Another exciting school year is right around the corner. The 2023-24 year begins on Thursday, August 3, and Fayette County Public Schools can’t wait to get started.
The elementary school day begins at 7:40 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m. Middle school starts at 8:10 a.m. and ends at 3:10 p.m. High school begins at 8:35 a.m. and ends at 3:45 p.m.
There will be new principals at two schools this year.
Amanda Cavin will be the principal at Peachtree City Elementary. Cavin has worked with the Henry County Board of Education since 2004. Since July 2019, Cavin has been the principal at Ola Elementary. She succeeds Dr. Kristin Berryman, who is retiring.
Emily Nealis will be the principal at Inman Elementary. Nealis has been an assistant principal at Braelinn Elementary since 2018. Prior to that, she was a teacher of different grade levels and specialties at Cleveland Elementary from 2005-2018. She succeeds Tabitha Walker, who is departing for another school system.
Schools will be using a new school-to-home tool called ParentSquare for communication with families, primarily with email, text and app notifications. All classroom, school, and district news and information will be sent to parents through the platform. Other features include direct messaging with teachers, staff and other parents; group messages; sign ups for parent-teacher conferences; and forms, permission slips, and volunteer signups through the service. Parents will receive an email message soon on how to sign up.
The district is implementing methods to curb the use of technology and cellphone use in schools and classrooms. As students arrive to class, they will drop their cell phone into an assigned pouch number. At the end of class, they retrieve their cellphone as they depart. Because this low-tech method has been working effectively to improve the learning environment, specifically allowing students to focus on their lessons and to minimize distractions, it will be implemented across all high school classrooms. Students will still have access to their cell phone during class change and lunch.
