School Starts Today in Stephens Co. for Students

A new school year starts up today for students in Stephens County.

Today is the first day of classes for students in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade in the Stephens County school system.

Pre-K students started Wednesday.

Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said that they are excited to get a new year started.

“Our staff has worked incredibly hard, getting ready both within the classroom and with our facilities,” said Dorsey. “We did have an incredible start yesterday with our Pre-K program. That went very smooth and seems to have gone over well with all those who participated. We heard a lot of great comments back from parents and staff on that, so we are very appreciative of that and all the work that went into that by the group at Big A. We know that we have a lot of opportunities for our children in Stephens County and that we are so blessed to be able to work with them and they are going to have a great year and we are going to do all we can to provide them some wonderful opportunities.”

Dorsey went on to say they are looking for a smooth start to the school year.

“We have had an opportunity to go over travel plans, to change and try to make improvements like splitting the opening at Big A,” said Dorsey. “We know these first few days are always frustrating with drivers because so many parents want to be there for that beginning of school year experience and we are glad to have them. It just requires that little extra dose of patience as everybody tries to get in there, get into new routines at new schools. We think our transition plan worked incredibly well last year and we only see that continuing to improve.”

Meanwhile, Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley also urged caution on the roads as a new school year starts.

Shirley reminded drivers of the ongoing Highway 17 construction, especially in the area of Memorial Drive and Wal-Mart.

He said his office will be prepared for the new school year.

“We are going to have extra deputies patrolling,” said Shirley. “There will be zero tolerance on speeding and zero tolerance on seat belts. Please leave early enough. There may be some delays because of road construction. We know there are going to be delays at the schools, as there always are at the beginning of the school year.”

He said to also be mindful of school buses on the roads.

Meanwhile, this new school year brings with it two new principals as Scott Kersh takes over as principal at Stephens County High School and Sheila Pressley takes over as principal at the Fifth Grade Academy.