The Gilmer County Board of Education has been recognized by the state for the second year in a row.
The Georgia School Board Association (GSBA)recognized Gilmer the distinction of a “2022 Quality School Board.”
This program was established “to reflect the state standards, which offers school boards additional ways to increase their effectiveness. The Georgia State Board of Education developed the state standards for governance that form the foundation for GSBA’s awards and recognition program.”
Gilmer superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley shared his thoughts on the achievement, noting, “I’m very proud of them and this accomplishment. It shows their commitment to serving the citizens of Gilmer County. I enjoy thoroughly working with them. They’re all five very different people and very unique people. I appreciate their willingness to work together for the betterment of our students.”
The GSBA Board recognition program has three levels of achievement and includes quality, distinguished and exemplary. For 2022, there were 14 quality boards, 11 distinguished and 60 exemplary.
“Next year, we’re going to try to achieve the next level of distinction with GSBA,” Ridley said. “When I first got this job, I figured since we had never done anything like this before, it was best to start at the quality level and let them learn about the process and go forward from there.”
Criteria considered when recognizing school boards are their strategic planning and how it incorporates the Georgia Vision Project’s recommendations, assessment, superintendent evaluation, board training, accreditation, board member ethics and fiscal responsibility.
“As you move on to the distinguished and exemplary levels, there are more training requirements, and a local committee has to be put together to review the criteria and determine whether or not they support their application to become a distinguished or exemplary board,” Ridley explained.
“This is a feather in their cap and something they can be proud of. If you keep an eye on the school district, I think people will see there are lot of great things happening at Gilmer County Schools right now. We’re experiencing a lot of success coming out of COVID and doing everything we can to promote higher rates of student achievement at all levels. It all boils down to leadership. The people out there in the trenches are working hard, but they can’t do what they need to do for our kids unless the people in the boardroom are working on their behalf.”