A Bounty of Choices
Education in Coweta & Fayette
 |
|
Coweta County Kids read to
senior citizens - Photo courtesy of Coweta County
Schools
|
By Martha W. Barksdale -
With two award-winning public
school systems, complemented by private schools and
facilities for special-needs children, the more than
40,000 students in Fayette and Coweta counties have
a wide variety of schools from which to choose.
A hands-on learning experience relying
on mixed ages and integrated subjects is practiced
in Montessori schools and is found at the Carolyn
Barron Montessori School, Rising Star Montessori School,
Fayette Montessori School and The Counterpane School.
At the Counterpane School north of Fayetteville,
9-year-old Dakota Peiter confidently shows a visitor
around her lower elementary classroom, which houses
students age 6 to 9. Children are hard at worksome
alone, some with partnersall around the sunny
space. Two boys are sitting on the floor, exploring
multiples with bead chains. Some children are concentrating
on their science drawings, while others are writing
in their journals. With an ease that belies her years,
Dakota explains how the students work and displays
the schedule each student creates each day to ensure
the day's tasks are completed.
Counterpane, under the leadership of Brenda Erickson,
is one of the few schools in the country that extends
the Montessori philosophy from pre-school through
high school. The school is nestled on 16 wooded acres
with organic gardens, two llamas, one dog, chickens
and ring-necked doves. The 125 students complete assigned
tasks at their own pace, working until each lesson
is mastered. No letter grades are given until high
school, when it is important to build their transcripts
for college applications. One hundred percent of Counterpane's
graduates attend four-year colleges.
Matt Barrow, a member of the Counterpane class of
2004, has been helping Ms. Erickson research various
computer systems for a scheduled computer upgrade
while he waits for classes to start at the Savannah
College of Art and Design. Matt attended Counterpane
for four years, transferring there before ninth grade
because, as he puts it, his old school wasn't giving
him what he needed. At Counterpane, he was free to
cultivate his talents. He and another alumnus, Seth
Erickson (Class of 2000), created the school's web
site at www.counterpane.org.
Children who need special help to reach their fullest
potential certainly have good support in Fayette and
Coweta. Youngsters with physical and developmental
disabilities can find help at the Joseph Sams School
in Fayetteville, one of the few programs for very
young children in the Atlanta area.
Students with learning disabilities can develop the
skills to succeed at The Bedford School, which grew
out of a summer camp founded by educator Betsy Box
in the 1980's. In 2001, The Bedford School, which
houses first through ninth grades, moved to a new
campus on Milam Road in north Fayette. Small classes
and language-based instruction help the 139 students
conquer their limitations and find their strengths.
A former Bedford student, Kristy Dickens, is now
a teacher. "When she was here, she told me she was
coming back to teach someday, but I didn't pay it
much attention. Every little girl says that. But,
sure enough, Kristy did it," Ms. Box says with a laugh.
Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Services of Fayette County
provides one-on-one tutoring to students in all grades
and subjects, including special needs, Test Preparation
and Study Skills. "Our certified teachers and degreed
professionals travel to the student's home, at times
convenient to parents. Students work at their own
pace on material that follows the school curriculum,
thus providing faster, more meaningful results," says
Peachtree City resident Peggy Thomas, local owner
of Club Z!
Parents who want a Christian-based education for
their children have many choices in Fayette and Coweta.
Landmark Christian School of Fairburn opened its first
satellite campus this fall, an elementary school in
Peachtree City. Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School
has a complete program of academics and extracurricular
activities at its north Fayette campus. Fayette Christian
School, Our Lady of Victory Catholic School, St. Paul
Lutheran School, Trinity Christian School and Grace
Christian Academy all offer accredited programs that
stress academics while also emphasizing religious
studies and Christian principles.
Woodward Academy has been educating children in College
Park for more than 100 years. Many of the Fayette
and Coweta parents who are sending their students
there are alumni themselves.
 |
|
Photo courtesy of the Heritage
School Students at the Heritage School
|
In the nearly 35 years since its founding, The Heritage
School in Newnan is still striving to help young people
develop the four elements mentioned in its motto,
"Mens, Corpus, Spiritus, Sodalitas"mind, body,
spirit, camaraderie. The school believes in challenging
each student to develop his or her individual potential
and seeks to instill in each student an appreciation
of knowledge and lifelong learning. The program at
Heritage consists of a sequential curriculum of essential
disciplines, periodically reappraised in terms of
the design and appropriateness of education.
While the student population has grown steadily since
the school opened in 1970, small classes and individualized
attention are still at the heart of the program. This
year, 382 students are enrolled in the early childhood
through high school classes offered at the independent
college preparatory school. Judith Griffith serves
as Head of School.
