Better Together

Another fun week across CCSD included visits from giant (but friendly) crustaceans, demonstrations in the magic of science as well as the dangers of distracted driving, community building, and homecoming celebrations. Follow us (@ClarkeCoSchools) and our schools on social media for plenty more photos and all the latest news and happenings!

This past Monday, we began our daily 2025-26 school-level Teacher/Support Professional of the Year spotlights on our CCSD Facebook and Instagram! We will be featuring all 46 winners individually in the lead-up to the announcement of the three district Teacher of the Year finalists in early October, so be sure to follow us (@ClarkeCoSchools) and stay tuned as we highlight each of these amazing educators and employees!

Did you know that, according to the U.S. Department of Education, students who attend school regularly are 1.7 times more likely to achieve proficiency in core subjects in comparison to students who have irregular attendance? At CCSD, we've seen that come to fruition with both improved attendance and improved achievement on statewide testing assessments. We encourage all of our students to attend school and invite our families to be key partners in that effort so we can help ensure a brighter future!

Every Day Counts. Be Present. Be Thriving. All Year Long.

Barnett Shoals and Cleveland Road elementary schools have been named 2025 Title I Reward Schools by the Georgia Department of Education – a designation that recognizes the Title I schools statewide that are making the most significant strides in overall student achievement.

Reward Schools are among the greatest-improving 5% when comparing Content Mastery scores in English language arts and math for all students.

Read more here!

The two dozen CCSD high school juniors and seniors who make up the 2025-26 Superintendent's Student Advisory Council held their first meeting of the school year at the District Office this week! Service on the council educates students on the relevant issues in CCSD and allows them an opportunity to interact with the Superintendent, hone their leadership skills, and become an ambassador for their schools and a voice for their peers.

At their first meeting, council members heard from Interim Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Scott, got to know each other, and got started on the groundwork for a group project they will work on throughout the year.

Congratulations to these students on being selected to serve on this year's council!

• From Cedar Shoals High School: Caitlin Smith, Cesar Castro, Devyn Capuozzo, Gabriel Gordon, Gabrielle Sturdivant, Javen Hutchins, Kaitlyn Paige, Ki'Mora Hall, Kimora Patterson, Ky'esha Gainer, Larriest Bentford, Reece Rodriguez, Savannah Rawls, Stella James, Tanya Calderon-Salazar, Claire Bruner, Chizoba Emegwam, and Derriana Smith.
• From Clarke Central High School: David Wang, Evan Cornish, Gabriel Davila, Justin Lee, Ginger Tatum, and Lucy Buckner.

Clarke Central High School's ODYSSEY Media Group (OMG) continues to distinguish itself as one of the top high school scholastic journalism programs in the nation with its most recent slate of awards and recognitions.

• For the 14th year since 2006, OMG received the George H. Gallup Award on a media critique from scholastic journalism organization Quill and Scroll Honor Society last month.
• The ODYSSEY Newsmagazine was one of 41 high school newspapers, newsmagazines, and speciality magazines to be named a 2025 Pacemaker finalist by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). The award is the association's highest honor.
• OMG and the iliad Literary-Art Magazine had 13 finalists recognized for NSPA individual awards on Sept. 11.

• The 2024-25 OMG staff earned recognition in individual awards and third place overall in the NSPA's Spring 2025 Clips & Clicks contest, announced Sept. 12.
• OMG was named a Gold Medalist by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, which is that association's highest honor.

Read more here!

Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Dubberly, CCSD Dual-language Academic Support Specialist based at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School, who has been awarded the NFMLTA/MLJ Emma Marie Birkmaier Award for Doctoral Dissertation Research in World Language Education!

Dr. Dubberly's dissertation, “Creando con Ciencia: Creative Entanglements in the DLI Spanish Science Classroom,” shines a powerful light on the beauty and complexity of dual-language immersion classrooms like the ones at OAES and Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle. Through her innovative research, Dr. Dubberly explored how Spanish science lessons infused with the arts can disrupt old boundaries, connect knowledge from home and school, and create “in-between spaces” where students thrive, grow, and learn in dynamic new ways.

Dr. Dubberly will be presented her award in November. Read more here!

