July 20, 2023

Dear Sprayberry Families,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful summer! We are preparing for the 2023-24 school year, and I wanted to provide you with updates prior to the first day of school.

This year, our academic initiatives will focus on improving reading, organization, and study skills. To accomplish this, we will begin encouraging independent reading during the school day. We are asking that each child bring in an independent reading book from home or from our media center. We will also introduce AVID, a program that will help us to teach study skills and improve student organization. AVID is designed to help students on their journey to college and career success. We are asking that EVERY student begin the school year with a three (3) inch binder with tabs. It is very important that students begin the school year with this binder because every teacher will be utilizing the binder in class. Attached to this email, you will find a supply list that details the specific items needed for the year. All new initiatives are research-based practices that will help us to improve the academic performance of our students.

The construction on our new gym and CTAE wing is complete, and we cannot wait for everyone to see our new facilities. Over the past two years, we have updated classrooms in Healthcare Science, Graphic Arts, NJROTC, Electronics, Culinary, and Computer Science. We have a new NJROTC rifle range and weight training room, and we have added several new areas for personal fitness classrooms to use during the school day. We were also provided with a last-minute opportunity to replace the floor in our Black Box Theater Classroom, and this project will be completed in the upcoming weeks. We are thrilled to enjoy our new spaces funded by Ed-SPLOST. We are working to make sure that the rest of the building is clean, safe, and ready for our students, and our custodians are doing an amazing job of ensuring that Sprayberry is sparkling for the first day of school.

Now that our new gym construction is complete, our back parking lot will be fully accessible this year, with the exception of a small corner of the lot, which will be used for NJROTC drill pad activities that occur throughout the school day and after school. The front drive will only be available during arrival and dismissal times for carpool. The front doors will remain locked during the school day. Therefore, if you are visiting Sprayberry any time after 8:30 am, we ask that you enter from the Piedmont parking lot side of the school.

Our orientation and open house events will continue in the same manner as they did last year. On Thursday, July 27, we will have a Fall Open House that will coincide with our Freshmen NewBeez event. We will again not have a traditional open house in the fall. Instead, all 10th – 12th grade students and their families are welcome to come visit teachers and classrooms from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm on July 27. All 9th grade students and their families can attend the annual NewBeez Orientation for our incoming Freshmen at 6:30 pm. We will have a presentation in the NEW gym at 6:30 to kick-off the event. Following this, families will have the opportunity to visit the club and activities fair, participate in self-guided tours of the school, join PTSA, join the Foundation, and much more. We look forward to seeing everyone at this event!

Sincerely,

Sara Fetterman
Principal

2023-2024 STUDENT SUPPLY LIST

• 3-inch binder, with both interior and exterior pockets
• 8 plastic binder dividers with pockets
• 1 pencil pouch for three ring binder
• 2 highlighters (different colors)
• 5 pencils
• 1 piece of card stock
• 1 independent reading book

*Classroom teachers may have additional supply requests.  Please see your classroom teacher for more specific information.