Jasper County Charter System

Washington Park Elementary Technology Fair students win at regional technology fair! All of these students won first place. Pictured are students that recently competed virtually in the Bibb County regional Technology Fair!... Peyton Green and Brooklyn West(4th grade) competed in multimedia presentation Michael Lopez- Lopez competed in robotics Emersyn Hoffman competed in digital photo editing Mary Ella Beatty and Amara Johnson competed a digital design Anna James and Railynn Hoffman competed in digital game design All of these projects won first place! These students’ projects will advance to state level competition.

The Atlanta Zoo comes to Washington Park Elementary Third grade students at WPES recently enjoyed an in school fieldtrip. Staff from the Atlanta Zoo came to Monticello to share with students about wildlife and informative tidbits about different animals that are native to our state. Some of the animals that were shown during the fieldtrip were opossums, turtles, and snakes. Students enjoyed the opportunity to get up close to these animals and learn about them. Next week, Washington Park fourth graders will get to enjoy the Atlanta Zoo in School fieldtrip. Pictured are students at the presentation.

WPES welcomes rising 2nd graders!

Jasper County Middle School recognized its Students of the Month with a pizza party, t-shirt, and certificate. This month's recipients are: 6th Grade: Aiden Irwin and Kendall Brown 7th Grade: Elizabeth Roberts and Powell Goolsby 8th Grade: Jade Irwin and Tymir Thornton

Every student at Washington Park Elementary brought home a new book this past Friday. That book was Poppy by Avi. It is this year’s WPES Family Literacy novel for One School One Book. Students throughout the school can share their thoughts and views about this novel and its characters. Students have also been given a reading guide with questions and activities to complete while reading this novel. Special rewards will be given to all students who finish the reading guide and one STEAM project of their choice. This activity was funded through the ENRICH grant. All reading guides and projects are due Thursday, March 4th. Pictured are students from Ms. Bagwell’s third grade class with their new book. Kortlin Whidby, Zoe Hill, Summer Parker, Kathryn Suwinski, and Corbin DeKiere

The Jasper County Recreation Department has opened Baseball/Softball registration (ages 3-12). The last day to sign up will be Feb 5th If you wish to signup after that date, an additional $10 will be charged. The absolute last day to sign up will be Feb 13th. Sign up online at jaspercorec.com or in person at the Rec. Please contact the Jasper County Rec Department at 706-468-4916 or through their Facebook page for more information.

Washington Park Elementary studies World War I. Students in Mr. Brady McMichael’s Social Studies classes have been working on different projects pertaining to World War I. The sinking of the Lusitania was an important event of WWI. RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that was sunk on 7 May 1915 by a German U-boat 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. Pictured are two of Mr. McMichael’s students displaying their projects about the sinking of the Lusitania. The pictures are of Weston Young and Sentrez Culp.

Washington Park celebrates the Teacher and Staff of the month for November! Congrats to Mrs. Kimberly Rabun and Mrs. Cherie Satterly!

The Jasper County Charter System will run buses with WiFi and meals for students to the following locations January 20,21, and 22: Site #1. Funderburg Park Site #2. Shiloh Baptist Church Site #3. Bethlehem Baptist Church on Jackson Lake Road @ Pintail... Site #4. Alcovy North Fire Station Buses will arrive at sites from 11AM-1PM. Also, the public WiFi is available at the following locations: Jasper County Primary School---- coverage in both parking lots Washington Park Elementary School----- coverage in the front entrance parking lot and in the bus loading area Jasper County Middle School------ coverage in the parking lot in front of the gym and Board Office Jasper County High School----- coverage in the front parking lot To access the public wifi from JCCS, go to one of the locations listed below. Then, on your device, look for JC-PublicAccess in the available WiFi list and connect. There will be a brief delay as your device connects to the network Reminder: Use of this resource is subject to the Jasper County Charter System Acceptable Use Policy.

Duke Smith, a freshman in the Audio, Video Technology, and Film program at Jasper County High School, won third place in the "Buckle Up Georgia" annual video contest about the importance of safe driving. Duke was honored at Turner Field in Atlanta at the Georgia HIgh School Football Championships and won an iPad Air. Check out the "JCHS Film" YouTube channel to watch Duke's 30-second public service announcement, along with those of three other JCHS students who were Top 15 Finalists in the contest: Silas Bell, Brianna Dalton, and Devin Dockery.

