.). Dr. Tarece Johnson, District V, was elected 2022 Chairperson. Steven B. Knudsen, District II, was elected 2022 Vice Chair.

Online, find a list of meeting dates in 2022 and Area Board Meeting dates for Spring 2023.

At its January meeting, the Board made the following appointments:

GOC registration will be held through February 28, for students who wish to learn digitally in the 2022-23 school year. Visit the school’s website (https://www.gcpsk12.org/domain/7748) for more on the GOC registration process. Registration during this timeframe will allow the school to staff appropriately to serve students next school year. Please click here to learn more.

Last month, the Gwinnett County Board of Education shared results from an online survey regarding two potential Board of Education redistricting maps with the Gwinnett Legislative Delegation. The members of the Gwinnett Legislative Delegation reviewed these maps and unanimously agreed to forward Map #1 to the Georgia General Assembly. Please click here to review the maps, information, and online survey results.

GCPS signs agreement with Georgia Gwinnett College to strengthen collaboration, expand opportunities 

A longtime collaboration between GCPS and postsecondary partner Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) has been formalized with an agreement that strengthens collaborative efforts to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders. A team comprised of GGC academic deans and GCPS leaders will collaborate on initiatives designed to improve student graduation rates at both the high school and college levels, create stronger pathways to college for GCPS students, and build a sustainable system that encourages positive outcomes for Gwinnett students of all ages over time. Please click here to learn more about the agreement.

Schools in the Norcross, Grayson, South Gwinnett, and Berkmar clusters are now participating in a COVID-19 testing program. Routine COVID-19 testing (also called surveillance testing) can quickly detect individuals who are positive with COVID-19 and trace contacts who should quarantine. Acting as an “early warning system,” the testing program will help lower the risk of transmission in schools so that in-person instruction can continue without interruption.

GCPS’ voluntary COVID-19 testing program will be expanding to other clusters as staffing becomes available. The next clusters to come online will be Dacula and Lanier. Click here for more information or to sign up to participate.

The district is working with health partners to host weekly COVID-19 vaccination clinics at high schools around the county in February. One of our health partners—CORE—has been approved to provide vaccinations to children ages 5-11. For other clinics, children must be 12 or older to be served. Note that children ages 5 to 17 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Interpreters will be on site. No appointment is necessary. Please click here to learn more about the locations and schedule for upcoming clinics.

Recently, a syllabus prepared by a teacher and submitted as part of the College Board AP Audit process in the summer of 2017 was shared by Heritage Action with several groups and purported to be the actual syllabus for the class. (The audit syllabus, in fact, was prepared for the review by College Board and was never used as a classroom syllabus.) As a result, false and misleading information about our school system has appeared on several websites and in news stories. Critical race theory, also called CRT, is not included in the district’s Academic Knowledge and Skills (AKS) curriculum or in the state’s curriculum standards which are included in the AKS. CRT is not taught in Gwinnett schools. For more on this issue, click here.

GCPS cafeterias provide a wide range of options to meet students’ dietary needs. In addition to offering several vegetarian entrees, the school district offers a Halal-certified hamburger! This tasty option is now available in all GCPS cafes. The Halal-certified burger will be served on days when hamburgers appear on the menu—once every three weeks. Families can find daily, weekly, and monthly menus online at https://gwinnett.nutrislice.com/menu/.

— Grayson HS Technical Education Program: Online registration is open, with the Winter Open House set for Feb. 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. GCPS students can apply via the Student Portal.

— Gwinnett Online Campus (GOC): Registration for GOC is open through Feb. 28. Find registration information online, now for grades K-12.

Families that wish for their child to be called by a “Preferred Name” other than their legal name can provide that information in the Parent Portal. Please click here to learn more about preferred name updates.

GCPS) will host a Virtual Certified Teacher Career Fair on Sat., Feb. 26, from 9 a.m. to Noon. Administrators will be hiring in multiple subject fields for the 2022-23 school year, including Mathematics, Science, Special Education (all categories), Elementary Education, Language Arts, Foreign Language (Spanish, French), Dual Language Immersion (Spanish, French, Korean), Computer Science/Technology, Engineering, Health Occupations, Speech-Language Pathology, and others. Please click here to learn more and to register.