From the Director

Phoenix High School is the place to help you get on with your life. We have gathered the best teachers from around the area to work with you individually to help you further your goals. Our dedicated staff is ready for the challenge. Are you?
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PHS Receives GACHE Grant For 2011-12

From Left: Mike Beatty, Commissioner, Ga. Dept. of Community Affairs; Mrs. Mary Anne Fogle, PHS Grant Coordinator & Co-Writer of GACHE Grant; Mrs. Shirley Davis, Director GACHE; Mr. Fred Toney, Principal, Phoenix High School; Mr. James Thompson, Director Georgia Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC); Mr. Danny Hayes, Whitfield County Schools Superintendent; and Dr. Beth Hayes, PHS Grant Coordinator and Guidance Counselor.

On September 20, 2011 Phoenix High School received a grant in the amount of $7,500 from the Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education (GACHE).  The grant will be used by Phoenix High School to implement strategies that encourage and assist students to continue their education beyond high school.  In fact, GACHE’s own slogan reiterates this change of attitude in our society.  It states that we are “Moving the finish line from high school graduation to post secondary and career success”

This is the second year in a row that Phoenix High School has been awarded the GACHE Grant and we are excited once again to be able to expose our students to post secondary educational experiences that they otherwise would not have known about.  Furthermore, we look forward to the day when all our students transition into technical schools, trade schools, or colleges. 

Phoenix High School was recognized on September 29, 2009 by state superintendent Kathy Cox for raising test scores during the previous school year.

Cox announced the winners of the second annual Superintendent's Distinguished Acheivement awards. The awards honor the top ten highest achieving schools and the top ten schools making the greatest improvements on state curriculum tests.

Phoenix High School received two awards for improving on the percentage of students passing portions of the Georgia High School Graduation Test for the first time. In Science, Phoenix students increased from 55 percent passing in 2007-2008 school year to 75% percent passing in the 2008-2009 school year, the fifth highest improvement in the state. Social Studies passing percentages rose from 50% to 72.2, second highest in the state.

Phoenix students also received recognition for improvement on the Georgia High School Writing Test, increasing from 73.3 percent meeting or exceeding standards to 95.2 percent, the fourth highest in Georgia.

Phoenix students, teachers, administrators, and community have a lot to be proud of. Keep up the hard work.

Source: Daily Citizen News, September 30, 2009 Edition.

From Left to Right: Dr. Beth Hayes, Mr. Fred Toney, and Mrs. Mary Anne Fogle

PHS Receives GACHE Grant

Phoenix High School is proud to announce that it has been selected as a recipient of the Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education (GACHE) Grant.  The purpose of GACHE is to increase student interest and participation in furthering their educational opportunities beyond high school. 

The GACHE Check Presentation ceremony took place at The Forum in Rome, Georgia on October 25, 2010 beginning at 9:00 a.m. Governor Sonny Perdue, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Mike Beatty, officials from four Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESA) and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) representatives were in attendance. 

We are fortunate here at Phoenix High School to have Mrs. Maryanne Fogle and Dr. Beth Hayes devote such a large amount of their time to writing, editing, designing, proffering, and proposing such wonderful opportunities for our students in order to qualify to receive the GACHE Grant.  It is a fantastic occasion for our students to benefit from these resources.

GACHE is administered by North Georgia College and University in Dahlonega, Georgia. In an effort to address the barriers Appalachian students face regarding access to higher education, GACHE makes funds available to Georgia public high schools on a competitive basis to implement new, expanded, or innovative strategies for improving both access to and success in college for high school students. GACHE also provides technical assistance and training to school grantees, and serves as a community resource center offering information and data related to activities that improve higher education access.

SCHOOL DISTRICT WEBSITE PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT

The Whitfield County Schools is always looking for ways to be more efficient and effective in our fiscal policies.  Receipt of checks returned unpaid by the bank is a time consuming and costly issue to the district. As with any business, the Whitfield County Schools has an obligation to our clients, the community taxpayers, to be fiscally accountable.  Processing returned checks can take valuable time from the school district personnel. To manage this process, our district will begin using CHECKredi on September 10, 2010 to protect the interest of all in our school system community against the time consuming and costly recovery of returned checks.  CHECKredi utilizes the federal and state laws allowing the electronic recovery process of returned checks which results in a high rate of recovery at no cost to the school district. The cost becomes the responsibility of those who wrote the returned check with the recovery of the face amount of the check and the state fee from the bad check writer.  The returned check may be electronically recovered along with the state allowed fee from the check writer’s bank account.

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The Georgia Department of Labor is implementing a new Online Work Permit System.
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The following are some of the comments from a few of our seniors from their graduation application:

• "Phoenix High School has meant a lot to me  because here I found the courage and the help I needed in order to  graduate."
• "It has helped me realize that graduation is important  by putting it within reach again.  I have achieved a higher gratitude for life itself."
• "It gave me a better opportunity.  It  helped me get the credits I needed to graduate.  Phoenix is a school out of many that I attended that I didn't mind to get up every morning to  attend."
• "Phoenix High School is a great school and the  teachers here really care for us."
• "I love being here because it gives you a  second chance at graduating.  Like me, I have a daughter and I thought I  wouldn't be able to finish high school.  But now I am and I am really happy!"
• "Every step of the way the staff has been there for  me.  No matter how many times I have left and come back they have welcomed me with open arms."
• "Phoenix has helped me meet the requirements I  need to graduate on time.  It has helped me take my education into my own  hands."
• "Phoenix High School has helped me reach my goals so that I can do more with my life."