We have several issues that may be of interest to you and your family on our website. Some of the issues facing Coweta County Schools include:

School facilities – The school system passed a milestone in 2005, when our enrollment exceeded 20,000 students. Keeping with the growth trends we have experienced for well over a decade, our school system grew to well over 22,000 students enrolled in 2007.  For comparison, enrollment was 9,210 in the 1984-85 school term and 14,012 in 1996-97.  We have grown at an average of 700 students a year for the last ten years, and closer to 1,000 students annually in recent years– adding the equivalent of a middle school or a large elementary school each year.

New students mean new teachers and new classrooms. The Coweta County School Board – with support from the community – opened Willis Road Elementary School in August 2002, and Grantville Elementary in August 2004. In August 2006, the school system opened Welch Elementary School, on Mary Freeman Road, and Lee Middle School, on Willis Road, and we have enlarged several school in recent years including Ruth Hill and Eastside Elementary Schools.  A number of other projects have been completed in recent years: new classrooms at Western Elementary School and Canongate Elementary School, new gymnasiums at Northgate High School and East Coweta Middle School, an expansion of Evans Middle and Elm Street Elementary, new classrooms at the Central Educational Center, and numerous renovations and school improvements at Coweta’s 29 schools.

A major project of the 2007-2012 building program will come to fruition in August of 2007, when we opened three new Ninth Grade Campuses at each of the three Coweta High Schools (Northgate High School Newnan High School and East Coweta High School). First-year freshmen will have a home of their own at each of the three campuses, while still having access to the facilities and extracurricular activities of the main campuses.  The new ninth grade buildings will also offer specialized curriculum and support services which we believe will help ninth grade students achieve greater success throughout their high school career.  The campuses will also expand capacity at our high schools. 

All of those projects have been funded by a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) issues approved by voters in 2002 and 2005.

Increasing parental involvement – Parental involvement is crucial to ensuring that we provide every child an education of the highest possible quality. It is a priority to increase the use of parent-teacher conferences, parent training, and curriculum familiarization programs in our schools. School councils (which involve teachers, parents and business partners) are becoming an important part of our efforts in Coweta County schools, just as our PTOs are a crucial for school improvement efforts.

Community involvement – Just as parental involvement in schools improves the quality of learning for a child, greater involvement in the school system by parents and citizens improves both the quality and accountability of the school system. Partnerships in education with the business community are very important to our schools. The Central Educational Center (CEC) is one of the best examples of school, parent, business and community partnerships. Business and industry partners make CEC work, and I want to see those relationships continue and expand throughout the school system.

Curriculum – It is the responsibility of the school system to provide a challenging curriculum for every student. We have recently enhanced our middle school curriculum with an eye toward preparing students for the challenging material they will encounter in high school. At all grade levels, the Coweta School System has begun a multi-year project to implement a new curriculum based on Georgia Performance Standards. The process of training for and implementing a new curriculum gives our teachers an opportunity to thoroughly investigate what is offered in our classrooms.

The Central Educational Center – a charter school serving all three Coweta high schools –provides classes not taught elsewhere in our system, and bases its academic and professional curriculum on the results of a needs-assessment survey of the local business community and an active, ongoing partnership with Coweta’s business leaders. The Performance Learning Center (PLC), located at CEC, provides high school students with an opportunity to learn and excel at their own pace using an internet-based curriculum.

The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts – on Lower Fayetteville Road – provides a 1,000-seat state-of-the art performance space for our students, as well as gallery space for the visual arts and rehearsal and set construction space for musical and theatrical performances.  The Centre not only serves as nucleus for Coweta County’s School’s growing fine arts programs, but increasingly as a center of community life for Coweta citizens.

Personnel – An important part of meeting our curriculum goals lies in teacher recruitment and training. We not only have to attract and train new teachers to meet the needs of our growth, but we also have to focus on retaining our current faculty and expanding staff development opportunities. Each dollar spent on improving teacher qualifications nets greater gains in student learning than any other use of an educational dollar.

Each of these areas and others were examined in a system-wide revision of our strategic plan, which can also be found on this website. The Coweta County School System is committed to working as a partner with teachers, parents, businesses, and citizens to define and meet these goals as a community.

In Coweta County, we believe that good schools are a great investment. We invite you to join us as we continue to serve.