Admissions Director Julie Bowdoin says one of Heritage's
main strengths is the individual attention afforded
to each student. One Heritage child competes internationally
with the Nellya Fencers but is able to keep up with
her schoolwork despite absences to attend meets.
 |
|
Children in Fayette County
schools performing
|
Preparing students for college is one of Heritage's
primary functions. In the class of 2004, 100 percent
are continuing their education, which is the norm
for Heritage grads, Ms. Bowdoin says. The school can
offer 13 advanced placement courses.
Heritage sits on 63 acres on U.S. Highway 29. A large
pecan grove occupies the front campus, and the grounds
include an outdoor adventure area, an Alpine Tower
and a nature trail. The wooded campus is a favored
site for cross-country meets. Twelve school buildings
house an athletic complex, a student life center,
a writing lab, a state-of-the-art science lab, classrooms,
and a new library and technology center. The school
offers a variety of sports including soccer, baseball,
softball, tennis, golf, basketball, cheerleading,
dance team, track, cross country and a wide variety
of extracurricular activities. 
Fayette Schools Consistently Best
in State
The Fayette County School System is both locally
and nationally renowned for its cutting edge academic
programs that prepare its more than 21,000 students
for the 21st century world.
With many of its schools receiving the Georgia
School of Excellence designation as well as two having
been named National Blue Ribbon Schools, it is no
wonder that students in the system consistently outperform
their counterparts across the state and national as
reflected on standardized test scores and academic
competitions.
Under the leadership of Superintendent John DeCotis,
the Fayette school system had the highest percentage
of students in the state pass the high school graduation
test in 2004. In 2003, Fayette students surpassed
the national average on the SAT and the ACT, and had
the highest average in the state on the ITBS and CRCT,
with results improving over the previous year.
Parents often comment they feel their children
receive the equivalent of a private school education
through Fayette's public education system. The strong
academic program, community support, small class sizes,
lifestyle advantages and staff development opportunities
help the system attract some of Georgia's best teachers.
Students attending Fayette schools enjoy a
wide array of extracurricular activities to round
out their total educational experience. From athletic
programs that have won numerous regional and state
championships to fine arts and performing arts programs,
the school system offers something to accommodate
every student's interest.
The active involvement of parents in their
children's education is the backbone to the system's
success. Many parents take active roles in the development
of their children's education by serving on various
committees, volunteering in the schools and participating
in parent/teacher organizations. Additionally, strong
support from the Fayette County community helps the
school system remain one of the state's best. Many
of the county's businesses work directly with the
schools to provide additional educational opportunities
and volunteers as well as donate supplies to help
enhance education.
Strength in Education
At Whitewater High School (WHS) in Fayetteville,
the weight room has become a happening place for school
athletes as well as the non-athletic students. And
it's helping to encourage a healthy lifestyle among
students and faculty.
Much of the school has state-of-the-art equipment,
but according to Trace Pate, Head Strength and Conditioning
Coach at WHS, an opportunity arose that sent its strength
department above and beyond all expectations.
When Worlds Gym and Gold's Gym in Fayetteville
merged and moved into a single facility, Worlds Gym
owner Dar Thompson arranged to donate a considerable
amount of extraneous equipment. "Now, WHS has one
of the finest weight rooms in the state," says Pate.
The donated equipment includes a complete line
of Icarian weight machines (chest press, shoulder
press, chest flies, lateral shoulder raise, lat pull
down, seated row, calf raise, leg press, tricep pressdown
and bicep curl), a Strive bicep curl machine, Jammer
shrug machine, Cybex equipment (preacher curl bench,
squat rack, seated row, leg press, leg curl, leg extension,
cable crossover), 2,800 square feet of rubberized
flooring, 2 sets of dumbbells (5-50 lbs.), a set of
pre-loaded straight bicep curl bars and 5 Olympic
barbells. All this is supplemental to WHS's 9 free
weight power racks and 8 Olympic platforms.
The Physical Education Department uses the
equipment during the day with weight lifting students
who might not be familiar with lifting techniques.
The PE Department has also implemented a wellness
program for its Faculty and Staff utilizing the weight
equipment that was donated.
"With all of this, we have a very expansive
amount of equipment to use while developing our programs
for different sports and activities," adds Pate. "The
year-round use of the weight facility has had a incredible
impact on our football team. Last year, the varsity
team, comprised of only sophomores, played a modified
varsity schedule and stood their ground finishing
with a 9-3 record. We are very proud of our weight
training facility and utilize it to its fullest potential."
