Signs Around Community to Encourage Stephens County Students

You may have noticed signs in and around businesses, schools, and around the community that read ” Present, Engaged, Supported” and featuring the Stephens County logo.

Brandy Stacy is the Director of Student Services for the Stephens County School System. Stacy says the theme was adopted for this school year to encourage students. ” We know that this school year is going to look different than any other so we want our students to realize that we want them to be present, whether that’s in the classroom, or virtually. We want them to be engaged, doing their part to be active learners in the classroom, and we want them to know that they are supported by the adults in the building as well as in the community. We want them to know that we want them to have a great school year no matter what that looks like.”

Stacy says the school system campaign is emphasizing to students and parents the importance of being present.

“Chronic absence is a problem throughout our country, and that’s when students miss 10% of school days whether that is from excused or unexcused absences. That can lead to students falling behind, the ability to read, failing classes, the dropout rate, we really want our students to graduate ready to go into the work force. We want our students to be ready to go to work here in Toccoa, and be vital community members.”

Stacy says the school system wants the students to know that the administration and staff is there for them and encourages the students to take advantage of the resources available. “We just want to make sure that our students are engaged. We want them to make sure that they are asking for help when needed, and they are asking questions so that they can dig deeper in their learning. We want them to know that they are supported so we have lots of extra things going on in our buildings. We understand that there is a lot of trauma in our community and in our world in the last several months, so we want to make sure that they are getting supported as the whole child and not just academically.”

Stacy says that there is help available in Stephens County Schools for the students in a number of different areas. “We are partnering with social empowerment to get our students counseling services in the building if they need that, we are exploring telehealth to give our students an opportunity to receive some mental health if they need it, we are trying to get our mentors back in the building as soon as it is feasible, and we just want our kids to be happy. Working through all of the trauma that they have been through to focus on their academics.”

Stacy says the signs were donated by Bowen and Watson Construction and are available through Stephens County Schools or the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce.

For questions or information, call 706-886-9415 ext.1612.