August 25, 2023

Young Entrepreneur's Sweet Dream Becomes a Reality

DCSS DECA Students Explore Entrepreneurship through Local Partnership with Dreaming Sweets

Douglas County School System’s DECA students are in store for a sweet treat as they experience a new approach to exploring entrepreneurship! Throughout the summer, the high school marketing teachers were encouraged to partner with local businesses to create a job shadow experience for business and marketing students. Following a sequence of business meetings with local owners in Douglas County, they discovered 19-year-old Dreaming Sweets owner, Trinity Marks. She is the proud owner of the Douglasville storefront with unique wall artwork, filled with delicious desserts. The gourmet popcorn establishment, which also serves specialty cakes and mouth watering dipped caramel apples, has been in business now for two years. Marks began the exciting business venture her senior year of high school at the young age of 17.

This year, the high school marketing teachers desire to increase local business partnerships for real world experiences that align with coursework, according to Douglas County Marketing Teacher and DECA Advisor, Janice Ritchey. “Dreaming Sweets has been a very exciting new partner as the business has a wonderful start up story and the kids can certainly relate to the owner, since she is closer to their age. As partners, we hope the students will develop an understanding of how to begin a business, build confidence through listening to her story, and develop hands-on experience through selling and other marketing activities provided by this partnership,” she added.

Dreaming Sweets is just the beginning of the young entrepreneur’s success journey. She’s currently the youngest member on the Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board for Douglas County. Most recently, she has become a Marketing Pathway Advisory Committee Member for Douglas County Schools. Other goals for the young entrepreneur include mentoring students in local schools, and sharing her journey to inspire other young aspiring entrepreneurs.

The local sweets shop is located on Veterans Memorial Highway in Douglasville, next door to Kuumba Coffee and Gumbeaux’s. Store hours are Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 12 p.m.-6p.m. while Friday store hours are 12 p.m.-8p.m.

Why Your Participation in Pulse Surveys Matters

The atmosphere and welcoming ethos of a school are crucial to student achievement. It remains a top priority for the Douglas County School System. As part of our district’s efforts to deliver the best educational experience for our students, we have been working with Satchel Pulse, a platform we introduced last year that gathers and manages feedback instantly.

Pulse surveys are like a magic camera. They are like a mood radar that captures a snapshot of how students, staff and families feel about a school at the same time. The surveys allow school and district leaders to view what is happening in your child’s school and maintain a “pulse” on the culture and climate of schools. In addition to providing a pulse check on our schools, they help us monitor and improve Social Emotional Learning and overall student well-being. Studies have shown that by focusing on student social and emotional needs, students increase academic performance, attendance, behavior, and post-secondary success.

Once every four weeks, the Pulse platform sends out short, anonymous surveys. Pulse sends these surveys to all staff in DCSS schools, as well as groups of students and all families who sign up to participate. Each group receives different questions specific to their role in the educational process: for example, students might be asked whether they enjoy their classes or feel safe at school. Parents may be asked about their satisfaction with communication from the school or about the homework and learning activities their children receive. Teachers and staff give feedback about their overall job satisfaction, and whether their relationships with colleagues and supervisors are positive.

The student surveys, administered in grades 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 12, represent the district’s commitment to creating a safe and supportive learning environment. Surveys are quick, simple and anonymous. The responses help administrators make informed decisions about all aspects of our schools. Not only that, they alert administrators immediately to any challenges that may cause a sudden change to the morale or temperature of a school. The surveys provide powerful feedback that helps assess district and school performance and guides the success of our School Improvement Plan.

We need your help to help students succeed. Parent participation is essential to helping us improve and monitor the success of our culture and climate in every school. Therefore, once you receive the short monthly survey, please respond. Expect questions on the pillars of Communication, My Child’s Learning, My Child’s Safety, My Child’s Well-Being, School Culture, School Environment, School Leadership, and the Teaching Staff. Please provide your honest feedback once you receive your survey. Pillar scores, comments, and participation rates will be evaluated and shared for each survey.

If you receive a survey this year, you can expect it every month on the following dates: September 14, 2023, October 12, 2023, November 9, 2023, December 7, 2023, January 4, 2024, February 1, 2024, February 29, 2024, March 28, 2024, April 25, 2024 and May 23, 2024.

Finally, we look forward to your participation in our Parent Surveys this year. These Pulse surveys will be an important component of students' social, emotional, and academic success across the district. We are grateful our parents support this platform and share our commitment to student success.

Parents and Guardians: Please Verify Your Information in Infinite Campus

Parents and Guardians, we need your help with the enrollment verification process.

It is critical that we have the correct information for your family in Infinite Campus. Our automated messaging system pulls the phone numbers and email addresses from Infinite Campus, and we want to be sure that you receive all of the important messages from your school and from the district.

