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Food Assistance Available for Those in Need
Food Assistance Available for Those in Need

Food security impacts more than student health. Having regular access to enough nutritious food can have a positive effect on a student’s academic performance, behavior, and attendance.

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SCCPSS Counseling Department Hosts Scholarship Fair November 15 at Jenkins High
SCCPSS Counseling Department Hosts Scholarship Fair November 15 at Jenkins High
Stacy Jennings

Scholarship Fair on November 15 at Jenkins High School

Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools (SCCPSS) Counseling Department is inviting students and families to the Scholarship Fair 2025 on Saturday, November 15, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Herschel V. Jenkins High School, located at 1800 E. DeRenne Avenue, Savannah, GA 31406.

 “Funding Your Future” will provide valuable resources to help students prepare for college expenses. Attendees can expect:

  • Workshops and Application Tips
  • Scholarship and Career Guidance
  • Opportunities to meet representatives from scholarship organizations

Students are encouraged to register in advance.  For more details, visit sccpss.com or contact douglas.simmons@sccpss.com or janaidavis@sccpss.com.

Don’t miss this chance to explore funding opportunities and take the next step toward your educational goals!

  • beach hs
  • groves hs
  • islands hs
  • johnson hs
  • new hampstead hs
  • saa
  • savannah early college
  • savannah hs
  • scela
  • scholarship
  • windsor hs
  • woodville hs
SCCPSS Graduation Rate Climbs to 87.2%
SCCPSS Graduation Rate Climbs to 87.2%
Sheila Blanco

Georgia’s high-school seniors recorded another all-time-high graduation rate – and significant year-over-year improvement – in 2025.

Georgia’s high-school seniors recorded another all-time-high graduation rate – and significant year-over-year improvement – in 2025. The four-year graduation rate for the state of Georgia rose to 87.2% – up from 85.4% in 2024, and an all-time high since the state began using the adjusted cohort calculation first required in 2011 by federal law.

The 2025 graduation rate for Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools is 87.2% also, with 2,229 students graduating out of a class of 2,557.  This represents a .4% increase compared to last year and matches the state’s graduation rate.  Savannah Early College High School and Woodville-Tompkins Technical and Career High School maintained their 100% graduation rate, with a third SCCPSS high school – Savannah Arts Academy – joining the ranks. 

“I am so proud of Georgia’s class of 2025 and the teachers, staff, and families who supported them,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Seeing this increase in a single year is a strong indicator of the work Georgia’s schools and districts are doing to keep students engaged in their education and prepare them for successful lives after high school. While more work remains to be done, more Georgia students are graduating than ever before – and they’re doing so prepared to pursue futures full of opportunity.”

Dr. Denise Watts, Superintendent of Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, echoed Superintendent Woods’ comments.  “The Class of 2025 represents the very best of SCCPSS—resilient, determined, and prepared for a future full of possibilities. This year’s graduation rate reflects the tireless commitment of our educators, staff, and families to high-quality instruction and student support. Together, we’ve created learning environments that empower students to pursue choice-filled lives and contribute meaningfully to their communities.”

How Georgia calculates its graduation rate

Georgia calculates a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate as required by federal law. This rate is:

  • The number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma, divided by
  • The number of students who form the adjusted cohort for the graduating class.

Adjusted Cohort Rate Definition: From the beginning of ninth grade, students who are entering that grade form a cohort that is subsequently adjusted by adding any students who transfer into the cohort during the next three years and subtracting any students who transfer out.

  • Graduation Rate
  • beach hs
  • groves hs
  • islands hs
  • jenkins hs
  • johnson hs
  • new hampstead hs
  • savannah arts
  • savannah early college
  • savannah hs
  • scela
  • windsor hs
  • woodville hs
Massie Heritage Center Debuts Exhibit Detailing History of Those Whose Names Have Graced Our Schools
Massie Heritage Center Debuts Exhibit Detailing History of Those Whose Names Have Graced Our Schools
Sheila Blanco

The exhibition is titled “In Their Honor: Savannah Schools Named After Notable Individuals.”

Alfred Ely Beach, Esther F. Garrison, Andrea B. Williams…these are just a few examples of the dozens of Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools that are now or have previously been named in honor of a notable local individual. But who are they? What contribution did they make to our community that warranted a school being named in their honor? Massie Heritage Center has now created an online exhibit to answer those questions for all.

The exhibition is titled “In Their Honor: Savannah Schools Named After Notable Individuals.” It is a look at the people whose names grace district schools, past and present. Designed to be a resource for researchers or the simply curious, the online exhibit culls information from a wide variety of sources and includes photos of each individual.