TRI-COUNTY EMC AWARDS $30,000 IN BRIGHT IDEAS EDUCATIONAL GRANTS TO LOCAL TEACHERS Tri-County EMC recently surprised 24 teachers in Baldwin, Jasper, Jones and Putnam Counties with educational grants totaling $30,000.... Since 2008, Tri-County EMC has provided more than $300,000 in grants to local schools. Funded by unclaimed capital credits, the grants help teachers improve education in their classrooms through innovative projects that would otherwise not be funded. Georgia certified public or private school teachers in grades Pre-K through 12 in Baldwin, Jones, Putnam, Jasper, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties qualify to apply. This year, outside judges evaluated the 67 blind applications that were submitted for innovation, goals, objectives, student involvement and budget. THANK YOU to all teachers who applied in 2020 and we look forward to seeing your applications in 2021! MEET THE 2020 BRIGHT IDEAS GRANT RECIPIENTS Click here to see a list of recipients. Click here to see presentation photos and videos. NEXT CHANCE TO APPLY Applications for 2021 Bright Ideas Grants will be due October 15, 2021.

Washington Park's 5th grade students completed a science unit covering electricity and magnetism by building series circuits out of recycled holiday lights, using snap circuit kits, and creating a circuit reindeer card. 1st picture: Jacob Skinner and Eli Tinney with Coach Mac 2nd picture: Allison Martinez-Vicente 3rd picture: L-R Railyn Hoffman, Jodi Standifer, Taryn McCart, Jacen Hamm, Cooper Green 4th picture; Janiya Gude, Caitlyn Jones

Attention High School parents: Navigating the post-high school career path can feel scary and overwhelming. The numerous post-high school options and training costs involved require knowledge and planning. Our parents need lots of help and information to support their children. Please help us to help your parents and high school students!... GaDOE and the Construction Industry is hosting a Parent Information Night called: The Ultimate Guide to Career Options & Choices for Parents & High School Students on February 16 @ 6:30pm Please find included everything you need to share this opportunity with your parents: An attached Invitation Flyer An attached Social Media Post A Registration Link You may tell your parents: Workshop presenters will explore the five paths to preparing for a career, cost of college versus technical schools versus apprenticeships, and how students and parents can best prepare for their chosen career paths. Following the webinar, topic-specific breakouts rooms will be available to parents and students. Breakout rooms will provide parents and students the opportunity to ask questions to industry representatives, education representatives and military representatives. A complete list of breakout sessions will be available before the webinar. *This workshop is sponsored by GaDOE and the construction industry. Eventbrite Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-ultimate-guide-to-career-o

This holiday season, Society for Science and the Public awarded $400,000 worth STEM Research kits to teachers across the United States. More than 5,500 kits were awarded to teachers from all 50 states. Kits were awarded to educators who participated in one of the Society’s two virtual research teachers’ conferences and in the Society’s Advocate Program. Jasper County School System teachers ScottiAnn Benton and Elizabeth Proctor were each awarded a STEM kit valued at $1000.... Mrs. Benton and Mrs. Proctor were presenters at the virtual research conference and have served as Society Lead Advocates. Kits included pocket lab weather sensors, power up paper airplanes, camera traps, chemistry lab kits, foldscope instruments, solar portable chargers, soil test kits, water test kits and more. Students from JCHS pictured holding STEM research kits include: Alan Torres, JR Miller, Justyn Fields, Kelsey Key, Joshua Manning, Kate Miller, Isabella Stegall, Dalton Ramey, Janae Smith, Maseson Schandera, and Spencer Hamblin.

Ms. Laura Rolader, 6th grade science teacher at Jasper County Middle School applied for the Tri-County Bright Ideas Grant. The grant was for a project that would provide a creative way to bring the outdoors in and also help students make connections to their own community. Since students of Jasper County live in a lake community that is directly affected by erosion and water systems, Ms. Rolader's project stipulated that the grant money would be used to purchase a stream table and a ground water table to enhance the learning experiences of her students. On January 12, 2021, Ms. Rolader received the good news that JCMS was awarded a grant for $874.81

Message from Superintendent Mr. Kenny Garland: Please join me in congratulating Mr. Jerry Willams, Transportation Director of Jasper County, in his announcement of retirement from our system effective 5/31/2021. Mr. Williams has served the students of our system for many years and has been very dedicated to our community. Effective June 1, 2021, Mr. Rydell Jackson will assume the role of Transportation Director for the district. Mr. Jackson has served the district as a teacher, coach, and bus driver for over two decades. With his new role, Mr. Jackson has stepped down as Head Football Coach of the Hurricanes. Also, please join me in congratulating Mr. Jackson on his new role.