On Tuesday, October 26, Rome City Schools College and Career Academy (CCA) opened its grand, inclusive doors to yet another community partner, as the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) Director of Member Engagement, Julie Rhame, paid a visit to RCS’ state of the art facility.
The GSBA exists to represent Georgia’s elected boards of education, offering advocacy, leadership, support, and a number of services to aid and ensure the success of its school systems.
Jill Fisher, GSBA director for district seven (of which RCS belongs to), accompanied Rhame on her visit to the CCA.
“This is a really great way to get a personal connection from GSBA with each school board,” Fisher said. “There are 14 districts in Georgia, the district that RCS belongs to, district seven, consists of 21 other school boards. As a district director, it’s my role to represent those school boards to GSBA and vice versa.”
Fisher explained that there are a number of services that GSBA offers to Georgia school systems that empower those in leadership roles to stay up to date and informed.
“They provide workshops to keep us informed on current topics like social emotional learning, or policy workshops because it is important to keep up with what the ever changing laws are,” Fisher said. “They also provide support in developing policies.”
Fisher explained that there are many support services that the GSBA offers that school boards are not required to accept, but may utilize if necessary; for example, risk management or the hire of a new superintendent.
“Our relationship with the GSBA,” Fisher said, “is to make sure that we are operating in a healthy way so that our students have the best experience.”
She expressed the significance of showing Rhame the opportunities that RCS is able to offer students through the CCA, “I think sharing best practices is so important for each school system. This College and Career Academy is such a gem and I am so proud of it. I would love for her [Rhame] to experience what we're trying to do for our students and if she has some knowledge that she could bring to us or if she takes away something from here to share with other schools, that’s so important.”
