Local nonprofits help North Forsyth High School meet student needs | Forsyth News
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — North Forsyth High School has partnered with several organizations this year to better support students and their goals.
At the April 19 Forsyth County Board of Education meeting, North Forsyth High School Student Support Coordinator and Graduation Coach Amy Dykes said the initiative is part of the school’s community strategy schoolwork.
It started, she said, with community focus groups that answered questions about their goals, passions and gaps that they see in education. From there, staff developed partnerships with Place of Forsyth, Family Ties and Worksource Georgia to provide additional resources at North Forsyth High School.
Dykes cited data from United Way’s Child Wellbeing Index that shows that the community sits at the average or below-average mark in child wellbeing. Because of this, United Way provided North Forsyth High School with financial support to create a school pantry, known as The Source, as well as a chapter of the Helping Hands Ending Hunger Food Capture program.
Dykes said The Source provides a variety of items from toiletries and snacks to simple meals for students and families who can visit the pantry before or after school. There’s no qualification process, and families can even place orders for certain items once a week.
The food capture program, on the other hand, works by collecting uneaten food in bins or a milk cooler after breakfast and lunch that is then cleaned and offered back out to the community through The Source or Place of Forsyth. Dykes said over 800 pounds of food is collected every month.
“One of our biggest messages to our students is that food is not trash,” Dykes said. “So, we really want them to understand that food can go to somebody in need.”
Additionally, Dykes said, the school’s partnership with Family Ties provides counseling and therapy during the school day at no cost to the students, removing barriers, such as transportation, when it comes to addressing mental health needs. Two full-time therapists visit the school each week and see over 80 students, Dykes said.
Lastly, Worksource Georgia provides soft-skill sessions to further prepare students for college and the workplace. Dykes said the sessions cover topics like resume building, financial literacy, time management and interview skills.
In June, Worksource Georgia will offer a four-week welding boot camp for students and recent graduates. At the end of the camp, Dykes said, they’ll be fully certified in welding, including Six Sigma certified and Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, Safety certified, and have the opportunity to interview with companies for potential jobs.
“We’ve opened this up to all of the schools in our county, and we have four students that are not North Forsyth students that are going to be in attendance during the program,” Dykes said. “And then we have 10 of our own students that will be going through the program. We’re really excited about that.”
Board Vice Chairwoman Kristin Morrissey said the partnerships build on the district’s PROPEL program, or Pathways for Reaching Opportunities in Preparing for Excellence in Life, which was designed to raise local high school graduation rates.
“[A few years ago,] we were meeting at [Forsyth Central High School] and one of the concerns was mental health services and how we could get those services potentially into the school,” Morrissey said. “The hurdles were always transportation and financing, and the fact that you’re addressing that by getting these services to the students for free …. I am so excited that you found an answer.”
School board member Lindsey Adams said she was “blown away” by Dykes and her staff’s efforts.
“When you talk about community, you have really touched upon all the community that’s within your schools and then reaching out,” Adams said. “I’ve always said Forsyth is just awesome because there’s so many various nonprofits and so many groups that are doing such great things, and so, why should we reinvent things here when we can partner? This is wonderful.”
In other business at the April 19 meeting, the board unanimously approved a new dress code for the 2022-23 school year that instigates a rule violation, while continuing to give principals authority over what they choose to allow in their schools.
Todd Shirley, director of school safety and student discipline at Forsyth County Schools, said the revised dress code was inspired by the Portland School District. The main difference, he said, is that it allows staff to punish students for using the P3 tip line to anonymously harass other students.
“In other words, make tips that are inaccurate…,” Shirley said. “Even though that is a tip line that is anonymous, if that tip line contains harassing information to an individual, through a court order, we can search that IP address and find out who’s making those harassing statements and then work with law enforcement to go back.”
Also, during the meeting, the board voted to move its executive session to 5 p.m. for future meetings and continue starting the regular meetings at 6 p.m. The public will still be allowed to speak for three minutes each and there will be no limit on the number of speakers.
Board Chairman Wes McCall said the change was necessary to allow staff members to go home before the start of public participation at meetings. Public participation has increased over the last few months due to controversy over the district’s policies on books containing sexually explicit material.
“I will say that our public participation policy, in consultation with our attorney, is probably the least restrictive public participation policy in metro Atlanta,” McCall said. “But the board felt strongly that they wanted to continue to give our community unlimited access to the board and to speak for three minutes.”
