September 14, 2005
Lee County-- More than 8,000 young hurricane evacuees are now going to school in classrooms here in Georgia.
Dealing with so many new students, essentially overnight, isn't easy, but it's a task the State School Superintendent says Georgia schools are doing well.
State Superintendent Kathy Cox visited Lee County Schools Wednesday, a system that has enrolled only seven hurricane evacuees. Many school systems across the state have many more new students than that. "The number, as of yesterday at 5:00 was over 8,000," said Cox.
8,000 kids Pre-K through 12, received into schools around the state in just a few days. "They're handling it beautifully, and most of it is spread out. We have students that are from the evacuated regions in over 100 districts in our state."
Because the evacuees are spread out and in systems like Lee County, Cox says the students feel more comfortable. "Their home life has been disrupted, and we know that that's going to take a while to repair, but we want these children to feel like a student again, and a successful student."
And she says school systems have been successful in their treatment of their new arrivals. "I'm so proud of our teachers. I'm so proud of our principals. They have just done the right thing by kids, and they continue to do that."
The right thing by kids who have been wronged by mother nature. A backpack and school supplies drive was held yesterday in Atlanta. In all, more than 12,000 backpacks were collected and will be distributed to students around the state later this week.
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