Happy Holidays! Students Return January 6.

December 18, 2020

A Letter from the Superintendent

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year comes to a close, allow me to express my deep appreciation for your patience and cooperation with the safety protocols we put in place for our students and staff. With the diligence of staff members and the compliance of our students, we were successful in managing COVID-19. The valiant efforts of our school nurses, principals, and central office personnel in tracking positive cases and their contacts allowed our schools to stay open. They worked over nights and weekends to ensure the safety of students and staff. A special thank you goes to our bus drivers for getting our students to and from schools safely this semester.

We look forward to our staff returning on January 4 and our students on January 6. We will continue with our current hybrid learning model. Students in Traditional Learning will continue to learn in person at school Monday through Thursday and at home on Friday. Students in School-Based Digital Learning will continue to learn at home Monday through Friday.

I wish you and your family a restful and joyous holiday season. Please continue to do your part to stay safe and mitigate the community spread of COVID-19. We look forward to all the blessings the new year will bring.

Best regards,

Trent North, Superintendent

Enjoy Our "Big Thank You" Video!

#The Big THANK YOU:: Douglas County School System

2020 has been a year like no other! As we wind down the first semester and head home for the holidays, we want our teachers and staff to know that they are valued and loved.

Enjoy this "Big Thank You" message from our leaders, community members, and students!

Kroger and DCSS Recognize Teachers of the Year

On December 16, Superintendent North made a visit to all 35 schools where he honored the Teachers of the Year with a $250 Kroger gift card to be used on behalf of their students or grade level. The cards are made possible by a donation from Kroger through the company’s annual Teacher Supply Giveaway and the Douglas County Board of Education.

Nancy Gore-Scott with Kroger Corporate Affairs, Atlanta Division, said, “At Kroger our purpose is to feed the human spirit, and one of the many ways in which we bring this to life is through our annual Teacher Supply Giveaway. Kroger is proud to play a small part in supporting teachers in their big responsibility of educating the leaders of tomorrow.”

Superintendent North joined Ms. Gore in expressing appreciation. “This year has truly been like no other,” he said. “We give credit to our Teachers of the Year for helping maintain positive energy among their colleagues.”

Math Wizards Show off Skills in Virtual Competition

Math-loving elementary students spent their Saturday solving problems and racing against the clock in the Perennial Math virtual competition on December 5. For the online tournament, some math teams met in person at their schools to compete together, while others competed virtually from home. Elementary schools competed against other schools in the county as well as public and private schools in other areas.

“The Perennial Math tournament supports problem solving skills that students learn in Program Challenge,” said Shadra Tomei, Program Challenge teacher at Chapel Hill Elementary. “The students are motivated and enjoy competing against each other in the tournament.”

Individual students and teams that placed in the top three in the tournament will advance to the national Perennial Math competition in May!

Top three winners for Douglas County in the team competition include:

3rd Grade: Holly Springs Elementary, 2nd and 3rd place

4th Grade: Winston Elementary, 1st place; Holly Springs Elementary, 2nd and 3rd place

5th Grade: Holly Springs Elementary, 1st and 2nd place; Winston Elementary, 3rd place

First place individual winners for Douglas County include:

3rd Grade: William Liu, Chapel Hill Elementary

4th Grade: Justin McDonald, Chapel Hill Elementary, and Tyler Green, Holly Springs Elementary (tie)

5th Grade: Xiyao Gu, Chapel Hill Elementary

Winston Elementary students are pictured above. They spent their Saturday at school for the competition.

Justin McDonald and William Liu, pictured online, were big winners in the Perennial Math competition. Xiyao Gu from CHES and Tyler Green from HSES were also individual winners.

"Shop with a Cop" Brightens the Holidays

Sixty deserving elementary and middle school students were ready with their Christmas lists and picked up lots of toys and clothes at Shop with a Cop on December 15. Spearheaded by the DCSS Police Department, the joyful event was a collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, including the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the Douglasville Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol. The program was funded entirely by donations from local businesses, organizations and individuals.

"Shop with a Cop shows the great things that can happen when the community pulls together to care for our children," said Officer Taylor Neufeld with the DCSS Police Department. "We were overwhelmed with the financial support we received from the Douglas County community. Thank you to everyone who made this event a huge success."

