State School Superintendent Visits TCES

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State Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods flew into Vidalia on Monday, December 4, to hand deliver a banner commemorating Toombs Central Elementary School on their recent classification as a Literacy Leader.

According to Woods, a Literacy Leader school is a school in which the 3rd grade has 90% of their students reading on grade level or above, or a school in which there is a 15% increase of reading levels between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. “You did that – you actually beat 15% — you increased by 20.5%,” Woods told Toombs Central Elementary School Principal Destiny Levant.

He explained that the presented banner also had several spots along the bottom to add ribbons each year – a detail that helps ensure that schools continue to improve and maintain literacy. “This is not meant to be a one and done thing,” Woods emphasized. “It has 7 little holes at the bottom – so there’s room for even more growth.”

Woods said that the T

CES

award will soon branch out to other grades – such as 4th, 5th, and middle school – and other subjects – like math. He spoke about the upcoming John Hancock award, which will recognize schools in that 90% of a certain grade can write their name in cursive.

“It doesn’t just stop at 3rd grade – we want to continue to encourage schools to boost learning in several subjects across all ages,” he remarked. “Also, this award does not only celebrate 3rd grade. There had to be a Pre-K teacher and a kindergarten teacher and more that helped the students get to where they are.”

Toombs Central Elementary School is 1 of 155 schools across the state which received the Literacy Leader award, and the only school within the region to claim the honor.

Toombs County School Superintendent Barry Waller commented on the event. “We are grateful to Superintendent Woods for taking the time to come see us,” he began. “Our students and staff work so hard, and we’re thankful to see evidence that what we are doing is working.”

Toombs Central Elementary School Principal Destiny Levant added, “I am thankful to Superintendent Woods for coming, and to all of our teachers for the hard work that they do. We are passionate about what we do, and we are grateful to be able to do it.”

Woods concluded the conversation saying that he hoped that Toombs Central would help other schools within the district and in the surrounding areas with advice on literacy and methods to help best serve the students.