Thursday, Aug. 1 marked the return to school for more than 35,000 students across the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System. During the dismissal from this first day of class, SCCPSS Superintendent Dr. Denise Watts held a press conference to speak about the day’s events and school system officials’ goals for the 2024–25 school year. For the first day of school, safety was a top priority.
“We saw our municipalities really rally behind our Board of Education Police Department,” said Watts. “They put in their efforts to make sure that our students arrive safely and that any issues regarding cars and traffic were handled efficiently and effectively. It is a true testimony to together we can, together we will, in many cases.”
Watts said the second big priority, which is still related to safety, was scanning.
“We have weapon scanners at each of our schools. Based on the summary detail that I got from Chief Enoch, we had 100% of our schools today scanning kids in as they came through the doors first thing this morning. We will be looking to buy some additional detectors simply because in some cases it backs up students getting in the building. It becomes a long line, so we need to create another entryway or pathway to make those lines more efficient,” she said.
This year, SCCPSS welcomed approximately 35,498 students yesterday across 60 schools, including elementary, K–8, middle, high and charter schools. Watts described the first day of school as a success, expressing gratitude for school system team members, staff and faculty.
“Each division has [gone] above and beyond in many ways to make sure that we opened our doors with a best-in-class first impression for our students and families. I would also be remiss if I did not lift up our parents and community members, who today we have observed to be extremely patient and understanding of the first day of school,” she said.
Watts shared that as students returned to school, SCCPSS currently has 75 teacher vacancies, but the school system is actively working to fill those positions. She also noted that the system has 197 bus drivers who ensured that students arrive safely and punctually to class.
“They are the arteries of our school. Our observation showed us this morning that our buses delivered students with very few issues,” said Watts. “I ask our parents to be patient with us. This is the first time many students are on a bus. So they don’t even have a bus experience. They may be on a new bus or with a new driver. So we just have to acknowledge that [there will] be glitches with transportation over the first few days. But you will begin to see that number dwindle as we move into the week.”
She noted that the school system received about 343 calls related to transportation, 256 of which were handled. She assures the public that SCCPSS will continue to work through issues to ensure that bus transportation is effective and efficient for the families the school system serves. Watts encourages parents to go to the SCCPSS website to download the Here Comes the Bus app, which will allow parents to see where their student’s bus is in real time to prevent them from waiting in the call queue.
Watts continued to share a few statistics during the press conference, noting that more than 3,000 brand new students enrolled in the district this year and nearly 750 others students are new registrations who have yet to be entered into the system because of pending address information in line with the boundary changes from last year. She also shared that the school system welcomed 206 transfer students, and that the system served more than 19,000 meals between breakfast and lunch on the first day of school.
“You can see by some of the stats that I’ve shared [that] … we were day-one ready by every indication,” said Watts. “If today was any indication of what the rest of the year will be, we are in good hands with our teams, parents, and staff at school sites and the central office.”
Watts also spoke to some of the goals for the 2024–25 school year as they related to the new literacy curriculum that is being implemented this year.
“Today was day one. I went into classrooms today and saw evidence of those materials being used. I saw evidence of learning. Our focus this year is to make sure that 100% of our students have access to the curriculum, that teachers are using that curriculum so that we have an equal playing field as it relates to rigor in every classroom,” she said. “Literacy is still the North Star. We are not taking our foot off the gas pedal. And I think you’ll see more this year as we roll out and refine our efforts to make them more robust. We are definitely taking advantage of the resources that our board approved for us … for this school year.”
Regarding the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, which consists of end-of-grade measures in English language arts and mathematics in grades three through high school, Watts shared that the school system will use key performance indicators and internal measures to track performance particularly as it relates to the new literacy program.
“The focus right now is to make sure that 100% of our literacy classrooms test well,” Watts said.
Watts, who is now in her second year as SCCPSS superintendent, is optimistic about the school system, the progress being made, and the first day of school’s success.
“Today went as expected. That does not mean it was without issues and concerns … But what I can say is that you saw a department that is understaffed in many ways really come together. We have bus drivers who are running two and three routes to make sure that kids get home. And what you see is a staff that is doing above and beyond heroic work to deliver a service to this community … There’s a sense of pride,” she said. “There’s a sense that we’re getting traction and momentum, so that’s exciting. It breeds confidence. It breeds continuity. Let’s stay the course.”
To learn more about the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, visit sccpss.com.
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This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.