We ask that you log into Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Once you are logged in, you will click “More” and “Census Verification” and follow the prompts to verify or modify the contact information for your household.

We ask that you complete the enrollment verification by August 31. We appreciate your help with this important annual verification for our students.

Please see the helpful links below:

Log into Infinite Campus Parent Portal here.
Click here for directions on filling out the Census Verification.
If you need to set up a Parent Portal, please follow the directions available here. For directions in Spanish, please click here.
If you have any problem accessing the “Census Verification” section of Infinite Campus or if you have a problem verifying or modifying the information, please email parent@dcssga.org.
As a reminder, if you wish to receive text messages from your school and the district, please opt in by texting 67587 and typing “Yes.”

Friday Night Lights: DCSS Football Season Previews

Tigers Eyeing Deep Playoff Run in 2023

The Douglas County High School Tigers are no strangers to success on the field. Entering head coach Johnny White’s eighth season, the Tigers have secured several state playoff appearances, including a trip to the state playoffs last season.

This year, the Tigers enter with an experienced group looking to accomplish two goals that haven’t been done in White’s tenure – winning the school’s first region championship since 2002 and advancing past the second round of the playoffs.

“We think that the sky's the limit for us. We fully expect to make the playoffs this year. This team doesn’t know anything but the playoffs,” said White, “but we’ve got to work and get over that second-round hump.”

Entering the season, White said that he and the coaching staff have tried to get rid of things that prevented them from reaching their goals in the past. For him, this included embracing a new pattern of thinking to get the most out of each day with the team this season.

“I think it started from the top down, and I had to check myself and make sure I and the coaches were leading the right way. I just finished the book “One Truth” by John Gordon, and I’m a big proponent of every day including PTO, or positive thoughts only for me. I want no negativity in my program. We’re not going to be negative about our players, and we’re not going to allow them to be negative toward each other. I can fuss about a bad play, but I’m not fussing about a bad person.”

Along with this change in thought, White added that he believes that this team boasts the strongest senior leaders that he’s had in his time at Douglas County. Among those seniors are Sire Hardaway, a three-year starter at quarterback and Richard Freeman and Israel Boyce, both three-year starters at defensive back. Jaylin Watts, Jayden Cheeks, and Korey Jordan will also be key contributors for the Tigers this season.

While leaning on their senior leadership, the Tigers believe that the team’s depth will be a strength this season. White said that he expects to have several players he can count on in the defense’s front seven, and he added that the team won’t shy away from using young players if they are ready for varsity action.

To prepare for a run at a region title and a deep trip into the state playoffs, DCHS opens its season with an imposing non-region schedule that features contests against Stockbridge, Mays, and McEachern. The Tigers knocked off Stockbridge, who opened the season ranked No. 8 in Class 4A, 35-28 to open their season last Friday night.

The Tigers continue their non-region schedule Saturday night against Mays High School at Georgia State Stadium.

Lions Looking to Extend State Streak in 2023

The Lithia Springs Lions enter the 2023 season riding a four-year streak of making the state playoffs. This year, the Lions’ goals are no different, as they aspire to secure another state playoff berth and make a deep run in the tournament.

“The expectation for us is the same that it is every year. We expect to compete in every game, win the region, and have an opportunity to play in the state playoffs and play for a state title,” said LSHS head coach Corey Jarvis. “Our kids have been working extremely hard this year and have put themselves in a position to be able to reach our goals this year.”

To reach their goals, the Lions will need to replace a great deal of talent from last year’s team. To do this, the team will lean on its senior-laden defense, which returns seven starters from last season. Offensively, the Lions will be breaking in a new crop of skill players, but Jarvis is confident that the team will catch on to his scheme quickly and flourish.

“We’ve got a ninth grade and JV program, so our kids have had the opportunity to run this offense for four or five years now,” Jarvis said. “This year, we thought of scaling it down a bit, but we saw that the kids picked it up well over the summer, so we think that’s going to continue on into the season.”

As the Lions open the season, Jarvis added that the team will need to be sharp each night out, as they have assembled a challenging non-region schedule that features games against Stephenson, Lee County, and cross-town rival Alexander.

“We set our goals high because we want our kids to work hard to be successful for themselves and put themselves in a position to compete in the region and outside of our region,” Jarvis said. “That’s why we have such a top-heavy schedule at the beginning of the season, so that we can be ready to compete in the region and state playoffs.”

Despite dropping their season opener last weekend, LSHS continues its season tonight against Alexander at home. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

NMHS Embracing Hard Work Under New Head Coach

Despite dropping their season opener last weekend, LSHS continues its season tonight against Alexander at home. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

School Based Family Health Center Provides Medical Care on Campus to Students and Staff

Nestled inside Burnett Elementary School is the Family Health Center of Douglas County. This center provides a full range of healthcare services check ups to sneezes to help students avoid health-related absences.

