[ S i Obion County Newsletter d e b It is hard to believe that the first month of the school year is 2021 a behind us. I want to thank everyone for working to make the start of the year as smooth as possible. Our enrollment num- In this issue... r bers are up as of the writing of this statement. That is good news and shows that parents recognize that OCS is a school T system that cares for its students. i TCAP and TVAAS data are being released. I am very excited A MESSAGE t about most of the data I have seen so far. It shows the hard l work that went into teaching in a challenging environment last FROM e school year. More information on data will become available as it is made public. MR. WATKINS ] [ Good luck to our Fall Sports and Bands as they represent their NEWS FROM S respective schools. I want to wish everyone involved a suc- i cessful and safe season. CENTRAL d OFFICE e At the end of the 20-21 school year, we though COVID was b behind us. However, we find ourselves faced with familiar a challenges again. I want to thank you in advance for being NEWS FROM r flexible and going the extra mile to ensure our kids receive the s best education possible. THE SCHOOLS a Thank you for all you do to make OCS a special place for chil- r dren to learn and grow. Upcoming events e

September 6, 2021 — g Director of Schools Labor Day r Tim Watkins, e September 16,2021 — a PD/P-T Conference t

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The Early Years Ms. Sandy Simpson [ S i Welcome back to another school year in Obion County! We are excited about beginning d a new school year to learn and grow. Great things are happening in the Obion County e School System. b In July, our ESL department held an ESL Kindergarten Summer School at Ridgemont. This a program provided Kindergarten ESL students an introduction to school. Ms. Kim Jones, r Mr. Danny Potts, Ms. Orfelinda Asbille, Ms. Teresa Hutchison, and Ms. Dallas Gurley were assisted by volunteers Ms. Betty Jo Davis and Marely Acevedo. Thank you all for your T hard work and dedication to our students! i t l e ] [ S i d e b a r Obion County Schools hosted two Early Reading Training Cohorts this summer. Pre-k – s 5th grade ELA teachers, Special Education teachers, and Interventionists were invited to a attend a two-week TN State Foundational Skills training funded by the Early Literacy r Grant. This training started with one week of online training and finished with one week e of in-person training. Obion County had 82 educators to attend and complete the two- g week training on Early Reading Foundational Skills. Thank you, teachers, for your willing- r ness to learn and grow so that our students can learn and grow! e a t f o r c a

In the Middle Ms. Lesa Scillion [ The 2021-22 school year started off strong and we are excited about the great things in S store for our students this year! I want to welcome all the new teachers who joined our dis- i trict in grades 4-8. Their school and grade level assignments are listed below. d e Black Oak: Jackquelyn Hayes - 4th grade ELA and social studies, Chase Sowell - 5th grade b math and th th a science, Tracey Malone – 7 and 8 grades ELA Lake Road: Sarah Hester – 5th grade ELA r Ridgemont: Allison Clark – 5th grade math and science, Steven Douglas – 8th math South Fulton Middle/High: Rachel Dunlap – 7th grade ELA T i Four of our schools had the opportunity to participate in a poverty simulation presented by t the UT Extension Office during professional development days: Black Oak, Lake Road, South l Fulton Elementary, and South Fulton Middle/High. Please see pictures below of teachers e working through situations many of our students and their families face each day. Our cen- ] tral office supervisors, instructional coaches, two SRO’s and one retired teacher (Ms. Vikki [ Hayslett) played various roles during this event. Mr. Watkins especially enjoyed his role at S Big Dave’s Pawn Shop! i d e b a r s