Interested? View the complete exhibit here.

 

  • beach hs
  • brock es
  • butler es
  • derenne ms
  • ellis k8
  • formey es
  • gadsden es
  • garrison k8
  • gould es
  • groves hs
  • haven es
  • heard es
  • hesse k8
  • hodge es
  • hubert ms
  • jenkins hs
  • jg smith es
  • johnson hs
  • low es
  • massie
  • may howard es
  • mercer ms
  • myers ms
  • pulaski k8
  • shuman es
  • stem ms
  • williams es
  • woodville hs
SCCPSS Holds Ceremony for 2025 Retirees
SCCPSS Holds Ceremony for 2025 Retirees
Ken Slats

- "You have influenced the lives of literally thousands of students." - School Board President Roger Moss.

- Melissa Sukanek and Ernie Lee reflect on their careers at SCCPSS.

 

Roger Moss: You have influenced the lives of literally thousands of students.

Kurt Hetager: From the office of Instructional Excellence. Ladies and gentlemen, Melissa Sukanek.

Melissa Sukanek: Was all about building those relationships with the students. Because if they knew, they could trust me and I could trust them, then the learning was limited.

Kurt Hetager: The Georgia State Teacher of the year. Retiring from the Savannah Arts Academy. Ladies and gentlemen, Ernest Lee.

Ernie Lee: I'm teaching young people not what to think, but how to think. And that just is is very rewarding. And now that I'm retiring, I'm getting all these great cards and stories of people coming back to me, telling me how much I meant to them, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Dr. Denise Watts: Leave no doubt you have left an indelible mark on the organization and the community, as a whole. Your service in the classroom, on the athletic fields, in the media centers, in the nurse's offices, in the front offices, and even in the central office has made a difference.

Melissa Sukanek: The good times, or the things that I think I enjoy the most, is when I go into schools and I have former students that are working as teachers or paraprofessionals or assistant principals in the school building, and when they're so excited to see me, and I just know I had just a very small part in them now being as great as they are in the school district.

Ernie Lee: Touching the future because I am teaching the leaders of tomorrow today. But I think a lot of it is just being there every day, greeting students, building relationships, building rapport with students.

Roger Moss: This is not the end. This is the beginning. This is the beginning of a new chapter in your life.

Dr. Denise Watts: We express our heartfelt gratitude for the dedication, the passion, and the commitment that you have shown to students and this community.

  • beach hs
  • derenne ms
  • groves hs
  • savannah arts
ESPLOST V: "It's a Win for everyone involved." - Beach High Clinic Choice Program
ESPLOST V: "It's a Win for everyone involved." - Beach High Clinic Choice Program
Ken Slats

- Dr. Milton takes us on a brief tour of the Beach High School clinic. It's an ESPLOST facility helping provide hands-on training in the medical profession.

 
Dr. Tijuana Milton: This is Beach High School community health clinic. In our phlebotomy program students get real, hands-on experience for patient care. So these students can actually walk out of this high school as certified phlebotomists. We have students we expose to the healthcare profession. They can make an informed decision of whether they want to go within the healthcare profession. It's a win for everyone involved, for the student, for the family, for the public.
  • Beach Clinic
  • ESPLOST
  • ESPLOSTV
  • beach hs
JROTC Cadet Asia Pretty Presented with Letter of Acceptance to Georgia Military College
JROTC Cadet Asia Pretty Presented with Letter of Acceptance to Georgia Military College
Todd Hagin

Georgia Military College presenting Cadet Asia Pretty with her letter of acceptance & college apparel welcoming her into their prestige program.

Event

Georgia Military College presenting Cadet Asia Pretty with her letter of acceptance & college apparel welcoming her into their prestige program.

Communication Objectives

The purpose of the event is to show our partnership with the Georgia Military College in their support of Army JROTC programs. This event gave the AE Beach community & JROTC of Alfred E Beach a platform of exposure to showcase the excellence of one of their own being accepted into their prestige military college. Cadet Asia Pretty represented the community of Savannah and Bulldog Nation with Valor!

Activities

Georgia Military College Newest Accepted Fall 2025 Cadet Presentation*

Key Take-Aways

This is a time honor tradition in which the Bulldog Cadets embraced with purpose, motivation and direction for tomorrows LEADERS!  This is the Bulldog Battalions first Military College Recruit in the history of the program. C/CPT Asia Pretty is a true community ambassador for Alfred Ely Beach HS & SCCPSS! “Bulldogs Lead The Way”

  • Seniors
  • jrotc
Beach High students get real-life experience in the school's Health Screening Clinic
Beach High students get real-life experience in the school's Health Screening Clinic
Ken Slats

Community Education and Health Screening Clinic offered through a partnership between SCCPSS and St. Joseph's/Candler.