Athens nonprofit AthFest Educates, a longtime partner and supporter of CCSD, has awarded more than $66,000 to 19 local educators and individuals and organizations who support arts education for K-12 youth in Clarke County. The 2025-26 grants, 12 of which went directly to CCSD teachers, bring the total of AthFest Educates funds awarded to date to over $750,000.

Funds for the grants come from individual donations and foundation grants to the organization, as well as profits from the annual AthFest Music & Arts Festival and AthHalf Half Marathon & 5K.

Read more here, and see a full list of grants and descriptions here.

The nomination period for CCSD's Employee of the Month Award for October is open through Tuesday, Sept. 30! Anyone in the community may nominate any full-time CCSD employee with at least one full year of service for the award.

Submit your nomination here or directly in the form embedded below!

CCSD's Family Advisory Board has several openings and invites interested parents and guardians to join. The board is made up of representatives from every elementary, middle, and high school in CCSD. Its purpose is to advise the administration on issues related to the overall success of the district.

Schools that currently don't have a representative include Barnett Shoals, Bettye H. Holston, Fowler Drive, Gaines, and J.J. Harris elementary schools, Coile Middle, and Classic City High. Schools that could use one more representative include Barrow, Cleveland Road, Howard B. Stroud, Johnnie Lay Burks, and Whit Davis elementary schools, Burney-Harris-Lyons, Clarke, and Hilsman middle schools, and Cedar Shoals and Clarke Central high schools.

The board meets quarterly, and its next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 19. Those interested in serving should email ccsd.parentab@gmail.com.

Registration is now open the the Glads Run ATH 5K, set for 8 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Clarke Central High School. Find more information and register here! If you are interested in volunteering or supporting the race in any way, please contact race director Chris Aiken at aikenc@clarke.k12.ga.us.

CCSD, in partnership with Voices for Georgia's Children, will hold the second annual "Free Your Feels" Youth Mental Health Summit for students ages 12-18 on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Athens Community Career Academy, 440-1 Dearing Ext., Athens.

This *FREE* event will include peer-to-peer interaction opportunities to students, information about mental health resources available to them in their school and in the community, food, yoga, and more fun activities.

Please register at this link or by scanning the code in the flyer above.

Attention, high school seniors and senior parents/guardians! The 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) window is scheduled to open on October 1, 2025. Completing the FAFSA form allows you to be considered for federal student aid. In addition, states and colleges use FAFSA information to award their own grants, scholarships, and loans. But, since some aid is limited, you have to meet the deadlines!

Federal Deadlines

The FAFSA form must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Central time (CT) on June 30, 2027. Any corrections or updates must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. CT on Sept. 12, 2027. Please note the 2025-26 window has already opened.

College and Career/Trade School Deadlines

Each college and career/trade school may have its own deadline. Check with the school you’re interested in attending. You may also want to ask about the school’s definition of an application deadline. For example, the deadline could be the date your FAFSA form is processed or the date the school receives your processed FAFSA data. Students in Georgia are encouraged to begin applying on Oct. 1.

Please check in with the college and career advisor at your high school or see your school counselor for more information. You can also click here for more information about FAFSA.

Clarke Central High School's Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) Department will host a CTAE Night event for current eighth-grade students at Central's feeder middle schools (Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle and Clarke Middle) from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2.

The event is designed to provide students and families more information about CTAE course offerings at Clarke Central before students select their ninth-grade classes later this school year.

Click here for more information about CTAE course offerings across CCSD. You can also check out the CTAE highlight video below and click the button below to read our CTAE Career Planner Guidebook!

Did you know that all Georgia taxpayers are eligible to receive a dollar-for-dollar state income tax credit in exchange for a contribution to the Georgia Foundation for Public Education? The 2025 PEACH Tax Credit application is now open. This tax credit offers individuals and businesses an opportunity to advance public education by directing their tax dollars directly to projects and initiatives in their communities – at no additional cost to you or your corporation.

Approved contribution funds in Clarke County will go toward supporting programming at the Athens Community Career Academy, a future dental clinic at the Clarke Middle Health Center, and CCSD's Culture of Literacy campaign.

The PEACH Education tax credit is capped at $15 million and is approved on a first-come, first-served basis, so don't hesitate to apply for yourself or your corporation before the cap is met! Click here for more information or on the button below to go directly to the application!

If you own or work for a company or organization that is interested in becoming a vendor or bidding on contracts with CCSD, mark your calendars and make plans to attend a pair of informative events coming up in October!