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c Please continue to incorporate the OC Instructional Strategies, which include the 12 Power- a ful Words (and their synonyms) and UNRA(A)VEL strategies, in your classroom instruction. These strategies will help students in every subject from now until they graduate from high school. If you need any of the posters, please let me know. Have a great year! We are excited to welcome some new people to our special education team! Ms. Kaitlin Scott will be our new teacher at Ridgemont in the ele- Mrs. Alisha Hedge mentary grades, Ms. Dorothy Davis will be at Hillcrest working with the Special Education [ middle school, and Ms. Brittany Palmer will be at South Fulton Elemen- tary. Some new educational assistants include Jacob Hyde at South Ful- S ton Middle/High School, Hannah Emberton at Ridgemont, Shonda Long i and Kim Wade at Obion County Central, and Elly Wonacott at Hillcrest. d e Lake Road, Ridgemont, and Obion County Central will be part b of the ACCESS for All, formerly known as SPDG, training this a school year. Teachers have already begun to use the infor- r mation and apply it within their classrooms. Part of this pro- gram will include implementation observations and coaching

cycles by our regional access coach, Amanda Mason. We look T forward to seeing and hearing about all of the great ways i Mrs. Laura Pitts delivering ACCESS for All teachers are growing. t training during professional development. l e ] [ S i d e b a r s a r e g r Teachers working during the SPDG Training e a t f o r c a

Greg Barclay (Assistant Director of Schools), Mindy Coursey Alisha Hedge, Mindy Coursey, Greg Barclay, Kate (District ELA Coach), Alisha Hedge (Special Education Supervi- Martin (Senior Director of Special Education, sor), Amanda Mason (Regional Access Coach, TDOE), and Laura TDOE), and Laura Pitts. Pitts (Principal SFMHS).

Mr. Adam Stephens District Testing Coordinator and [ Data Analyst S i It has been a busy first month of school. Teachers and administrators have been reviewing TCAP d test data, and student test reports are now ready to be sent home. In addition to the paper copy of e the student test reports, parents and guardians will also have access to a new online tool. b Parents and guardians deserve clear information about their child’s education and progress. To a meet this need, the Tennessee Department of Education has created the TCAP Family Portal. The r TCAP Family Portal is available for families of students who participated in the spring 2021 TCAP administration, and it allows parents and guardians the ability to track their student’s scores over T time. i t Each year, TCAP tests (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) are given to all students in l grades 3 through high school. On the TCAP Family Portal, families can find detailed, personalized, e information about their student’s progress and what to do next. In the TCAP Family Portal, you ] can: [ S • get immediate, on-demand access to your student’s state test results via your phone or com- i puter, d e • track your student’s progress over time with the “Test History” feature; b • learn the areas where your student demonstrated strengths and the areas where they can a grow; and r s • find clear next steps to help your student improve. a Families can register for the portal at familyreport.tnedu.gov with their student’s state ID number. r Your student's state ID is located on the top left-hand corner of your student's printed score re- e port. If you do not have a score report to reference, please contact your student’s current school g and ask for your student's state ID number. Use the seven-digit number and add two zeroes in r front of that number. The resulting nine-digit number will enable you to create an account for your e student. For example, a state ID 1234567 would become 001234567. The student score reports will a t be given to students on August 31. If your child was enrolled in grades 3-8 OR enrolled in Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, English I, English II, or Biology during the previous school year, then you have f access to the TCAP Family Portal. o r The online portal and the printable reports were designed with input from Tennessee families and include easy-to-understand icons, clear next-step language, and visual displays. c a You can use this link – TCAP Family Portal – to access the website. https://familyreport.tnedu.gov/login Every year fair week brings extra fun to the cafeteria at Black Oak. Ms. Judy Denman Mrs. Angie and the “Lunch Food Service [ Beauties” in the Eagle Café deco- S rate the cafeteria and prepare foods with a fair theme. Angie i says, “The Eagle Cafe loves d bringing the fair to our babies e every year!!!! There are so many b who never set foot inside the fair- grounds, this is my way of bring- a ing it to them! My lunch beauties r and I work hard together to bring them an unforgettable adven- T ture!!!!” i The special items that were pre- t pared during fair week this year l included Funnel Cakes, Load e ‘em up Fries, Corn Dogs, and Candy Apples, and Goldfish. ] While these things may not be [ prepared exactly the way they S are at the fair, students still get a i sense of the excitement that d goes with the fair ‘adventure’. e b a r Obion Central’s cafeteria staff is UNSTOPPA- s BLE this year!! Teamwork is a huge reason a why Mrs. Sharon and the cafeteria ladies at r Central always manage to provide delicious e meals to our students even when short staffed, or if some of their equipment is g down. They work together to fill the gaps if r someone is out and a sub is unavailable, and e a most of the time they do it with smiles on t their faces. The culinary students also help keep things running smoothly while they f learn in the cafeteria setting. They are part of o the reason the OCCHS cafeteria staff is un- r stoppable!! c a Another huge part of the success of the team at Obion Central, as well as all our cafeterias is our amazing Maintenance Department. Many times they drop what they are doing to get a broken piece of equipment going again so students can be fed. On behalf of the whole food- service department, we want to acknowledge the hard work of our maintenance department and thank you for being a part of our team! [ S i Student teacher: Michael Quinton is working with Mrs. Linda Darnall as he completes his studies to become a d teacher. Mr. Quinton has been with the second grade e from the first day of school this year and will finish his b time in late November. Mr. Quinton has also been a sub- a stitute teacher in Obion County for several years. r

