Community Christian School

September 13, 2024

Dear CCS Families,

Happy Friday, and Happy Fall Break! 

I pray that each of you is doing well, knowing that students are excited about having some time off next week. And, as is our annual tradition to have our CCS Grandparents Day on the Friday before break, I also want to send a shout out of thanks to our grandparents who came to campus today and to the many school and church team members that helped to organize this event. It’s always a great start to the fall season (maybe even better than the arrival of pumpkin spice) when we get to this part of the school year. With that in mind, please allow me to share a few items of information with you. I know this is a longer than usual letter, but I think you will find that the information is both timely and important. 

It’s Not Too Late to Support our Knights Annual Fund

Much thanks to all those who have already contributed to our Knights Annual Fund – including the vast majority of our CCS faculty and staff. As we have not met our goal yet, we are extending our drive for an additional week. Please see the link here for how you can participate.

I know that this is the first true Annual Fund Drive we have had at CCS and while we have had presentations at parent events about the role of this fund, I would like to speak to it again in this space. For an independent school such as ours it is essential to have an annual fund to assist with expenses not covered by tuition. Some recent examples of these expenses include a need to upgrade our robotics team tech in order to maintain competitiveness as well as regularly recurring expenses for security support such as our Navigate 360 check in system. 

I would ask for your support in 3 critical ways:

• Please pray, earnestly, for the success of our school and the success of this drive.
• Please consider participating, even if it’s a small amount. 100% participation across our families and staff would truly move the needle toward our goal.
• Please share this opportunity to invest in independent, Christian education with those in your circle that would be interested. 

Some Updates and Reminders on Safety

In light of the recent tragedy at Appalachee High School, we know that everyone has a heightened sense of security right now. While I spoke at parent orientation in August about how we secure our campus, I do want to provide some reminders here. I also want to highlight some recent changes in the areas of collaboration with our local school system as well as supervision and security with our athletic events. 

For several years now, Community Bible Church and CCS have financially invested in partnering with Henry County Police Department officers such that we have PD on campus daily. This is a partnership that has worked very well for us and in my nearly 30 years of education I have never seen a more constant, reliable, and school friendly team of officers as those we have. As I always do at orientation, I want to again thank our Lieutenant Scott Cumbie and Security Director Rob Fortner for coordinating this work. I have mentioned Navigate 360 above, but would also add that our badge in system as well as continuing upgrades to our camera system reflect ways that we use technology to secure our facilities. On the behavioral training side of things, our staff is trained annually and periodically in best practices for safety and we have a schedule for periodic drills that include lockdown drills. We also make a practice of communicating to parents after such drills so as to reduce anxiety and keep you informed.

As I mentioned, there are a few recent security items that I want to make you aware of. First, a few weeks ago CCS along with other private schools in Henry County was invited to meet with the leadership of Henry County Schools’ School Resource Officer leadership. At this meeting there was a commitment to increase and enhance mutual communication and intelligence between the public school system and private schools related to threats. Relatedly, I want to assure our parents, students, and staff that CCS has always will always screen incoming students based in their records for “red flags” related to threatening behavior. And, should red flags ever occur within our existing school community, we always reserve the right to share that information with the appropriate authorities.

Regarding athletics, I want to draw attention to some changes as well, some of which you may have already seen. As you know, the CCS belongs to the Georgia Association of Private and Parochial Schools (GAPPS) for our athletics programs as well as other competition areas. For athletics, this year GAPPS has mandated that any adult in a coaching capacity or that would interact with players on the sidelines be issued and wear a lanyard and id badge showing that they have been vetted and trained. Please know that we along with other GAPPS schools will be politely but insistently enforcing this policy at games. Also new from GAPPS (but not new to CCS) is the expectation that schools have a designated game manager for all events. As I mentioned, CCS has always had this practice but it will now be a more defined role designed to ensure that everyone, including visiting teams and their fans, know who to go to with needs or concerns. This staff member (we have a core team of leaders who will serve in this role) will also be visible identifiable with a badge and we plan to start announcing at the beginning of the game who the manager is for that night.

A Great Opportunity for Financial Peace

Community Bible is excited to announce that new sessions of Financial Peace University (FPU) are just around the corner! We believe this program can truly change lives, and as a special gift from our church family, we’re covering your registration fee—a $100 value—when you commit to attending the 9-week session.

But that’s not all! CCS Knights who complete the course will receive a $200 tuition credit at the end of the 9 weeks. (One per family.)

• NEW: Wednesday, September 25 at 3:45 PM (on-campus, in-person)
  • Specifically for our CCS Knights, in Room E-304
    • Childcare will be offered for students in K-12 grade
  • Facilitators: Pastor Pete and Ms. Paula Brannon
  • Perfect for those who prefer a class right after school. Please email Ms. Brannon at paula.brannon@communitybiblechurch.com to register.

As I mentioned above, I know that this was a lengthy and somewhat serious amount of information to share; thanks for reading to the end! There are so, so many great things happening at CCS and I hope that with Community Connections events, Looking Ahead weekly newsletters, Tuesday folders, and social media (to name a few sources) that you regularly get the full picture of all the great happenings at CCS. In closing, I again want to wish you and your family a happy fall break and know that you are welcomed to contact me or our team with any questions you may have.