Henry County Schools is making major investments in equipment and school furniture. Thanks to the district’s newly-established system of growth and replacement, new investments are occurring across the district’s classrooms, fine arts and athletic programs. The new upgrades touch practically every aspect of the school.
New Scoreboards and Equipment
With the return of Friday Night Football, residents will notice new scoreboards at a number of high school football stadiums. The new scoreboards are at Dutchtown, Eagle’s Landing, Locust Grove, Luella, Ola, Stockbridge and Woodland.
The work isn’t limited to new football scoreboards, but also scoreboards for other sports. So far, nineteen high school scoreboards and six middle school scoreboards have been replaced.
In addition, various sports equipment is being replaced. Equipment upgrades to date include the following:
- over 500 weight plates and 50 weight benches,
- 463 volleyballs,
- 146 footballs,
- 50 dozen baseballs,
- 63 dozen softballs,
- 409 football helmets and 750 Guardian helmet pads,
- 733 football shoulder pads,
- 15 cheerleading mats,
- 11 wrestling mats, and
- 504 track hurdles.
Finally, Eagle’s Landing and McDonough will be debuting new marching band uniforms this fall. Other band programs will follow in subsequent years.
Fall Media Day 2023
At Henry County Schools’ Fall Sports Media Day on July 25, coaches and student-athletes from across the district’s ten high schools mentioned the impact this work is having.
“The most amazing thing the Board of Education did was focus on the needs,” said Ola High head football coach Tom Causey. “They came to check and see what our needs were and fulfilled those needs – and then some. They’ve gone above and beyond for player safety, for things that are going to help our program grow and become competitive statewide. I [have] been doing this for 29 years…There are not many systems that do what they did for us this summer. We [are] greatly appreciative of the investment that will make an impact not only at Ola High School but all Henry County Schools.”
“As an athlete in Henry County Schools, I appreciate the board’s commendable efforts to provide new equipment to all schools and sports, enhancing our athletic experiences and opportunities for growth,” added Eagle’s Landing High student-athlete Mary Rozier.
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Furniture Investment
Beyond athletics, the district has launched a pilot program for full school furniture replacement. The pilot began this summer at three of the district’s oldest elementary schools: Fairview, Locust Grove and Oakland. The program will further expand next summer to two more elementary schools, one middle school and one high school.
Next, the district has invested in new STEM labs at all elementary schools. Other investments included robotics equipment for elementary schools, and new graphing calculators for all Algebra I courses. Upcoming work includes additional fine arts and career, technical, and agricultural education (CTAE) equipment.
Altogether, Henry County Schools has invested $24.4 million during the first two years of its strategic plan. This excludes additional investment in personnel costs. To learn more about the district’s strategic plan, visit the district website.
Featured image shows the new scoreboard at Eagle’s Landing High School. Henry County Schools photo. Portions of this article reprinted from Henry County Schools.