DCHS Stadium Renovation Progresses on Schedule

The Douglas County High School Tigers spent this season playing football games in other stadiums, but the team expects to return to its home turf in 2021. Stadium renovations are progressing on schedule.

The old standalone field house, locker room and weight room have been razed and a new consolidated two-story building is taking shape. The new construction is on the Selman Avenue side of the stadium currently known as the “visitors’ side.” When all work is completed, the Selman Avenue side of the stadium will be the “home side” and will seat approximately 3,500 people, bringing the stadium’s total seating capacity to 5,000.

Pictured is construction on the new consolidated building which will house the field house, locker room and weight room.

Enjoy the Sounds of the Season with AHS

Almost 100 chorus members from Alexander High School performed in a professional concert with an orchestra on December 8. Participants observed social distancing rules and wore masks. Please enjoy this free preview of the concert.

To view the entire concert, please see the link below for the paid content:

AHS Concert

SDES: Merry and Bright for Community

The PTO at South Douglas Elementary did not let COVID-19 spoil their plans for a festive celebration at the school!

Since they were unable to have their traditional Supper with Santa and chorus concert, the PTO president came up with the idea of a drive through celebration. Hundreds of cars from SDES families and the Fairplay community drove through the holiday display last Friday evening.

The Holiday Lights Drive Through may just become a new tradition at South Douglas Elementary!

It's Time for Hoops!

Spotlight on Douglas County High School

Good luck to all of our basketball teams as they embark on the 2020-2021 season! For a schedule for basketball and all winter sports for middle and high schools, please go to the link below.

Athletic Calendar

DCSS Girls

From DCSS Girls Head Coach Chet Forsh:

The 2020-2021 basketball season will be like nothing we have ever seen. The pandemic changed the way we were able to communicate with potential players and parents. This has been especially difficult with any new players to our program. Also, due to these circumstances, our numbers are low. We are bringing back two full-time and one part-time starter from a surprising Elite Eight team from last season. In addition, we have a very new and revamped region. At this point, it is difficult to predict with any certainty how we might do. We hope to be able to find a way to get back to the state playoffs.

Pictured left to right are De'Vyn Elliot, Alana Gibbs and Jada Richards.

DCSS Boys

Pictured with Head Coach Hollis Bethea are a few players who are expected to make a difference this season: Jermichael Mahorn, Adonais Jennings, Coach Bethea, Omarion Smith, Justice Devone and Omari Fonteno.

Meet Our SRO: Donnie Scott

Beulah Elementary and Annette Winn Elementary

Officer Donnie Scott was born and raised in metro Atlanta. He graduated in 1987 from Marietta High School where he played football and participated on the wrestling team. After attending Marion Military Institute on a football scholarship for one year, Scott realized his passion was with law enforcement

In 1989, Officer Scott started his law enforcement career as a jail officer in the Marietta Police Department. He has extensive experience as a narcotics agent with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office and the Tallapoosa Drug Task Force, which included Paulding, Haralson and Polk Counties and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

In 2006, Scott became a resource officer with the Bartow County School System because he "felt a responsibility to pay it forward due to the coaches, teachers and my family that were influential in pointing me in the right direction."

Officer Scott believes a school resource officer is a very important position that is necessary in today’s world. "Students need to see the compassionate side of a police officer. We do this by spending time with students. Activities such as Ice Cream with a Cop, Donuts with Officer Scott and Red Ribbon Week are important ways to connect with students. Our goal is to partner with the parents because it’s our responsibility to work and save a child from making a bad decision that could alter his or her future."

Officer Scott is assigned to Annette Winn Elementary and Beulah Elementary, where he is enjoying each day as he builds the trust of the students and staff.

Isaac Monroe is an outstanding student and leader. He is a member of Chess Club, Flag Patrol and Boyz to Men club where he won the Tie Challenge by being one of the first boys to tie a tie correctly without any assistance! Isaac follows school procedures and expectations, excels in his academic courses, and keeps his focus on the next grade level. He is a friend to everyone and enjoys helping others succeed. In his spare time, Isaac likes to watch movies on Netflix, eat pizza and sweets, spend time with his cousins, ride bikes and play football! Isaac states that when he grows up, he wants to be a businessman. Way to go Isaac!