Online Orientation and Registration Begins for GCPS Student

Online Orientation via the MealpayPlus System opened on July 29. Parents of students in the Gwinnett County Public School system can use this program to make all school related payments. Registration for this program is free and available online. Local schools are asking parents to register prior to their prospective open houses.

The MealpayPlus System offers GCPS families the following services:

• Student cafeteria balances and purchase history
• Low balance e-mail reminders
• Breakfast/lunch pre-payments
• AP Exam registration and payment
• Online open house and orientation
• Yearbook, uniform and field trip fee payments

Approximately 90 area schools are offering online registration for students. Families who take advantage of this option can cut down heavily on the amount of paperwork required on orientation day. Parents should check the school websites for dates and times of specific activities.

In Local School News:

• The GCPS system is expanding charter school offerings with the following options: Gwinnett County Online Campus, Ivy Preparatory Academy and New Life Academy of Excellence.

• The Gwinnett Online Campus offers high school students an opportunity to earn their diplomas by taking online course. This year the school will have an inaugural 160 students in grades 9-12. The school has plans to include middle schools students (6-8) for the 2012-2013 school year nad elementary students in fourth grade in 2013.

• Ivy Preparatory Academy is not a new school, but is beginning its first year as a Gwinnett County Public Schools charter school. The school lost its charter status this spring when the Georgia Supreme Court ruled the Georgia Commission on Charter Schools unconstitutional. GCPS system worked with the Academy and the two agreed to a one-year contract authorizing Ivy Preparatory Academy serve as a local charter school in the GCPS system. For more information on this Academy contact the Head of School, Nina Gilbert at 770-342-0089.

• New Life Academy of Excellence is a new charter school in Norcross formed to teach children the Chinese language. New Life Academy of Excellence will teach children in grades K-2 at its Norcross location and students in K-7 at its Duluth location.

• Eighty percent of Gwinnett County’s public schools met the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress goals and only four schools were categorized as needing improvement. Every school required to meet AYP in the following clusters were successful: , Grayson, , Mountain View, North Gwinnett and Peachtree Ridge.

• GCPS held an orientation for new teachers at Peachtree Ridge High School on July 25.

• GCPS welcomes twenty-one new principals to various schools in the system for the 2011-2012 school year.

• GCPS transportation services will practice their routes during the week of August 1 through Friday August 5.