Coweta Schools Balance Growth with
Quality
This is an exciting time to be a part of Coweta
County, one of the fastest growing counties in the
nation. The rapid growth of the community presents
many unique challenges and opportunities in their
school system.
The Coweta County School System, led by Superintendent
Blake Bass, is comprised of 28 schools serving approximately
19,500 students. The system is experiencing enrollment
growth of approximately 4 to 6 percent each year.
With the opening of the new Grantville Elementary
School in 2004, the Coweta County School System has
a total of 17 elementary schools, one pre-K school,
five middle schools, three high schools, one career-based
charter school and an alternative school.
The school system plans to add its sixth middle
school in the 2005-06 school year, when Lee Middle
School is built on Willis Road in East Coweta, and
the school system is working toward building its 18th
elementary school on Lora Smith Road in Newnan.
In 2004, Coweta County not only opened a new
elementary school, it also debuted the new Centre
for Performing and Visual Arts, a 40,000 square-foot
fine arts center that boasts a 1,000-seat state-of-the-art
performance hall, art gallery space, and meeting and
rehearsal space.
Coweta County has had three State Teachers
of the Year since 1993, more than any other school
system in Georgia, and a 2003 National Teacher of
the Year Finalist. It boasts one national Blue Ribbon
School, along with four Georgia Schools of Excellence.
Talented students and instructors have earned
All-State Honors in concert, symphonic, and orchestra
bands and chorus. There is a system-wide children's
honor chorus and strings program, and the high school
marching bands have performed in Macy's, Fiesta Bowl,
Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl Parades, as
well as the Lord Mayor's Parade in London.
A Bounty of Choices
Continuing Education in The Region
  |
|
Students at the Central Education
Center in Newnan learn real-life skills Central
Education Center - Photos courtesy of CEC
|
When Coweta County's second largest employer
voiced concerns about the quality of the workforce
it was forced to hire and the fact that the company
couldn't draw from the county's local pool for qualified
employees, officials pressed forward with a bold education
plan to ensure the turnout of a motivated, highly-skilled
and educated work force.
In 1998, a needs-assessment survey responded to by
80 percent of the manufacturing and technical employers
in the county showed that employee concerns included
a lack of life skills, a strong worth ethic and basic
math and reading skills.
In stepped the Central Education Center (CEC),
a publicly funded charter high school currently under
the direction of CEO Russ Moorea joint venture
partnership with West Central Technical College, the
Coweta County School System, and business and industry
in the communityto reinvent the county's educational
wheel.
"We looked at it more like an opportunity than a
problem," says Moore.
Students at CEC are "team members" more invested
in the school than most high school students, choosing
voluntarily to attend CEC. They may still also participate
in regular high school activities that would have
been available to them in their old schools while
taking courses that are designed to prepare them to
enter the workforce or the college arena with more
than just the basic skills.
According to Moore, the courses "seamlessly
combine traditional and applied academics with career
and technical education, providing opportunities for
work-based and project-based learning, and teamwork."
The course load also comes with a higher set
of expectations for achievement. Team members may
choose to take dual-enrolled classes in conjunction
with West Central Technical College, earning high
school and college credits simultaneously, essentially
getting not only their high school diplomas but one
or more technical certifications from West Central.
Additionally, high school students are going
to class with adult learners either receiving additional
training for career advancement or taking night technical
courses. The challenge of being in school with adults,
and subsequently being treated as one, gets high marks
from students. The CEC also offers courses for adults
trying to obtain their GED; in fact, the program is
the fourth largest GED program in the state of Georgia.
The curriculum is divided into four career
paths: business, marketing and computer information
systems; health and medical occupations; technologies
and engineering; and service industry occupations
such as childcare and food service management.
More than seventy percent of jobs in the new
economy require specialized skills or technical training,
Moore points out. He adds, "CEC is geared to help
train students for those jobs."
CEC is now a national Model High School; state
school officials would like to see it replicated throughout
Georgia, and the school has recently received a grant
that would allow them to do so.
Since CEC opened in 2000, educators have also
discovered a side benefit to escalated training and
education for county students. The county's drop out
rate has decreased dramatically, approximately 42
percent. More than that, SAT scores soared by an average
of 33 points and voluntarily enrollment in the school
has doubled.
Additionally, says Moore, students from economically
disadvantaged backgrounds who attend CEC have a higher
first time pass rate on all five Georgia High School
Graduation Tests and, in general, CEC students have
a higher first time pass rate on four of five of those
tests.