T i Lunch Bunch: Mrs. Angela Morris and her lunch- t room beauties continue to go above and beyond l expectations with their daily lunch menus. In con- e junction with the Obion County Fair, they have ] planned a week’s worth of lunches with a connec- [ tion to the foods associated with county fairs. S Items include corndogs, loaded fries, loaded taco/ i d fajita fries, hot dogs, popcorn chicken to cheese- e burgers the entrees make your mouth water. But b don’t forget the sweets. Funnel cake, strawberry a mango slushies, goldfish and candy apples all bring r smiles to the faces of our students. When asked as s to why do you take the time to do this, Mrs. Morris a replied, “The Eagle Cafe loves bringing the fair to r our babies every year!!!! There are so many who e never set foot inside the fairgrounds, this is my way of bringing it to them! My lunch beauties and I g work hard together to bring them an unforgettable adventure!!!!”. r e a t Cross-Country: Black Oak’s Cross-Country team is off to a good start to their season. At rd rd the OC XC race held at Lake Road on August 23 the Varsity Boys team placed 3 overall. f Individual honors were earned by Hayden Blakley in 4th place and Jatlynn Mosley in o 3rd place. In the Varsity Girls, Maryhannah Jenkins placed 13th and in the Junior Varsity r Girls Elizabeth Johnson placed 6th. Black Oak also has an elementary team that competed th c in the Dresden Jamboree on Tuesday, August 24 . In the third grade division, Braylee th th a Mathenia medaled in 12 place for the girls and Brayden Mayhall medaled in 15 . In the fourth-grade division, Gunner Ray placed 11th, Briar Blakley placed 6th and Ryder Hutche- son placed 2nd. For the fifth-grade boys, Sawyer Homra placed 6th and Jack Gooch placed 3rd. We want to say congratulations to Ms. Brandy Rainey and her teams and wish them continued success in their upcoming races. [ S i d e b a The new school year has gotten off to a fantastic start for Hillcrest athletics. All of our fall sports r athletes have already had the opportunity to compete in their respective sports. These athletes have had to overcome multiple weeks of heat index temperatures above 105 degrees, but all of T the coaches and players have worked to overcome this problem and make the best out of the i situation. Our Lady Cougar softball team has had two games so far. They began their season t with a victory here at home over South Fulton. The following day, our girls traveled to l Ridgemont where they defeated the Lady Mustangs. The Cougar football team kicked off its e season with a home game against the Greenfield Yellowjackets. The Cougars came out with a ] strong showing defeating the Yellowjackets 30-2. It was a great way for them to start their sea- [ son. Our Cross Country team has had the opportunity to compete in a jamboree that was host- S ed here at Hillcrest, a meet at Jackson State Community College, and a meet at Lake Road. In i each of those contests, our runners have been improving with every outing. d e b a r s

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Each of these teams still have a majority of their seasons remaining, but their fast start is show- f o ing signs of great success throughout the season. We are also looking forward to great things in r our classrooms. We are beginning to see that our students were very successful last year in overcoming the hurdles from COVID. They showed that sickness, quarantine, and distance c learning was not going to stop them from learning. With that, I am excited to see what is going to occur this year [ S i d e b a r

