A Word from Lafayette County School District Superintendent Adam Pugh

A new school year presents limitless opportunities for various beginnings: new classes, new faces, sometimes new courses, and often, new technology and materials. Summer and vacation can be great healers from the tiring days of the previous school year. As we approach the opening of a new school year, the end-of-year pressures that plagued us in May seem remote and inconsequential.

Newness alone cannot produce transformation. We must be willing to be caught up in the “rebirth” that each new school year can bring. Starting a new year gives us the opportunity to make new plans, design new strategies, and implement new ideas. There is a special kind of joy in planning for the new faces that each school year brings. We all have the ability and responsibility to make a POSITIVE impact on students.
This year, as in the past, we must concentrate on the processes that promote STUDENT LEARNING. I want these processes to continually answer the following four questions:
(1) What essential elements do we want our students to learn? (2) How do we know they have learned the essential elements? (3) What do we do if they have not learned the essential elements? (4) What do we do if they already know the essential elements?
This upcoming school year brings excitement with new classes/programs: Sports Medicine- Theory and Application, a Virtual Reality component to our Art classes, a new ACT Jumpstart program, and an integrated class of U. S. History and English Language Arts. We have a new Student Information System, SAM. ActiveParent is the portal which allows parents to check grades, schedules, and general information about their student.
We are excited about our upcoming bond referendum to build a new elementary school. Our election is scheduled for September 11, 2018. The population of our county continues to grow each year. With the growth in the county, our school district continues to grow as well. We have exceeded capacity in each of our schools. Overcrowding has caused us to bring in five modular/portable classrooms. A new elementary school would also allow us to create space at our upper elementary school. Along with an elementary school, we would like to add classroom space to our middle school. We have plans, in the near future, to add classroom space to our high school as well.
We look forward to an exciting 2018-19 school year.

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