The Calhoun City School System (CCS) is a part of the Calhoun, Gordon County community and has a tradition of excellence and history that extends over a century of service. Through a two year planning process designed around continuous improvement, stakeholder involvement, various affiliations and partnerships, we came to realize that in order to maintain the long-standing tradition of excellence in the face of an ever-changing world; we must have the flexibility that a System Charter provides to meet the demands of these changes. On July 1, 2011 the State Board of Education granted the Charter to Local Board of Education to operate a “Charter System”. The charter was renewed for another 10-year period in 2016. CCS will go through the renewal process to be in the 2025-2026 school year. The CCS charter system includes: Calhoun Early Learning Academy, Calhoun Primary School, Calhoun Elementary School, Calhoun Middle School and Calhoun High School.

In our vision, the Charter System supports the district’s priorities and long-term goals in four major ways:

1. School Governance Teams will hold decision-making authority in the areas of specified school level personnel, finance, resource allocation, curriculum and instruction, establishing and monitoring the achievement of school improvement goals, and school operations that align directly to system improvement goals and creating a culture of academic excellence.

2. Students and staff will be empowered to have a say in daily operational decisions.

3. A greater emphasis will be placed on business partnerships and Partners in Education.

4. Preparing students for post secondary options with a strong focus on positive behaviors and strong work ethic will be a priority.

Calhoun City believes in building for the future through professional development. We empower staff and leaders to strive to meet our mission and vision. In these efforts, we realize the enormous ability of leadership existing within our schools and community. Through the continuous improvement process, we constantly seek stakeholder input to implement frameworks that support school level innovation rather than district driven initiatives. Data based decision-making drives all instructional processes. Such efforts support the continuous improvement planning process at both the system and school levels. Through the implementation of the system charter CCS School Governance Teams (SGT) and the System School Governance Committee (SSGC), both groups have been charged with and empowered to assist in creating an organizational culture and environment where the exchange of ideas, innovation, learning and the pursuit of excellence are pervasive. Additionally, these entities will also explore and develop academic and organizational innovations that would be difficult to implement and fund without the full flexibility of the charter. Four key innovations are highlighted below. These represent just a portion of the innovative practices put in place as a result of Charter System innovative practices:

Urgent Care Clinic

• Challenge:  Continued focus on student well-being

• Innovation: Partner with AdventHealth, Gordon to open a health clinic on middle/high campus.  The partnership will serve CCS students, staff and families and local community.  Provides a learning environment for the healthcare students at the Calhoun College & Career Academy.  

• LSGT Involvement:  Decision making process re: allocating time and use of grant funding.

• Flexibility Used: Optimized community partnerships to leverage funding of various grants/foundations. Flexible scheduling for students to support the clinic in healthcare pathway.  The hospital uses flexibility waiving specific requirements traditionally in place to allow students to work on-site.

• Results: Opened 6/15/20.  Fully operational.  Since opening, the AdventHealth Urgent Care at Calhoun City Schools has completed over 800 free sport physicals to student athletes, 300 biometric screenings to Calhoun City Schools employees, completed 3,664 patient visits, and performed 1,466 COVID tests. 

• https://www.calhounschools.org/high/about-chs/adventhealth-medical-group-urgent-care 

Captures Kids’ Hearts – Social Emotional Well-Being

• The Challenge:  Calhoun City Schools wanted to continue to provide classroom and school environments to inspire all students to be lifelong learners in the pursuit of excellence... to win their hearts and to lead them to their personal best.

• The Innovation - Focus on school climate and culture to build stronger relationships with teachers, students and families.  Social Emotional Learning.

• LSGT involvement:  School Governance Teams supported the use of consolidated funds to support the initiative.

• Flexibility Used:   Consolidation of Funds- local, state, and federal funds were used to support the initiative to pay for professional learning and support of Teacher / Leader Development Specialist

• Results: 

  • Improved behavior and attendance have resulted.  More students are engaged in extracurricular opportunities.

Jacket Junction Mobile Learning Lab – Crayons to Careers

• Challenge:  Students entering Pre-K lacked simple vocabulary and readiness skills.

• Innovation: 

  • Utilize student instructors from Calhoun's College and Career Academy Teaching as a Pathway and Early Childhood Pathway to provide individual / small group interaction with children 6 months to four years.

  • Engages parents and children in the learning process

  • Travel to local housing authority properties and a local daycare partner. 

• LSGT Involvement: The LSGT approved use of Charter System funds to support this initiative AND the initiative and curriculum delivery for ECE pathway.

• Flexibility:  Seat Time, Scheduling/Time, Delivery of Curriculum, Partnerships

• Results:  

  • CCA students in the ECE and Teaching as a Profession Pathway have gained valuable experiences in setting up classroom centers and lesson planning.  They see firsthand some of the challenges children have prior to coming to PreK and/or kindergarten.

  • Regular attendees are benefitting from interactions and skills development.  Pre/post assessments show improved readiness skills Data collection is on-going.

Calhoun City Schools & The University of West Georgia Host Innovation Conference

CCS launches innovation labs across district as school system partners with UWG to explore STEM initiatives

Calhoun City Schools consistently strives to inspire all students to become lifelong learners in the pursuit of excellence. Although the needs of the workforce are ever changing, CCS recognizes that certain characteristics are constant as we develop the next generation of learners. Creativity, innovation, and collaboration are three core traits that are essential to the success of an individual entering the workplace. In an effort to cultivate these attributes, Calhoun City Schools has partnered with the University of West Georgia to create innovative hubs within each of their schools. These media, college, & career centers are the cross section of STEM, Innovation, and Makerspace initiatives, focused on providing an environment where learning becomes relevant through exposure to resources once unknown. 

Calhoun City Schools engaged the University of West Georgia to host a launch conference in which UWG instructors led professional development mini-sessions centered around the new technologies purchased by the system. These sessions included: Virtual/Augmented Reality; Makerspace; Robotics & Coding; Game-Based Learning; Immersive Simulations; Social-Emotional Learning; Legos; & the Innovations Mobile Lab. All CCS educators had the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning through this immersive experience. 

Special guests were on-hand including: Wolfie, the UWG mascot; Dr. Mike Dishman, the Dean of the College of Education; and various department chairs from UWG. 

Also in attendance were district and school-based leadership, actively participating in the learning experience. Superintendent, Dr. Michele Taylor, shared, “It is a wonderful thing when we see organizations such as UWG come to the aid of public schools in the PK-12 arena. STEM initiatives can be daunting; however, with the help of UWG, we are embracing these new technologies and learning how to use them in the classrooms across the district”. 

Students in grades PK-12 are now afforded the opportunity to engage in augmented/virtual reality experiences, participate in the design process, and expand their horizons through creative discovery. In addition to their support with STEM initiatives, UWG has also engaged CCS in the support of teaching as a profession and early childhood education pathways. They plan to provide training in the development of social and emotional learning kits in addition to providing immersive learning opportunities for students in these pathways as we grow the next generation of learners. Professional development will continue to be provided to all instructional staff in order to support the use of these new technologies throughout the school and across all disciplines. It is the system's belief that to inspire the next generation of learners, students must be moved from crayons to careers with the tools necessary to excel beyond the graduation line.