New faces will be everywhere this year for Bryan County Schools, including 90 new teachers and two new principals.
The board of education voted unanimously at its work session Thursday night to appoint Jeff Hodges, principal at Lanier Primary School, as the new principal at Bryan County Elementary School. Lynnie Brooke Clemens, assistant principal at LPS, was unanimously approved to become principal there.
“Appointing Dr. Clemens as principal at Lanier Primary School and Mr. Hodges as principal at Bryan County Elementary School is another demonstration of the commitment to excellence that our school system shares,” Superintendent Paul Brooksher said in a press release. “I look forward to the positive impact these administrators will have on the students, staff, parents and community.”
Hodges replaces Julie Gannam as principal at BCES, who left for another district in June.
And when the school year starts Aug. 8, some 90 new teachers will be part of the mix, including 80 classroom teachers and 10 working as counselors and media specialists. Brooksher said it is a net increase of 22 teachers over last year, with most departures coming from retirements and military spouses moving away.
The new teachers include 23 in special education, 21 at the elementary level and 18 each at the middle and high school levels. Of the new teachers, 18 have previous experience in the Savannah Chatham County Public Schools and 10 are from other states.
The district also appears to be right on target with projections that it will grow by 3,500 students over the next 10 years. Brooksher announced that in just two days of summer registration, some 310 new students were enrolled in Richmond Hill alone, including 38 new kindergartners.
“We can’t officially count them until we physically see them in the buildings when classes start,” Brooksher said. “We’re also not sure how many students we’ve lost due to families moving.”
Enrollment will be verified with student counts on the first two Fridays of the school year and another after Labor Day.