School Hours - Bus Pick-up - Student Pick-up and Procedures

School Hours: 8:00 - 3:30

School starts at 8:00 am and the tardy bell rings at 8:10.

Student Drop-off

Student drop-off before 8:10 is at the back of the school. Parents walking in before 8:10 must also park in the back of the school. Students are not permitted to be dropped off at the front of the school, even if you are coming in with them.  The front is for teacher parking and bus drop off until after 8:10 am. If you attempt to park or drop your child off in the front, you will be ask to pull to the back of the school. Please follow these procedures. After 8:10 you may park in the front and are asked to walk in with your child to sign them in as tardy. Please do not send your child in by themselves when they are tardy.

Bus pick-up: 

Busses 8 & 44 will leave the school at 2:30 pm
Busses 17, 24, and 41 will leave the school at 2:40 pm
All other busses will depart from the school at 3:15 pm

Parent Pick-up:

Parents will pick their children up between 2:45 - 3:05 at the back of the school
We ask all parents to stay in their vehicles during student pick-up in the afternoons. Parents will drive through the line to pick up students. This is a safety precaution and we thank you for helping keep our students safe. We will give you a visor sign to write your child's name on to help speed the process up.

New School Year Begins Wednesday, August 6th!

The start of school is right around the corner. We will have open house between 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 5th with the first day starting on Wednesday, August 6th. We are excited about this new year and about the students coming back. See you in August!

Georgia Set to Replace CRCT with Georgia Milestones

CRCT vs. Georgia Milestones

After 14 years, the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test will no longer be offered to Georgia students. A new test, called Georgia Milestone, will take its place this upcoming school year. The new test hasn’t been fully developed, but it is expected to be different than the CRCT. Here is a brief look at some of those differences:

Cost

- The CRCT and end-of-course testing cost roughly $18 million to administer last year

- Georgia Milestones is expected to cost more; precise figures are not yet available

Content

- The CRCT was multiple-choice and graded by a computer

- Georgia Milestones will have more open-ended questions that will have to be graded by people

Administration

- About 35 percent of the CRCT was administered online in Georgia last year

- State education officials expect that Georgia Milestones will be administered entirely online by its fifth year

Student Scores

- The state’s standard for content mastery on the CRCT was among the lowest in the nation

- Georgia is raising the content-mastery standard for Georgia Milestones

Georgia Milestones Features include: 

– inclusion of constructed-response items in ELA and 
mathematics, in addition to selected-response items 
– inclusion of a writing component (in response to text) at 
every grade level and course within the ELA assessment; 
– inclusion of norm-referenced items in every grade and 
content area to complement the criterion-referenced 
information and to provide a national comparison; and 
– transition to online administration over time, with online 
administration considered the primary mode of 
administration and paper-pencil back-up until transition is 
completed. 

Georgia Milestones Blended: 

Criterion-Referenced and Norm-Referenced 

Georgia Milestones will provide: 
– criterion-referenced performance information in the form 
of four performance levels, depicting students’ mastery of 
state standards 

– norm-referenced performance information in the form of 
national percentiles, depicting how students’ achievement 

compares to peers nationally

Georgia Milestones English Language Arts 

– will require close analytic reading to construct meaning, 
make inferences, draw conclusions, compare and contrast 
ideas, themes, etc., as well as synthesize ideas and 
concepts across multiple texts 
– will require students to develop informative/explanatory 
responses or narratives, produce opinions/arguments – 
citing evidence from text(s) and using standard language 
conventions, etc. 
Mathematics [CC Georgia Performance Standards] 
– will require demonstration of conceptual understanding of 
concepts, procedural skills and fluency, problem solving, 

modeling, and mathematical reasoning 

Science [Georgia Performance Standards]
– will require understanding of the core concepts, ideas, and 
practices of science to explain scientific phenomena – 
with content and Characteristics of Science/Nature of 
Science standards serving as co-requisites 

Social Studies [Georgia Performance Standards] 
– will require understanding of the past and its influence on 
the present and future – including the interconnectedness 
of history, culture, geography, economics, and 

governments/civics 

Item Types 
• Selected-Response [aka, multiple-choices] 
– all content areas 
– evidence-based selected response in ELA 
• Constructed-Response 
– ELA and mathematics 
• Extended-Response 

– ELA and mathematics 

2nd Grade Students Perform "Go Fish"

"Congratulations to the 2nd grade students on their wonderful performance on May 8th of the musical production, "Go Fish".  The ocean theme was perfect to make everyone excited about upcoming summer fun!  The characters in the story were little Tiger Shark who wanted to be friends with everyone, an octopus with only 7 legs, a zebra fish with spots, a blow fish with allergies, and so on.  Both on stage and off, the students were reminded that it takes all kinds of fish to make the ocean the beautiful place that it is.  Likewise, it takes all kinds of people to make our world a beautiful place to live.  Thank you to Mrs. Jones, Dr. Baxter, and all of the 2nd grade teachers for their teamwork in producing this wonderful musical play. "​

FES Teacher Celebration

On Thursday, March 13 2014, parents and students lined up outside of First Baptist Church social hall  to welcome teachers and staff of Folkston Elementary School to a night of celebration. The night was dedicated to honoring the staff at FES for the hard work and dedication they give throughout the year to our students. The celebration included a beautifully decorated room with white/red/black as the theme. As the staff arrived with their spouses and friends, they walked in on a red carpet then entered the room through a lit archway. Their names had been attached to "Hollywood" stars lined around the floor of the room. The tables and chairs were decorated white, black and red with a table top flower arrangement. A "Grammy" theme covered the walls.  After being seated, the staff was treated to a coffee bar, hors d'oeuvres, and a punch bar. The meal of stuffed chicken breast or sirloin tip roast was prepared by our very own Eleanor Jones (Ms. "E") and  served by the young ladies from the high school FCCLA. After the meal, the staff was treated to a chocolate bar. We also had a photographer, Sacred Jordan, there to capture the moment throughout the night. The highlight of the night was a video of students telling why they loved their teachers and staff. We all laughed and cried as our students shared stories about the staff at FES. We would like to thank superintendent Dr. John Lairsey, assistant superintendent Mr. Steve McQueen, BOE members Dr. Matt Sands and Lucille Hannans, and RESA school improvement specialist (and friend) Janie Fields, for attending this night to celebrate with us. This was a special night and we would again like to tell our teachers and staff how much we love and appreciate them!

We would like to thank the following people for making this night so special: Eleanor Jones, Resa Smith, Heidi Higginbotham, Katie Nelms, Greg Nelms, Elise Nelson, Nikita Elliot, Mandy Jackson, Crystal Brooks, PTO, Sasson Gilyard, FCCLA girls under the direction of Jamie Haynes, Mary Baxter, Aimee Knight, First Baptist Church, and all parents and students who were able to come.

Below are some pictures from the night.