Bulloch County Schools Offering New Summer Learning Opportunities

Bulloch County Schools will be offering new summer learning opportunities for students who have completed grades kindergarten through eighth grade. The purpose is to close learning gaps that exist due to COVID-19. The district says the instructional focus will be on critical skills for English language arts and math to help students prepare for the next grade level.  Families can register by using the links below or by visiting the Summer Learning website.  

This is not summer school as we have known it in the past. It is not intended to remediate students for a standardized test. Instead the school district is re-imagining what learning can be and taking advantage of this opportunity to do things differently to better meet the needs of students. 

“Every child has missed the opportunity to reach their full academic potential this year,” said Charles Wilson, superintendent of schools as he addressed the Board of Education on March 25, and shared information about how the school district will invest federal stimulus funds to schools to provide programs like these to help children.  

This is a global issue and not unique to just Bulloch County. In her regular update to the Board of Education, Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement Teresa Phillips noted that helping children overcome learning gaps is always part of every school year; however the global pandemic produced many home and community factors that have affected learning, some known and some unknown. 

“We are going to do what’s best for kids,” Phillips said. “Learning loss will not be remedied over just a summer.  It will take two to three years to help children recover the learning they’ve lost, but this crisis has provided us an opportunity to re-imagine how we serve children.”

For these summer learning opportunities, participants will be provided breakfast and lunch at all sites using a combination of the school district’s summer feeding program and Second Harvest. School bus transportation is also available for most of the learning sites, if needed.

In addition to the academic activities, the middle school students will enjoy a variety of engaging connections such as: science-technology-engineering-math (STEM) projects, sports camp, agriculture-based activities, culinary arts, and/or fine arts. Offerings will vary across the multiple learning sites.

Interested parents and guardians are asked to complete an online survey to indicate their interest in one or more of these programs for their children. They should complete the survey that includes the grade level their child will complete this year. 

Space is limited, so families should only indicate interest in a summer learning opportunity if their child will be able to attend at least 90 percent of the class days.  The school district will contact families by the end of April regarding actual placement of their child into a summer learning program. 

Interest Survey for Summer Learning Opportunities for Elementary Students (For children currently in grades K-5)

Interest Survey for Summer Learning Opportunities for Middle School Students (For children currently in grades 6-8)

For high school students, the school district’s Graduation Performance Academy is available again this summer.  Counselors will work to individually refer students who could benefit from this program, or you may contact your high school guidance office for more information.