The Walking School Bus is back at BHT! This is always a popular and healthy endeavor for our families. We have an overwhelming response and believe this is the way to start the day right for kids.

The drone program will be up and running in the spring semester and has sparked a lot of interest from our community. Drones provide a great entrepreneur opportunity for students to start their own business and fill a need right here in our community. Did you see the WXII story?

Mount Airy City Schools will be adopting Havelock Middle School in New Bern, North Carolina. This school was devastated by Hurricane Florence. This week, we will begin taking up monetary donations for short term needs. As we learn more we will share on our web site and with our students and staff. Stay tuned as more plans will be formalized to help Havelock Middle School. We have a web site announcement where we are keeping all information regarding these efforts.

Thursday, September 27 - Donations for Havelock Middle School in the car rider line of each school

Friday, September 28 - Donations for Havelock Middle School in the car rider line of each school

Monday, October 1 - Donations for Havelock Middle School in the car rider line of each school

October is also recognized as Whole Child month. We have put a K-5 alternative program and 6-12 alternative program in place to support the whole child. We also have twice as many resources this year as last year to make sure children have the social emotional support they need. Take a moment and look beyond academics to the whole child this month and celebrate their strengths.

The Board of Education just finished up their first round of teacher grants. There were 20 submissions and 15 were fully funded. Read the full press release by clicking here.

Board Members are learners too!

Our Board of Education members visit schools to see how students are learning, engage with administrators and teachers at meetings to see how teaching and learning is working within the district, and they spend time learning themselves. Collectively our Board earned the Silver Bell Award for their hours spent developing their skills as board members. Here is a list of each member's hours over their individual time on the Board as well as the year they joined the Board.

Board Chairman Wendy Carriker (1996)-832.5 hours, Board Vice Chair Tim Matthews (1996)-517 hours , Board Member Kate Appler (2004)-232 hours , Board Member Ben Cooke (2010)-132 hours , Board Member Kyle Leonard (2018)-7 hours , Board Member Mike Marion (2015)-34.5 hours , Board Member Phil Thacker (1993-1996 and again beginning in 2000)-270 hours since 2000.

More to Look Forward to

Monday, October 1 - Board of Education Worksession at Central Office at 6:30 pm

Thursday, October 11 - Innovation Day for Students

Friday, October 12 - No School for students (Autumn Leaves Festival goes through Sunday, October 14)

Saturday, October 13 - 5K on the Greenway

October 15-19 - National School Lunch Week and National School Bus Safety Week

Tuesday, October 16 - Public Forum for Flexible Calendar 5-6 pm at Central Office

Tuesday, October 16 - Board of Education Business Meeting at Central Office 6:30 pm

Saturday, October 20 - MAHS Disc Golf Tournament 10:00 am

Monday, October 22 - MAPD and MACS Charity Basketball Event at MAMS at 6:00 pm

Thursday, October 25 - Early Release Day JO/MS @ 11:15; BHT/HS @ 11:30

Friday, October 26 - No School for Students

Saturday, October 27 - HOSA’s Little Bear Ball

Monday, October 29 - Community Night 6-8 pm at MAHS

Extra Mile

Tharrington Primary thanks Haymore Baptist Church for their support of BHT staff and students. They coordinated a back-to-school event for our school and gave out free food, school supplies, and provided free haircuts. Members of the congregation had a prayer walk through our building the day before school began as well as volunteering at our open house providing popcorn and school supplies for students and families. They also provided a welcome breakfast for staff on the first workday and gave out door prizes to staff members. Haymore Baptist Church is a wonderful community partner for our school!

Jones Intermediate School: April Worrell has worked tirelessly over the summer and during the start of our year to help us put processes in place and implement PBIS and MTSS. She is always going above and beyond to support student learning and our school.

Mount Airy Middle School would like to recognize Amanda Sechrist and the PBIS Team at MAMS. This team, under the leadership of Amanda Sechrist, has been busy this year. They are planning the implementation of the new school store, obtaining funding to help with the PBIS program, and coordinating the reward events for the year.

Mount Airy High School wishes to recognize Jasson Adkins, Kelly Holder, Tommy Morrison, and Angela Mayfield. Due to "winter kill" the football playing surface was unsafe and not suitable for play. MAHS was facing possible cancellations and a reduced number of home events. By working together, researching and providing the labor, after weeks of preparation, the surface is now playable. It looks great too!

Central Office recognizes Carrie Venable for working to reduce our requested supply list items which helps families feel less burdened. She has also updated and condensed our student code of conduct and district handbook to provide streamlined processes and information.

Central Office recognizes Celena Watson and her team for having their audit closed with any issues being successfully resolved and have used 100% of her federal allotment of funds to ensure all children get the greatest nutrition possible.

Innovator of the Month

BHT Innovator of the Month is Caitlin Edwards. She serves our school as a PreK teaching assistant. Caitlin is passionate about recycling and came to administration with the idea of implementing the Crayola ColorCycle Program at our school. Caitlin will lead the way in organizing this recycling program of collecting used markers in an effort to teach our children the importance of their role in protecting the environment. She will involve our students, creating leadership opportunities for them to earn service hours.

Jones Intermediate Innovator of the Month is Sara Key. She is innovatively helping to make Jones a kinder place. She is constantly coming up with ways to support the culture of kindness within our school. She has proposed several projects & ideas that we are doing such as painting the bathrooms with positive messages and starting a kindness club. She has found quotes to use for various activities & in various places. Sara is helping to lead a staff training on the Marigold Effect. All of this kindness carries over into her classroom instruction and her relationships with her students.

Mount Airy Middle School's Innovator of the Month is Dalton Tedder. He has been instrumental in implementing the new LiveSchool program for PBIS. He learned the program quickly, assisted the trainer with tracking teacher progress and use, and is serving as an administrator for the program at the school. Dalton is an advocate for the program and is always willing to assist teachers who need help when tracking PBIS points with this program.

Mount Airy High School's Innovator of the Month is Sara Mayes. EC General Curriculum Teacher Mrs. Mayes has turned her classroom into an innovative classroom with flexible seating and murals. She did this on her own and has created an incredible learning atmosphere. She has also taken a leading role and provided our staff with testing guidelines and specific information regarding modifications and accommodations.

Central Office recognizes Kimberly Heck and Jon Doss as their Innovators of the Month. They have worked tirelessly to prepare a short cut in communication that will benefit our families. If for any reason the school system needs to communicate with parents concerning the bus their child rides they created a tool allowing those parents to be notified with a few short steps for administrators. Thanks for their innovation in using existing resources to make communication timely for parents and easier for schools.