T i t l e Coach Hayden Cary hosted a football ] camp this summer for our future [ Generals. It was a big hit! S Mrs. Angie’s Kindergarten class enjoyed i hat day while learning the letter H! d 2nd Grader Georganna Tuscan enjoyed e painting after reading and writing about b the book The Dot! a r s

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Kenley McKinnis asked Mrs. Avery & f o Mrs. Kellye to go with her to get her r ears pierced. They couldn’t turn her 1st graders in Mrs. Ashley Merrell’s

down! Lake Road is so excited to have Mr. Class enjoyed participating in a cup c Eric Lipford & his children join the tower challenge after discussing Generals family. Pictured is his son, initiative, collaboration, and Ellis, enjoying the Pre-K playground! perseverance.

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[ S i [ d S e i b d a e r b Obion County Central High School is off to a good start for the 2021-22 a T school year! We are in the business of loving and supporting our students r with an ultimate educational goal of graduating with a high school diploma. i Industry tells us that they want to hire folks with at least a high school diplo- t T ma. We take that very seriously! We want that accomplishment for all of our l i students. Hard work pays off. e t ] Pictured below are Ally Pounds, Emmalee Foster, and Lillie Breeden. These l girls are looking forward to GRADUATION in May! They recently ordered their e [ S graduation supplies! ] i [ d S e i b d a e r b s a

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[ S i Ridgemont is off to a fantastic start this year. d e We have many new faces at RES and we are excit- ed to welcome them to the family. b a Mrs. Susan Sullivan is teaching kindergarten. Mrs. r Traci Spencer moved to kindergarten this year after teaching special education. Mrs. Morgan King is teaching first grade. Ms. Lindsey Gidcumb is teaching T second grade. Ms. Sana Finch and Mrs. Brandi Gam- i ble are both teaching third grade. Mrs. Alli Clark is t teaching fifth grade. Mr. Steve Douglas is teach- ing eighth grade math. Mrs. Kaitlin Scott is teaching l special education. Mrs. Meagan Gregory is our guid- e ance counselor. ] [ S i d e On August 5th, Mrs. Sarah b Hobbs threw out the first ball a of the season on the field r s named after her.

a r Mr. Johnny Dyer had a snow cone truck come to e school to treat his former seventh grade students for scoring so high on the social studies portion of the g TCAP. r e a t

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First Grade students used new words that they learned about (initiative, perseverance, and collaboration) to build the tallest cup towers in their classrooms. [ S i d e b a r

T i t l e ] [ S • SFE has had a terrific start to the 20-21 school year. We kicked off with first day of school i photos for every student—and the teachers jumped in on the fun! d e b a r s a r e g r e a t f o r c a • We were happy to have parents come for a program honoring our August Students of the Month.

We are all so excited about this school year. We can't wait to see what the year [ holds for all our faculty/staff and students. S i d Right: We have a new principal here at the Devil's e Den. We'd like to welcome Mrs. Laura Pitts who comes to b us from South Fulton Elementary School. She graduated a from OCCHS and received both her bachelor's and master's r degrees from UTM. She has completed 23 years in educa- tion. When asked what she looks forward to most about SFMHS she said she looks forward to continuing to work T with the South Fulton Community. The kids and parents are i awesome. We have some of the best teachers that you will t find. These teachers love this school and love the kids. l

e ] Left: Ms. Racheal Dunlap is a first-year educator with us. After graduating from the University of Tennessee in [ Martin, she is excited to be the new 7th grade ELA teacher at S i SFMHS. Since this is here first-year teaching, she is excited to d help grow the minds of her students and see where this ad- e venture leads. b a . r s Right: Ms. Madison Pitts is also a first- year educator here at a SFMHS. She graduated from Obion r e County Central High School in 2017 and got her bachelor's degree from UTM. g She looks forward to getting to know r her students and fellow coworkers e while having a great year! She is teach- a t ing Algebra II and Pre-Calculus.

f o Left: We'd like to welcome Mr. Jacob Hyde who is a first-year educa- r tional assistant for Ms. Mary Jane Wiseman. He graduated high school from OCCHS and graduated college from the University of Tennessee at c Martin. He looks forward to learning, growing, and becoming certified to become a Special Ed. teacher.