 

Dr. Tijuana Milton: In our phlebotomy program, our students get real hands on experience of patient care.

Dr. Martha White: They do the front desk and they also do the different jobs in the back. And we're trying to teach them the professionalism.

Miniah Mikell: Going to school. You learn in on the books and stuff, but you don't really get to do a lot of hand work. So at the clinic, I knew I'll be able to be in the field and actually see with my own eyes.

Angel Chisholm: I wanted to do it as soon as I heard about it.

Ken Slats: Like Angel Chisholm, many students are drawn to Beach High's medical program.

Milton: So the best part about this is they truly get to determine the idea of being in the health care profession. And it's just awesome to determine that at the high school level.

Miniah Mikell: It's a clinic, so we do the same jobs that everyone else does. We have our receptionist or our front desk people, and so we take turns doing the job. So like today I was doing height, weight and blood, but tomorrow I'll be sticking people. 

Miyah Mitchell: I learned how to draw blood. Better communication skills. So we have to talk to them.

Angel Chisholm: Talking to your patients to, like, ease their nerves. And yours, for us being first timers. And also, it's a trick that I learned with taking blood for where, like, the vein is like a roll and your needle is the car. So if it's a straight roll, you're not going to make your car turn. You're going to keep the needle forward and go straight.

Slats: So this straight path is provided through an SCC partnership with Saint Joseph's Candler. Not only a clinic open to students, but anyone.

White: So we're screening the public to try to check for the major things that cause health care problems, which we're checking for cholesterol, we're screening for diabetes, and we're screening for high blood pressure.

Milton: After they complete the 30 blood draws and the ten finger sticks. They actually sit for certification testing. So the students can actually walk out of this high school as certified phlebotomist.

Angel Chisholm: It just feels like we're one big family. They want to see us succeed.

White: And I actually am working with somebody in the hospital now who was one of my students a few years ago. And so that's really encouraging.

Slats: It's an encouraging program all around. Just another example of one of Savannah Chatham specialties preparing students for their future for SCC. I'm Ken Slats.
 

  • beach hs
Student Spotlight - Wilmer Ruiz
Student Spotlight - Wilmer Ruiz
Ken Slats

Student Spotlight - Wilmer Ruiz: The A.E. Beach High School Senior graduated from Chatham EMS as a Certified Emergency Medical Technician. He's one of the first two students from SCCPSS to participate in the partnership.

 
 
Ruiz: If somebody is taking the time to dial 911to ask for help, even if it's not a life threat, it's because they need that person they knew. They need you in that instance.
Slats: And Wilmer Ruiz has answered the call.The Beach High School senior is now alsoan EMT or emergency medical technician.
Ruiz: It's honestly very rewarding to workso hard for 11 weeks and then being able to somebody startdescribing symptoms. And then, you know,I have an idea of what that is. I know how to treat that.I know if this happens. I know what to do after that.
NatSound: Do you pledgeas an emergency medical technician?Do you plan to just take this?
Ruiz: It's honestly very rewardingto have that step into healthcare.
Chatham EMS CEO Chuck Kearns: About a year and a half ago, our agencysigned a contract with the survivor Chatham County School Board to teachemergency Medical responder class.
Slats: Which takes place in the classroom. Now, Wilmer Ruiz sort of breezethrough that part of the program of EMS training,which was here at Beach High School.He advanced to the EMT level, which takes place at ChathamEmergency Headquarters and out in the field.
Chatham EMS Lt. Chris Carlon: Wilmer came to this program ready to work.And you can tell that he wasn't afraid to work.Ruiz: One thing is going to stay with us,and I know it's going to stay with us as we, wherever we go, is like,be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Lt. Carlon: He's incredibly eager. He's a sponge.He possesses the ability to adapt. And probably the best word is resilient.The resiliency that he expresses and shows just it's phenomenal.His ability to just take an assignment and take ownership of that and then completethat is almost unmatched.
Tijuana Milton, Beach High School: So Wilmer has been a wonderful exemplar,a wonderful student. And the reason I say that is because he has completed all threecertification levels. He's certified at Allied Health.We also have the phlebotomy program. He's a certified phlebotomist.He was certainly able to take advantage ofthe emergency medical responder program.And from that program, he was selected to participate hereas a become an emergency medical technician.
Slats: With your student Spotlight. I'm Ken.
  • beach hs