Published Saturday, August 02, 2008 in Education
Coweta School System impresses new teachers
The Times-Herald
Lani Gibson, one of Coweta School System's new teachers for 2008-09, had her choice of whatever school in Georgia she wanted to begin her career.
Yet starting next week she plans to drive from her Lithia Springs home each morning -- past more than a dozen other elementary schools along her one-hour commute -- to find her way to Elm Street Elementary in Newnan.
As a special education teacher in a state that suffers from a shortage of special education teachers, teachers like Gibson are high in demand.
Coweta School System opens its 2008-2009 school term Wednesday.
Gibson, an Athens native, graduated from Georgia Southern in Statesboro earlier this year and started her job search last spring. She applied to 13 counties, and after communicating with Dr. Julie Raschen, the principal at Elm Street Elementary, Gibson deliberately declined any more interviews.
"My first interview was in Coweta, and the principal impressed me so much at Elm Street that right then I was committed," she said.
She explained she was most impressed with Raschen's commitment and willingness to do whatever it takes to make Elm Street's students succeed.
"It was so obvious when speaking to her that students are her first priority," agreed Becca Springfield, a four-year veteran who'll also be at Elm Street this year.
Springfield left the Fayette County School System to join Coweta's system this year.
Lisa Copeland, Title 1 Monitor, also new to the Coweta County School System, shared similar sentiments with the 160 new teachers gathered at the Centre for the Performing and Visual Arts in Newnan this past week for their induction program.
Copeland said Coweta has the best school system in the state, and "believe me, I know," she said. Copeland, who also has experience with Washington, D.C., schools, is one of a few people who have been to all of Georgia's school systems.
Copeland left a seven-year career at the Georgia Department of Education to have her 4-year-old attend Coweta schools.
"In my seven years I had visited all 180 school systems in the state of Georgia. I have the bunions to prove it," she said.
What attracted her was Coweta County School System's "top-down" approach adopted by Superintendent Blake Bass. She explained this type of commitment and belief in teamwork starting at the top with the school board and the superintendent trickles down to staff at the Central Office and to the schools.
"Schools are just like Cadillacs without wheels. If you don't have a good administration, it just won't go anywhere," she said. Copeland also said quality teachers are the common thread that weaves through all the good schools.
Schools can have the "best books, the best computers, the best programs, but they don't teach the children -- you do," she told the group.
Copeland also underscored the importance of a teacher's influence by citing data from a report that concluded students who suffer from three ineffective years of teaching in a row are "doomed for life ... so what you do and what you say in your classroom every day can make or break a student."
Following Copeland's talk, teachers broke into curriculum work sessions for high school, middle and elementary teachers.
Elementary teachers received instruction and guidance from Dr. Karen Barker, director of Coweta School System's elementary curriculum. She encouraged the teachers to focus on "doing what counts" in the classroom.
"You have so much to do, you have to concentrate on what counts," she said.
She encouraged those new to the profession or the system to get very familiar with all their "surroundings," meaning the faculty, students, students' families, curriculum and the district. She also asked them to be aware of how their own surroundings -- their classrooms -- appear to others.
Some of the programs available at Coweta elementary schools, noted Barker, are the Early Intervention Program for struggling students; keyboarding for fourth-graders; SAFE, a program offered by the Coweta Sheriff's Office to assist fifth- graders with life skills; 4-H programs coordinated by the Coweta Extension Service; and REACH, the program for Coweta's gifted students.
Barker also went over some issues important in elementary schools such as following the curriculum schedules, maintaining and using students' records, ensuring all material needs, such as textbooks, are satisfied, and using their school's agenda to communicate regular needs to students' parents.
Using a mix of examples from books, fables and metaphors, Barker also offered information about how teachers can recognize and work with different types of players on a team, the importance of a teacher's role in opening a child's eyes to a world of opportunities, how to reshape student's and family's perspectives, and to remember that every child and his family, regardless of their appearance, background or situation, adds a value to their classroom.
She said teachers also need to help all their students regardless of their capabilities, and they need to help them meet and exceed these goals and not be satisfied with achieving average.
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