Academic Classes a Success at Fayette
County Higher Education Center
In the course of just one year, higher education
academic classes have proven to be an unqualified
success in Peachtree City. Just two years after opening
the Fayette Center with starting Continuing Education
classes, Clayton College & State University has
seen enrollment for academic courses at the Fayette
Center almost double.
When the fall 2004 semester started last August at
the Fayette Center, located in the Peachtree City
Tennis Center, a total of 112 students had enrolled
in academic courses, an increase of 93 percent from
the spring 2004 enrollment of 58. Clayton State first
started offering academic courses at the Fayette Center
in the fall of 2003, with a group of 36 students.
Thus, in the course of one year, enrollment has grown
211 percent.
"Clayton State is committed to more completely serving
the people of Fayette County. Our enrollment has increased
as we hoped and projected. We are working with the
county leadership to expand the higher education opportunities
in Fayette County," says Clayton State President Dr.
Thomas K. Harden.
"The dramatic increases in enrollment can be attributed
to greater awareness of the course offerings due to
the expanded marketing efforts to include traditional
students and current Clayton State students," explains
Director of Admissions Jeff Hammer. "Another major
factor is that we are offering more courses than we
did in previous semesters."
Exactly half of the fall 2004 enrollment is made
up of new students, while 65 of the 112 are full-time
(12 credit hours or more) students.
Clayton State, through the Fayette County Center,
originally started offering non-credit, Continuing
Education and small business development classes in
October 2002. However, bringing academic courses for
students enrolled at Clayton State to Fayette County
was another matter; it involved some planning and
a lot of surveying, with the goal of both assessing
and meeting the needs of the community.
These actions were required by the Board of Regents
of the University System of Georgia prior to establishing
academic courses, and were also essential for Clayton
State to understand what the people wanted from higher
education.
So, in November and December 2002, the University
conducted a random telephone survey, followed by a
January 2003 mail-in survey. And the surveys said,
"We're ready for academic classes." In effect, the
survey results provided an invitation for the University
to proceed with its plans upon approval by the Board
of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
The telephone survey found that 68.1% of the respondents
were interested in taking college courses for credit.
The mail-in survey, by its nature a more advocacy-based
polling, found that 262 of 271 respondents (96.7%)
were interested in taking college courses for credit.
As a result, in August 2003, following Board of Regents
approval, the first four college-credit evening classes
were offered at the Fayette Center. And, just like
the enrollment numbers, the course offerings have
multiplied as well. The fall 2004 courses included
two sections each of English and Math, plus Music,
History, Critical Thinking and Communications.
Partners in this educational endeavor include Clayton
College & State University, the Fayette County
Development Authority, the Development Authority of
Peachtree City, the Peachtree City Tennis Center,
Newnan Utilities, Peachtree City, the Fayette County
Commission and the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce.
For more information, contact Dr. Dale Bower, Clayton
State assistant vice president for Extended Programs,
at 770-960-4208.
CLICK
By Pat Cooper
"We're the voice for literacy. The advocates,"
says Anne Josey, the executive director for CLICK
Certified Literate is Coweta's Key.
The five-year-old program to improve literacy
and decrease the high school dropout rate was the
result of a grassroots program within the county.
CLICK was organized after results from the 1990 census
showed that over 30 percent of the county's population
could be certified as functionally illiterate.
"It's a big problem," says Josey. "We needed
to sit down and look at the community's needs. And
it's a bigger problem when you consider that over
80 percent of the county's employers require a GED
or high school diploma."
With that in mind, county officials worked
with community business and educational leaders to
create the program to promote adult literacy and GED
training opportunities in Coweta County. The goal
is to reduce the illiteracy rate by 50 percent; specifically,
that means over 6,000 people would need to get a GED
or a certain number of hours in a school setting towards
their personal objectives, as well as increasing the
reading level dramatically.
The group has been working with the Newnan-Coweta
Chamber of Commerce, taking classes into the workplace
and working in conjunction with West Central Technical
College and the Central Education Center to increase
the cycle of family literacy, collaborate with the
school system to lower the dropout rate, increase
self-esteem and enhance the opportunities to learn.
Twice a year, CLICK hosts a six-week English/CIVICs
class called "Welcome to the Community," to help the
Hispanic community learn not only English, but also
such "how to" things such as banking, health, employment,
education, immigration. "We bring in different speakers
from the community and build an English class around
the information," explains Josey.
West Central Technical College provides "English
as a Second Language" classes throughout the year.
Originally created to work under the auspices
of the Chamber of Commerce, the group is now under
the guiding hand of the Coweta Community Foundation.
CLICK receives some funding from the United Way, but
is highly dependent upon private donations to operate.
