Hoping for a safe start to the school year

The 2016-17 school year begins today in Houston County and Monday in Bibb County. Bright, smiling faces — some headed off to school for the very first time — will be filling our highways and byways. It would be a good idea to take extra care, not only for your own safety but for the safety of thousands of children who will be riding in buses and cars and walking to get to their schools. It would be helpful to have a distraction free commute. That means no talking or texting while driving — and please look for crossing guards — and whatever you do, don’t pass a school bus that’s stopped with its lights flashing. It’s against the law.

Some parents, particularly those new to the area, are probably asking, “Why start school on a Friday?” It’s not unususal for school systems to start on odd days of the week. If there are any kinks in transportation or classrooms they can be adjusted. While school systems have some idea how many children are going to show up at their doors they really don’t know until children arrive.

In Bibb County, with its transitory population, it could be awhile before school populations settle in and there is always the prospect of children coming back into the system and children leaving. This is the inaugural year for Cirrus Academy, Bibb County’s third charter school joining the Academy for Classical Education and Macon Charter Academy. The latter school’s future is in doubt. The state will hold a hearing Aug. 18 to decide whether MCA’s charter should be revoked.

There is much work to do, particularly in Bibb County. While the district is doing better and more students are showing proficiency in the 32 tested areas, the vast majority of students haven’t attained that level as Bibb scores remained below state averages while Houston, Jones and Monroe county schools were near or above state averages.

One area Bibb Superintendent Curtis Jones is focusing on is reading, and with good reason. No matter what the area of study, if a student has difficulty reading, everything from social studies to math becomes that much harder to learn.

So here’s to a great school year. Let’s make it one of the safest and best.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Hoping for a safe start to the school year."