• CCSD will be joining the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the University of Georgia for a three-part series about how to do business with those agencies. CCSD's session will be Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 9:30-11 a.m. at the Athens-Clarke County Library, 2025 Baxter St., Athens. Find more information and register at accgov.com/doingbusiness. Space is limited. For more information, call 762-772-8090.
• CCSD's Business Services Division will also host its second annual Prime Time with Purchasing Event on Thursday, Oct. 23, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the District Office, 595 Prince Ave., Athens! Join us to explore ways in which you can do business with CCSD. The event will feature representatives from multiple departments who will be on hand to provide information about vendor opportunities. Attendees will also be able to receive assistance in completing the district vendor packet forms. For more information, call Veronica Jackson, CCSD Purchasing Supervisor, at 706-546-7721, Ext. 79711 or email jacksonv@clarke.k12.ga.us.

The Clarke County Board of Education welcomes community feedback. Here are ways you can share your voice:

• Contact BOE Members: Click here to view a list of the BOE members and their contact information.
• Find Your Board Member: Use Athens-Clarke County's online voter information tool at www.accgov.com/voterinfo to enter your address and find your BOE member and your other elected representatives.
• Attend a Meeting: The board's next scheduled meeting is Thursday, October 9, with the work session beginning at 5 p.m., followed by the regular meeting at 7 p.m. All meetings are held in the Vernon Payne Meeting Hall at the CCSD administrative offices building, located at 595 Prince Ave. in Athens. The public is invited to attend meetings in person. Meetings are also streamed live and are available for on-demand viewing on the CCSD YouTube channel. Click here for the board meeting schedule.
• Agendas: Click here to access board meeting agendas.
• Board Briefs: Click to read the "Board Briefs" overview from meetings.
  
• Public Comments: Click here for information on how to sign up to speak at a BOE meeting.
• Review Policies for Review: View and comment on district policies pending public review.

Fill out the short Google form below or here, and a CCSD Human Resources representative will follow up with you.

The University of Georgia baseball program has a couple of upcoming youth camp opportunities.

• The UGA Dawg Hitting Camp will be held Sept. 30, Oct. 7, Oct. 14, and Oct. 21 at Foley Field, 1 East Rutherford St. The camps are split into 12-and-under and and 13-and-older age groups. You may register for one or multiple sessions. Register and find more information HERE.
• The single-day Lil Dawgs Baseball Camp will be held Monday, Oct. 13, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Foley Field and is open to ages 5-12. Find more information and register HERE.

The University of Georgia volleyball team will have its 10K Day promotional match against Alabama at Stegeman Coliseum on Friday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. Admission is free! The first 1,000 fans through the doors will receive a free 10K Day T-shirt. There will also be a Kids' Zone with a photo booth, face-painting, balloon artist, and more! For more information, go to georgiadogs.com.

Registration will open Oct. 6 for the Athens YMCA's winter youth programs, which run November through mid-February, and special holiday camps.

Winter youth programming options will include:

• basketball (grades K-10)
• basketball cheerleading (grades K-5)
• swim lessons (ages 6-12)
• ballet and tap dancing (ages 5-7)
• indoor soccer (grades 2-9)
• Y-Quest (grades K-8).

Holiday activity camps will also be held Nov. 24-25 and Dec. 22-23 and 29-30.

For more information, click here and see the attached flyers below!

Registration is open for the 2025–2026 Northeast Georgia Youth Ice Hockey season. Boys and girls ages 4–18 are welcome. No ice skating experience needed, and loaner equipment and scholarships are available. The association offers a two-week trial period before committing. Sign up today and see the full schedule at www.negahockey.org.

"Spread the Love" in September and support the peanut butter and jelly food drive sponsored by the Beechwood/Alps Road branch of Synovus Bank in Athens – running Sept. 2-30! All proceeds will benefit the Athens Community Council on Aging and the support it provides to older adults living in the community.

Throughout the month, you can donate and drop off jars of peanut butter and jelly at the bank, located at 310 Alps Rd., during business hours (9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. - noon Saturday).

Anyone in the community may sign up for email and/or text notifications from the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government in a wide variety of categories with more than 100 different options. Visit accgov.com/notifyme and select the list you'd like to sign up for.