MACON, Ga. — Bibb County School District's Superintendent Dan Sims is calling on a citywide effort to continue supporting the district, students and families.
The community gathered at Wesleyan College to hear the next step in the district's Built4Bibb Education Plan.
He says community is key to empowering students to learn, lead, innovate and serve, which was the vision he shared during the State of the District announcement.
His message centered around this year's district theme "Together4Action - Because they deserve the best".
"I just believe strongly in the power of a city that I feel is large enough to have resources, large enough to be resourceful but small enough to be responsive, and has a good impact," Sims said. "It's because of the size of Macon and what I see in the city of Macon that this is a major part of my vision. Simply put, an increase in expectation is what I'm after."
Sims celebrated many district accomplishments, including an 87% graduation rate last year.
He also talked about how to make improvements and focused on building a sense of community by understanding the data, both good and bad.
Competitive salaries, capacity and retention and school improvements were also topics.
Over 100 leaders and business owners were in the crowd of today's announcement, including Wesley Fondal.
He is the executive director of Starbase Robins at the Museum of Aviation and said Sims stressed that Bibb County kids are in need of their community.
"I thought it very important that what Dr. Sims had to say about everybody getting involved with paving the way for kids," Fondal said.
Fondal said he liked Sims' observation that kids are living a different life now.
"As Sims said, students have the world at their hand which can be a curse but it can also be a blessing," Fondal said. "One of the things we try to do is help students see that world in their hand can be an important thing for them to help them to realize their dreams."
Tammie Collins is the Executive Vice President of United Way of Central Georgia, and she said she sees so much potential in the students she works with.
"Students can realize there's such a big world out there waiting on them," Collins said.
Collins said Sims is enthusiastic about working with kids, and she's looking forward to seeing his plans come true.
"He just had the crowd energized and gave us a lot of different opportunities for how we can engage as individuals and companies and everything with the district," Collins said.
Sims also focused on staff success, and Wesleyan president Meaghan Blight announced a partnership with the district.
It offers any Bibb County School District staff member $5,000 in scholarships toward any Wesleyan master's program.