In nine years of teaching English to teenagers, I thought I had heard it all – until essays from a writing assignment revealed the secret lives of my students. Their papers opened my eyes to the psychological traumas that plague their lives – pressures that COVID-19 is exponentially magnifying.

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday called for increasing funds to Georgia public schools by more than $1.2 billion to help offset cuts to education the General Assembly imposed last year.

Floyd Medical Center Public Relations Manager Dan Bevels reported they will be working with the Georgia Department of Public Health and local school districts for vaccine administration when Tier 1B begins.

The number of student and staff quarantines within both school systems has increased significantly since the return from the Christmas break and Rome City Schools will take Friday off, citing the spike.

By the end of December 2020, the Georgia Northwestern Technical College Foundation raised approximately $250,000 in support of students from private donations, corporate gifts, grants, planned giving and establishment of an endowed fund.

The Rome city school board extended Superintendent Lou Byars’ contract Tuesday until 2024, with a pay raise, after a closed door performance review.

Four Rome High School students have attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest degree of achievement a Boy Scout can reach.

The Rome Board of Education will be meeting Tuesday at the new Rome College and Career Academy at 990 Veterans Memorial Parkway to discuss revisions for the 2020-2021 school calendar.

The following college scholarships were reported to the College Guidance Office between Dec. 1 and Jan. 7:

Georgia Highlands College’s Bachelor of Business Administration Program (BBA) Coordinator Mecole Ledbetter has been named a recipient of the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 IMPACT Awards.

Josie Baudier recently took her knowledge in instructional design to the next level. The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning director recently saw her researched published in a national journal.

The Christmas break has brought more students back to in-person classes in the Rome City Schools system, and it’s going to take a little adjustment.

Now that the Floyd County School Board has voted to close Cave Spring Elementary and Glenwood Primary, Superintendent Glenn White is preparing for the transition and getting students, families and faculty ready to move over the summer of 2022.

The Floyd County Board of Education voted Monday evening to close Cave Spring Elementary School and Glenwood Primary School at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

The Cave Spring City Council will hold a called meeting Monday to discuss the city’s formal position on the possible closing of Cave Spring Elementary School.

The next phase of Armuchee High School renovations will be going into effect in the summer of 2021, with a brand new roof.

The new Pepperell Middle School building is nearing completion after over a year of construction, according to Floyd County Schools Superintendent Glenn White, who estimates it should be ready by April or May.

Rome City Schools is among the 30 systems statewide to get a state grant to help train teachers in computer science.

Georgia K-12 public schools have the option not to count year-end tests toward students’ final grades this year due to schooling hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic, following a vote Monday by the state Board of Education.

The children of the late Tallapoosa Superior Court Judge Dan Peace Winn have established an endownment scholarship in his name through the Georgia Northwestern Technical College Foundation.

Berry College business students made it rain in a recent virtual sales competition called RNMKRS (rainmakers).

A Berry College professor is conducting research on the potential benefits of High Intensity Interval Training in older adults and people with multiple sclerosis. HIIT exercise sessions require participants to cycle between higher and lower intensities every minute for a total of 10 cycles a…

Georgia Highlands College is launching a new instruction pathway this semester, geared toward budding entrepreneurs who want to learn how to run a successful business.

A public comment session concerning the closure of Cave Spring Elementary School saw a large, and heated, turnout as Floyd County school board members prepare for a similar meeting Thursday evening.

The Georgia Northwestern Technical College Foundation awarded $11,900 in scholarships to 31 qualifying students. Between $250 - $500 was awarded to each student to assist in paying for the upcoming spring semester at GNTC.

The Rome City Schools Board of Education has been named a 2020 Distinguished School Board by the Georgia School Boards Association.

The Rome City school system has clarified its COVID-19 Decision and Communication Matrix.

Three employees in leadership roles at Georgia Highlands College are set to retire from the University System of Georgia at the beginning of February in 2021 after serving several years in the system and with GHC.

It was a special day when donors dropped off string cheese at the Rincon Library outside Savannah. Luxury items like that weren’t always on the menu at the COVID-19 pandemic’s peak this past summer, when the library-turned-food bank was often serving 90 meals a day to Rincon’s neediest children.

When everything in the world seems to not make sense, working to keep things “normal” for ourselves and our students is so important. In a “normal” year, I would be traveling to the National High School Journalism Convention with my students. Last year we traveled to Washington, D.C., and ex…

Rome City Schools Superintendent Lou Byars said the RCS College and Career Academy construction is right on schedule and tentative plans are being made for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Jan. 8.

Rome City Schools is looking at ways to keep their teachers and faculty in the district after discussing their staffing and retention rate at a school board work session Tuesday.