Cammy Moore, a teacher at Madison High School, and her student, Callie work at the art of communicating.

I want to tell you about a moment Callie and I shared today while we were at the park. 

She was very alert, so I took advantage of that and had a beautiful conversation with her.  I began telling her about my shopping trip that I had with my daughter Emily last night. . 

Callie decided that it was time to get to know her teacher a little bit.

While I was in the midst of describing the clothes we bought and where we bought them, she looked at me and gave me the biggest smile and hung on to every word I said.  She was hitting her switch like crazy!  It was so wonderful...I felt like at that moment, she began to love me a little...(sniffle, sniffle).

Callie was deliberately communicating with me and it was awesome.  We took pictures of her looking at me and smiling and listening intently to what I was saying.

I just wanted to share this with you.  Thank you for the opportunity to work with your beautiful daughter...

Cammy Moore

An easy way to communicate good news!

FY12 Henry County - Transition Academy Q & A

WHO IS IT FOR?  All students with disabilities who are on a regular diploma track in need of assistance finishing high school in order to obtain a diploma. They are typically 5th year seniors up to the age of 22 who have earned most of their credits. Each student has an IEP developed to address individual goals.

HOW IS IT FUNDED?  Staffing the Transition Academy is paid for through QBE funds. Each student is enrolled as a 12th grader, and has a class schedule which earns FTE funds.  Most students attend for 2-3 hours or segments per day. The courses listed are usually Study Skills, Work Ready Skills or Graduation Test Review.

WHERE DO YOU FIND THE STUDENTS?  Enrollment records are kept each year with student exit data. Those who graduate with a certificate of attendance or who did not make it to graduation due to graduation requirements are compiled by school and submitted through the “end of year check outs” to county office.  In addition, guidance counselors, teachers, parents and students themselves can be referred into program. A rubric was developed to identify good candidates for the program.

HOW DO THEY ENROLL? The Transition Instructor contacts students individually for an appointment to review high school records and discuss goals. They are then enrolled in the guidance office through regular school registration and listed as 12th graders in Henry County High, the physical location of the Transition Academy.

WHAT IS THE PROGRAM FOCUS?  Following is a list of work that is individualized for each student: Georgia High School Graduation Test review in all 5 subject areas, End of Course Test Preparation, Credit Recovery, Online coursework, Test Prep for the ASVAB, COMPASS, ACT and other college/military entrance exams, career exploration, resume building, work ready certification, college applications and financial aid completion, access to internships and work training programs, access to community resources.

HOW DOES HIGHLY QUALIFIED (HiQ) REQUIREMENTS APPLY?  The majority of courses taught are graduation review classes in each of the five subject areas (Ma, Sc, SS, LA, & Wr).  They are not core academic subjects for high school credit, therefore a regular education or special education certified teacher is acceptable.  For core classes where students obtain credit toward graduation, online courses through the Online Academy, Georgia Virtual, Odysseyware or other accredited avenues may be used with support from a general or special education teacher.

WHERE SHOULD THE CLASSROOM(S) BE LOCATED?  The best location is where there is alternative scheduling/open campus space.  The Transition Academy is located on the back campus of Henry County High where there are also college courses and adult education. This helps the students to feel like they are not returning to high school. Our students are “Academy Students” implying that they have moved on.

Want to know more?

If you have any specific questions, please contact Phillip Mellor - Director, Henry County School System.

Imagine asking your child, “What happened in school this week?” 

Trying to get an answer from a student on a daily basis is often frustrating.  When a child lives on campus and then only comes home on the weekend, parents have an even tougher challenge to stay connected and involved. Add in the fact that these students are learning a completely different language (not just teenspeak and texting,) and parents can feel isolated and helpless when it comes to being involved in their child’s school.

This is the reality for parents whose children attend one of Georgia’s three state schools which provide intensive educational services for children with vision or hearing impairments.

For children who must learn a whole new way of communicating, such as using sign language or reading braille, immersion in the culture and use of those language skills becomes imperative.  Parents, however, have to stay at home and make a living, care for other children, etc.  and they do not have the access to the same immersion in the culture and language that is so important for blind and deaf children to learn in order to become self-sufficient and independent.

There are three state schools: the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, the Georgia School for the Deaf (at Cave Spring) and the Georgia Academy for the Blind (in Macon).

Deshonda Washington, with the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf;  Katherine Kennedy, with the Georgia School for the Deaf; and Rogenia Griffin, with the Georgia Academy for the Blind;  have recently joined the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership to help parents stay involved and informed.

During the summer,  these parent mentors already began hosting meetings and trainings for parents.  In June, Griffin hosted a parent meeting at GAB in Macon during a summer camp. “We are focusing on working on connecting families with schools that are not like neighborhood schools,” she said.

All three mentors are working hard to establish a connection with families who live all around the state.  Patti Solomon, family engagement specialist with the GaDOE’s division of special education and supports, who heads up the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership, described the challenge for these parent mentors as “gaining a statewide perspective, one family at a time.”
Washington, Kennedy and Griffin will be coordinating with the parent mentors around the state to keep families connected to neighborhood school systems, as well as Parent to Parent of Georgia, providing the same trainings and access to information that parents in traditional public school systems receive.

Deshonda Washington, Atlanta Area School for the Deaf

“There is wonderful technology available to assist parents with staying connected to schools,” Solomon told a group of parents in Macon. “Skype is free and can be used to attend meetings when distance and transportation are barriers,” she said.
 Creating awareness about services and parent involvement best practices will be another facet of the parent mentors’ work at the state schools. “There are specific issues for students who are vision or hearing impaired and, like with all parent mentors, parents of students with these disabilities have a lot of perspective that they can share with educators,” Solomon said.

Please, click on the mentor's photos to get their contact information.

From the Source

With Lu Nations-Miller

Summer Reading Suggestions

Spotlight on Autism: The Challenge of Teaching Children with Autism

Math is a Foreign language to some of us: TEACHING MATH VOCAB!

Newsletter: Feb 2011
Newsletter: Dec 2010

GaDOE Revises Logo and Vision statement to Reflect Statewide Goals

"Making Education Work for all Georgians."