By Bill Husfelt, Superintendent, Bay District Schools
We have been so excited to welcome our students back to school, and we’re grateful for the support of our entire community. We re-opened Oscar Patterson Academy this year as a K-2 school, added third grade to A. Gary Walsingham Academy and completed the middle school grades at Tyndall Academy. Population-wise, we’ve finally eclipsed our enrollment before the hurricane and all signs are that growth will continue.
As we begin any new school year, there are always questions, and we want to ensure we’re promptly providing parents/guardians with the answers they need. To help us with that, we’ve created a new video outreach program called Parent University. Parent University will release short weekly videos featuring our district experts discussing topics parents/guardians want to know.
This school year, we’ve released Parent University episodes for those new to Bay County and those registering students for kindergarten. We’ve also released episodes about ways parents and guardians can stay connected to their child’s teachers and schools. We’re recording episodes on hot topics like 504 plans, IEPs, speech and language services and others.
Other episodes in the works include topics like “how do I access free healthcare at my child’s school,” and “where can I find tutoring help for my student,” and “what do I need to know about Career and Technical Education as a parent?”
We hope all of our parents, guardians AND community members will take a few minutes each week to check out the latest videos to learn more about our district. Videos are released weekly on our social media and are always available on our website at https://www.bay.k12.fl.us/parent-university.
We want to ensure we’re providing information that our community needs and wants, so you can also suggest topics. If you have an idea for a Parent University video, please email us at BDScomm@bay.k12.fl.us.
Thank you, again, for all you do to support our beach schools and schools throughout our community.
Stay safe, and God Bless!
