District Features

On the first Thursday in August, while students step off the bus or unload from their family vehicles, bushy-eyed and ready to start a new school year, five new principals inside the Jackson County School System will be awaiting to greet students, and ready to lead throughout the upcoming school year.

Twenty-Three year old pilot, Hayden Dutton has been flying planes since he was sixteen.

Ascending to approximately 40,000 feet above the ground, pilot Hayden Dutton is now in the career he decided to pursue in high school. You can say it’s in his blood. 

EJCHS Alumni Ryan Robinett shares his road to MIT to Ph.D. 

After graduation, Robinett moved to Cambridge Massachusetts and he quickly found himself immersed within the world of MIT. Although he felt like the only person with the word ‘y'all’ in his vocabulary, Robinett was euphoric about the journey he’d embarked on. 

It all started in 2004, when the oldest, Eli, was a freshman at Jackson County High School, brother Sam was in sixth-grade at West Jackson Middle, and Josh and Anna were at South Jackson Elementary. Mark, the youngest of the Gaultney children, wasn't born yet. 

The family had just moved to Jackson County from Gwinnett County, and the four oldest Gaultney kids headed into the Jackson County School System. 

And since that day in August 19 years ago, the Gaultney family has had at least one child inside a JCSS school. That was until this past May when Mark, often referred to as Bud by the family, graduated from East Jackson Comprehensive High School. 

Olivia Wilson sits at a table inside the media workroom on the bottom floor of the University of Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum, going through photos she just took during the men’s basketball team’s warmups before a game against the Auburn Tigers. The tall, 6-foot-1 undergraduate student at the University of Georgia, and graduate of Jackson County High School, is there as an employee of the UGA Athletic Department. 

 When Morgan Byers arrived at Harvard for the first time she found herself astonished by all the grand buildings and architecture of the campus. She arrived early for the semester to participate in The First Year Outdoor Program. “It’s basically the inauguration to campus,” said Byers, who would live off the grid for six days in Southern New Hampshire with her fellow classmates. 

After 16 years of working at the school where he graduated from in the early 2000s, Jason Powers is moving onto the next step in his professional career. As school winds down, Powers admits he is feeling a lot of emotions. 

The former wrestling state champion turned educator and head Jackson County High School wrestling coach said the key for him, though, is still being able to serve the West Jackson community. 

DeGeorge is a Network Engineer for the Jackson County School System. He is no stranger to the Jackson County community. In his school years, he attended Benton Elementary, East Jackson Middle School and then Jackson County High School when it was located at what is now Empower.

There is no place Tonya Looney would rather be than inside the hallways of East Jackson Elementary School. During the school year, Looney spends nearly 12 hours each day inside the building, serving as a paraprofessional and the After School Co-Director. It is a place she holds near and dear to her heart. It is a place where she says she is called to be every single day. 

Seventeen years of teaching at JCHS, seven STAR Teacher Awards, and Two Teacher of the Year awards later, Bowles continues to put his students' needs to the forefront of his priorities. 

Each year the STAR Student selects the most influential teacher in their life. Recently, Kellen Salom, a senior at JCHS, nominated Bowles for STAR Teacher for the academic year of 2022-23. 

Looking back on the past 33 years of working in public education, the last 27 of which have come inside the Jackson County School System, one thing will stand out to East Jackson Middle School principal Kim Johnson over all the rest when she retires this summer. 

It isn’t the math tests she administered, or the chaotic mornings of school closures due to weather, but rather the relationships she built among her students and colleagues that she will hold closest to her as she steps into the next chapter in her life. 

As Dr. Miriam Ledford-Lyle tours Legacy Knoll Middle School, she becomes ecstatic as she envisions what’s to come. Although the school is still in the process of construction, it brings the dream to life for Dr. Ledford-Lyle as she walks through the colossal three-story academic building that is eighty percent complete.

Carla Mitchell was a junior in high school when she and her older sister, Lori Clarke, lived together. Clarke had just graduated from college and began coaching Mitchell’s varsity basketball team. Mitchell was a junior and big sister was now her assistant coach. 

It was from there the dynamic-duo was formed.

Walk the hallways of South Jackson Elementary School and you will hear the saying “It’s a Great Day at SJ.” For Principal Resa Brooksher, it’s more than just a saying, but rather it has been a professional commitment to her students and staff, ensuring each and every one of them truly has a Great Day at SJ. 

Lion Kings will be roaring at East Jackson this weekend. Not the actual animal, but instead students from East Jackson Elementary School who will perform Disney’s The Lion King Kids. 

Since Kaycie Rogers was twenty-two years old she has worked within the Jackson County School System, a community that has become a place she now calls her home. 

Bottom lines and budgets weren’t cutting it for Ethan Laughman’s professional happiness. There was more fulfillment in a professional setting than what he was experiencing, and his wife knew it. After a few years of urging her husband to get into education as a teacher, the same profession she was in, Mr. Laughman listened and headed back to school.

When Ansley Deese saw the vision of Empower College and Career, she knew from the very beginning she had to be a part of bringing the vision to life. She has predominantly taught high school seniors for 10 years.

Valentin’s parents moved to Miami, Fla. from Cuba before she was born. Growing up, she did not learn English until she was in elementary school and got into an English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Now serving as a teacher at the most diverse school in Jackson County, Valentin shares a special bond with the students and school.

After six years, William Kilgore and this year's seniors are working hard to make a lasting impression on one another, and Jackson County High School before playing their final band concert together.

It was in computer science class while learning about coding and design when Syon Schlecht had the realization that he wanted to create an app of his own. 

East Jackson High School’s Sarah Giddens knew from a young age that she wanted to be involved with as much as she could. Having experiences that she wouldn't have had without clubs and sports has impacted her career as a student. Now she’s using her experiences to help others get involved.

JCHS’ Carmen Tettekpoe serves as a reminder that education should not be taken for granted.

Carmen Tettekpoe was only 11 years old when she arrived in the United States for the first time. She wondered if it would be anything like the books she had read. 

An Army Officer's journey from the battlefield to the classroom.

Lying there in the streets of Hutal, Afghanistan seconds after a suicide bomber attacked, First Lieutenant Josh Darnell was unaware of the severity of the injuries he had sustained.

Wes Sanders attributes his accomplishments and success to those that came before him. 

Claudette and Gene Bowen share what it is like to be married coworkers and why they love their job.

Rhonda Collins dedicates not only her personal life but her professional life as well to care for others. 

Being a bus driver is not just a job for Rhonda Collins; it is an ingrained fabric of who she is. 

Working with his cattle isn’t just a hobby for Jackson County’s Jesse Cronic. It’s a passion-project, a future career, and a place to escape certain distractions.