City: Savannah, GA

Category: Education

Telephone: (912) 201-5600

Address: 208 Bull St.

Description: One of the most attractive incentives in relocating to the state of Georgia and hence, Savannah, is the HOPE Scholarship and Grant Program, one of the state’s most successful education initiatives. Launched in 1993, the Georgia lottery program has contributed $3.61 billion to its major education initiatives resulting in free college education for thousands of Georgia students, a voluntary prekindergarten program for four-year-olds, and new capital construction outlays that result in updated and contemporary new facilities, technical institutes, colleges, and universities. The Savannah-Chatham school system serves more than 34,000 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade. They are enrolled at 48 schools and participate in several alternative programs. Students in the system attend 30 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, and 7 high schools, and thanks to the Georgia Lottery, more are on the way. Twelve of the schools were added to the system between the mid-1990s and 2003 as part of an aggressive $221 million construction program. Among the facilities added was Savannah High School, built on the east side of town as a replacement for its namesake in Midtown on Washington Avenue. The old Savannah High, which was erected in 1937, was renovated and now houses the Savannah Arts Academy, which is dedicated to the visual and performing arts. In another development involving a new school, a charter public middle school—Oglethorpe Academy—opened in August 1999 in west Savannah on the site of a one-time elementary school. The academy’s charter is based on providing students with a rigorous curriculum and an environment—that is, a student body—that’s smaller than those of other schools. Another feature calls for parents or guardians of students being asked to sign contracts obligating them to accept responsibility for their children’s behavior and compelling them to participate in the educational process. Among the school system’s alternative programs are two Corporate Academies, which promote the academic and social development of at-risk students by means of nontraditional programs, and the Adult Education Center, which offers basic skills and secondary education for persons seeking to pass the General Educational Development Test or enhance their personal growth through education. The system also operates the Coastal Georgia Comprehensive Academy for students with severe emotional and/or behavioral disorders and autism.The system has an extensive academy program that enables students to concentrate on special talents and interests. Included in the program are the Montessori Academy at Ellis Elementary School; Advanced Learning academies at Bartow and Heard Elementary Schools; Fine and Performing Arts academies at Bloomingdale and Gadsden Elementary Schools, Shuman Middle School, and Savannah Arts Academy; the Traditional/Latin Academy at J.G. Smith Elementary School; the Renzulli Enrichment Academy at Mercer Middle School; and Honors academies at DeRenne Middle School and Jenkins High School. Two exciting innovations are the Children’s Engineering Academy at Spencer Elementary School and the Marine Science Academy at Thunderbolt Academy. The average class size at schools in the system is 25 students. There is an emphasis on computer technology, and the system has more than 7,500 computers in its classrooms and access to the Internet at each school. The system has 278 partnerships with the business community through which businesspeople voluntarily assist individual schools in areas such as mentoring, accomplishing building projects, cleaning up campuses, and raising funds. Two unique features of the local system are the Massie Heritage Interpretation Center and the Oatland Island Education Center. Massie, which is at 207 East Gordon St., is the oldest standing school in Georgia. The school does not hold regular classes, but programs on the history of Georgia are offered. Teachers arrange for their classes to attend programs at Massie. Oatland, at 711 Sandtown Rd., covers 75 acres, and its 1.75-mile Discovery Trail takes visitors through woodlands, past marshes, and to specially constructed habitats of endangered and protected animals of the state—wolves, bison, panthers, and birds of prey among them. There’s a re-creation of a colonial settlement and a barnyard where youngsters can get a feel for life on the farm, past and present. The Oatland staff holds several special events throughout the year, including a festival featuring sheepshearing in March and a cane grinding festival in November.