Cherokee County School District Announcements CCSD Police Chief Named to State CommitteeChief Buster Cushing, who has led the CCSD Police Department since 2019 after a 22-year career with the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, has been asked to serve on a Georgia POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training Council) ad hoc committee formed to review school safety.The Council, which was established in 1970 by the Georgia General Assembly, trains and certifies law enforcement officers for agencies statewide. Chief Cushing is one of three Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police representatives who will serve on the ad hoc committee along with three representatives from the Georgia Sheriff’s Association. The committee will review possible changes to POST training programs in response to lessons learned from the Uvalde school shooting.After the Uvalde tragedy, Chief Cushing reviewed CCSD Police Department operations and school safety plans and made recommendations to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower for further improvements. These recommendations, all of which were approved, included hiring more police officers to provide expanded coverage at elementary schools. The first phase of this new officer hiring has been completed, allowing for seven officers to be assigned solely to elementary schools, with additional officers to be hired next semester to further increase coverage.------------Falcons, Dairy Alliance Present CCSD with $10,000 Hometown Grant On behalf of the National Football League (NFL) and dairy farm families of Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons and The Dairy Alliance presented the CCSD School Nutrition program with a $10,000 Hometown Grant. The grant will enable the department to expand its smoothie menu items to more schools, and a portion of the funds will also support CCSD's girls flag football programs.The check presentation and celebration were made in the Cherokee HS gym. Falcons’ offensive lineman Chris Lindstrom joined PE students along with the team’s mascot, Freddie Falcon, and two Falcons cheerleaders. Members of Cherokee HS’s girls flag football, tackle football, cheer squad, and band also participated.-------------CCSD Schools Earn $12K in "Bright Ideas" Grants The competitive Bright Ideas grants are awarded by Amicalola EMC to the most innovative ideas from schools in their service area. Seventeen CCSD projects won a total of $12,020 in this season’s cycle of funding. Classroom projects, which can each earn as much as $1,000 in funding, must propose a “creative learning experience for students, benefit and directly involve students, contain a clearly defined plan of implementation, and encourage teamwork among students” to be eligible for the grant program. The winning teachers and projects are Ginny Baldwin, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, Math by the Book; Ana Cahill, Creekland MS, Who Am I; Rhys Coury, Cherokee HS, Game Club; Elise Creech, Creekland MS, The Grizzly Growl Podcasting Studio; Mary Beth Cronan, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, For the Love of Reading and Soft Starts; Anne Cross, Clayton ES, Brain Ball; Jennifer Frady, Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy, VersaTiles Math Activity Books With Answer Cases; Cheryl Gazaway, Clayton ES, Birds of a Feather Learn Together; Terri Hancock, Creekview HS, Junior Solar Sprint; Dana Leverette, Cherokee HS, High Sensory Garden; Mary Marble, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, 3D Printing Station for STEM Lab; Hollen Pope, Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, DASHing Through the School; Traci Rollman, Creekland MS, Grizzly Community Health and Wellness; Lisa Spence, Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy, Printmaking for All; Amanda Stewart, R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, Building Math Fluency; Valerie Wallace, Clayton ES, Master Meteorologists; Kailey Webb, Cherokee HS, Incentives for At-Risk Students.---------------------Etowah HS JROTC Wins Raider National ChampionshipThe 12-member team that won this multi-event military style athletic competition is made up of Austin Brice, Kendrick Brice, Preston Brundage, Davis Clanton, Trynt Dean, Thomas Driskell, Luke Foresman, Caleb Frankovich, Jeffery Meadows, Trey Petrey, Wes Rountree, and Maison Ward. Lt. Col. (Retired) Stephen Bergey, who is the 2022 Overall AFJROTC Instructor of the Year, leads the team with fellow instructor Technical Sgt. (Retired) Ciarra Malto. There were more than 50 teams from across the country at the event. -----------------Creekland MS Wins CCSD Middle School Academic Bowl for Second Consecutive YearThe event, which qualifies winners for regional competition, provides all CCSD’s middle school academic bowl teams an opportunity for head-to-head competition to answer questions from all areas of knowledge including history, literature, science, fine arts, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration while reinforcing classroom lessons and encouraging players to go beyond their assignments to master other knowledge areas as well.------------Board Approves Next Step for Cherokee HS Construction — The school board voted to hire NJ Wilbanks Contractor, Inc., at a cost of $23 million, to complete the site development work for the project. Sitework began last month. Next, proposals will be requested for construction of the new school, with the school board expected to select a company this winter.
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