Project First Day - During August 2-6, a task force of 40 school social

workers will activate "Project First Day," an information campaign

to educate students and parents about the importance of attendance on the

first day of school.

Project First Day started in 1998 to combat the wait-a-week or wait-until-Labor

Day attendance syndrome. Social workers spend the week posting and distributing

special Project First Day fliers to apartment complexes, churches and other

places of worship, neighborhood businesses and playgrounds, and any other

meeting places where parents and school-age children gather. They also call

parents of chronically absent students to remind them of the first day of

school and to answer any questions they may have about the new school year.

New Teacher Orientation - Approximately 600 new Fulton County teachers gather

next week for the school system's annual New Teacher Orientation. The

event is part of the school system's pre-school year activities to welcome

teachers and help them prepare for their new classrooms and teaching assignments.

All new elementary teachers will meet July 28 at Northview High School,

10625 Parsons Road, Duluth, for a system-level orientation.� Secondary teachers

will have their system orientation on July 29 at Tri-Cities High School,

2575 Harris Street in East Point.� On the other days of the week the teachers

will be in their assigned schools or cluster meetings.

New school openings, attrition and promotions have led to several changes

in principalships.� The following schools open the year with a new leader:

South Fulton County

Sandtown MS Sandra McGary-Ervin (formerly elementary principal in Cobb County)

Hapeville Charter MS Gary Martin (formerly at Fulton County Math/Science

HS)

Principals have yet to be named for Randolph Elementary, Banneker High,

and Westlake High.

New Administrators - New administrators have been welcomed to the school

system's central administration offices. Dr. Vickie Perdue Scott, a

former Bibb County School System leader, is Fulton's new Deputy Superintendent

for Academics. She will guide Fulton County in its academic programs and

focus on student achievement.

While in Bibb County, Dr. Scott held positions of assistant superintendent,

principal, and associate principal.� She was on the Southern Association

of Colleges and Schools' Quality Assurance Review Team that evaluated

the Fulton County School System and made a recommendation to SACS for districtwide

accreditation, which was subsequently approved.

Banneker High School Principal Dewitt Walker and River Trail Middle School

Principal Vicki Denmark also join the administrative team as new area superintendents

of the Creekside/Westake and Alpharetta/Milton clusters, respectively. Their

new responsibilities include day-to-day oversight and management of all schools

within their assigned clusters. Before the appointment, Walker was principal

at Banneker for five years and Dr. Denmark had been River Trail's principal

since its opening in 2001.

Growth continues in the Fulton County School System, with an additional

2,000 new students expected this year.� To accommodate the rising enrollment,

the school system this year opens five new schools: two elementary, two middle,

and one high school.� Two of the schools are funded with proceeds from the

1997 SPLOST referendum, with three being funded through 2002 SPLOST funds.� The

school district has now opened 31 new schools in the past eight years.

New Charter School - Hapeville Middle School opens as Fulton's newest

start-up charter school. The school aims to increase student achievement

instruction. As a charter school, Hapeville Middle operates as part of the

Fulton County School System but is exempt from some local and state rules

due to its charter. Located at 3535 South Fulton Avenue in Hapeville, the

school expects to open with 120 sixth graders and will increase enrollment

and grade levels as students are promoted to the next grade.

Expanded Foreign Language in Elementary Schools - All Fulton County elementary

schools now offer foreign language to fourth and fifth grade students. Students

receive 30 minutes of foreign language instruction daily in Spanish, French

or Japanese.

Revised High School Language Arts Curriculum - This past year the Board

adopted a revised language arts curriculum for grades 9-12 that reflects

a balance of reading and responding to literature, media and technology,

oral communication, writing, and inquiry and research.� Courses for the updated

curriculum include 9th and 10th grade literature, composition,� reading and

writing enhancement; American literature and composition; world literature

and composition (including contemporary, English and multicultural literature);

journalism; and Advanced Placement language and literature.

Before- and After-School Programs - Fulton County has refined its elementary

before- and after-school programs to be more consistent from school-to-school

in content and quality. The new programs focus on academic support and homework

help, while still providing enrichment, recreation, and nutritional snacks.

No Child Left Behind - Fulton County schools continue to make progress in

accordance with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act

(NCLB).� The primary goal of the law is to have all students achieving at

grade level by 2014.� In accordance with federal law, Fulton County schools

that are in Needs Improvement status (meaning they have not made adequate

yearly progress as defined by the state for two or more years in a row) are

offering choice options to parents of students.� In addition, low-income

students in those schools can request extra help such as free tutoring.� Once

AYP results are received from the state later this summer, the school district

will inform parents about options that may be open to them for the coming

year.

Unitary Status Implementation Continues - The 2004-05 school year is the

system's second year under unitary status, the result of an agreement

reached between the school system and plaintiffs in the long-running Hightower

v. West school desegregation case in spring 2003.

With the settlement, the Fulton County School System has been declared to

be a unitary school system in which the segregative practices of the former

dual system are no longer evident and no longer affect current operations.