While normally a message from the superintendent focuses on the accomplishments of the school system, it is my intent in this brief message to try to convey the sense of pride that most of us who live in Colquitt County take in our community and our school system.
Academic achievement has steadily progressed for a number of years to the point where it is competitive with most. Improvement can, should, and must continue, but clearly the level of student academic achievement is vastly improved.
Perhaps nothing directly related to the educational system is more noteworthy than the graduation rate. To improve the graduation rate by over 30 percentage points in six years is nothing short of phenomenal. It has been supported through the efforts of many in the school system and the community.
We are all Packers. There are no other high schools, no second school system, no college or university that can blur loyalties and create disunity in the greater community.
There is a great advantage in our central location. Our county is a geographical hub for the area with easy access to any goods or services not immediately available in our community.
The citizens of Colquitt County and the school system have sacrificed to operate small elementary schools, many of which still retain close identities with their communities.
Facilities have undergone a transformation in recent years as the use of portable units has been eliminated with services to children and the community greatly enhanced. Only the high school facility remains in major need of being addressed with financing for construction of a new high school to be voted on by the public in Spring 2012.
It is with pride as we view the expanses of productive farmland that make our county the leader in Georgia and arguably the most diversified agricultural community east of the Mississippi River in revenue from agriculture. No place can make a more legitimate claim to being the “Breadbasket of Georgia”.
Co-curricular programs continue to thrive. With the largest FFA chapter in GA, a nationally award winning choral program, winners annually at the state level in technology competition, and the state and national level in science competitions to name a few, our students regularly compete with all.
The Colquitt County School System, with great support from the community, has returned to an organizational arrangement of schools that is Prek-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-12; thereby enhancing instructional opportunities while reducing social issues.
Colquitt County is the first and the model for a unique partnership with the University of Georgia that is now spreading across the state as UGA commits expertise and other resources to local communities through Archway Projects.
In extra-curricular competition, the Packers have over time stamped their mark and established their collective reputation throughout the state of Georgia in virtually every sport. Our mascot, the Packer Hog, is known throughout.
The school system has maintained its fiscal stability without significant reductions in programs and employment throughout the economic recession.
We are proud of our hometown United States Senator Saxby Chambliss and wife, Julianne, who is a retired teacher of the Colquitt County Schools. We are honored as they regularly join us for school and community activities.
The list is almost endless. We are a community of caring and genteel folks and a school system whose employees are the backbone of the community. In Colquitt County it is not usually “them” and “us”; rather it is most often “we”.
Thank you for your contributions and support for the Colquitt County Schools.
Leonard McCoy
Superintendent