The Family Health Center at Douglas County serves students enrolled in the Douglas County School System, as well as their siblings up to the age of 18 and their pre-school age siblings beginning at age three. The center also serves homeless students across the district and children of the staff. The center accepts insurance or charges parents for services based on a sliding scale. The health center is one of only 11 full service school based health centers in Georgia.

Services provided at the clinic include primary care, immunizations, laboratory services, physicals, chronic disease management, health education, nutrition counseling, and behavioral health. The space for the health center includes four exam rooms, a reception area, locked storage, and wheelchair accessibility. The health center must have parental consent to treat a child and must follow all HIPAA and FERPA laws.

The school based health center is not only a huge convenience for parents, but it also decreases absenteeism, tardiness, and time out of class for visits to the doctor while improving overall health, attendance, grades, and test scores.

The clinic is open 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday for in-clinic hours. Friday appointments will be set up as telehealth days.

Access into the health center is through the side entrance of Burnett Elementary School, near the lower level gravel parking area. To make an appointment please contact 770-651-CARE(2273). For more information about the FHCGA, visit www.fchga.org or call 404-752-1400 ext. 7980.

Classroom Corner

Building a community of lifelong learners every day

Match Program Enhances Educational Journey for Students

Douglas County students seeking mentoring services to enhance their educational journey are encouraged to explore the Douglas County School System’s MATCH (Mentoring Activities Taught By Children’s Heroes) Program. The school based initiative connects participating students with kindhearted professionals interested in inspiring DCSS scholars.

MATCH, which is operated during school hours, focuses on enhancing student success through a one to one, group, and peer mentoring session. According to Executive Director of Communities in Schools, Mitzi Teal, the program is open to all DCSS enrolled students where mentors engage with mentees weekly to provide support with educational activities, college research, or real-world experiences.

Overall, MATCH aims to support students in the areas of school attendance, grades, behavior, test scores, personal/social responsibility, and completion of high school. Teal said “All of us can look back and think of someone who made an impact on our lives. It might have been from childhood, high school, college, or our first job. A mentor is someone who has walked this path before and is driven to give back to our youth to help them along their journey. Mentors are a crucial piece to our students' success and we welcome their time, talent, and support,” she added.

Adults looking to make a difference and honor a commitment to DCSS students are encouraged to apply. Following a successful background check and mentor training provided by the program director, candidates will be able to select their mentoring school of choice.

MATCH is a collaboration between Douglas County Communities in Schools and the Douglas County School System. For more information, please email Mitzi.teal@dcssga.org or call 770-651-2039. Additionally, access is granted to the application in the attached link New Mentor Application.

Student Spotlight

Fifth grader Samantha Vazquez has been a student at Annette Winn Elementary since Kindergarten. The ambitious scholar and high achiever strives to excel in all academic areas. As an avid reader, she challenges herself by reading books above her Lexile level.

Principal Mindy Trexler says,”Vazquez is a great role model for students. This is evident by her dedication to maintain excellent attendance and display consistent respect and kindness towards her teachers and peers. Without hesitation, Vazquez initiates support to other students needing assistance with Spanish to help them feel welcomed to the Annette Winn family.

It’s apparent Vazquez has an AWESome personality. As a third and fourth grader, she participated in the Math Bowl Teams and spent last year as a loyal crew member of the school news. Annette Winn Elementary is proud to call Vazquez a Wildcat. The Wildcat Family anticipates an AWESome year of great accomplishments for Vazquez’s final year of elementary school!

Weekly Athletics Schedule

Key Dates

September 4: Labor Day (holiday for all)
September 5: Teacher Work Day
September 6: Progress Reports (elementary & middle schools)
September 15: Start of Hispanic Heritage Month
October 6: Grading Period Ends
October 9-13: Fall Break
October 21: DCEF Fun Run
October 18: Progress Reports (high school)
October 18: Report Cards (elementary & middle schools)
November 7: Teacher Work Day
November 15: Progress Reports (elementary & middle schools)
November 20-24: Thanksgiving Holidays
December 15: End of First Semester

Family Resources

DCSS Community Bulletin Board

Looking for a great weekend event, after-school care, or a new activity? Check out DCSS' Community Bulletin Board at the link above to learn all about events and activities occurring in Douglas County.

Douglas SEES

DCSS offers several resources for student health, wellness and support through the Douglas SEES website. Visit the link above to learn more about the resources available to students and families.

DCSS Family Health Center

DCSS' Family Health Center is a resource for families and staff within the school system. The center is located at the lower level of Burnett Elementary School and offers several services. Click the flyer above to learn more.