Bulloch County Schools opened for the 2025-2026 school year Friday with expectations for more than 11,000 students, and with some new measures for school safety and, at one location, student and employee health care.

Superintendent of Schools Charles Wilson met reporters at 9 a.m. inside Langston Chapel Elementary School, where a temporary version of a new, $1 million state grant-funded, school-based health center has been installed in a former faculty lounge area to serve students, faculty and staff at both LCES and adjoining Langston Chapel Middle School. The more permanent version of the health center is slated to be installed in a portable building between LCES and LCMS by January.

On the school safety front, the year’s biggest new commitment is being locally funded, with the school district expecting to spend about $500,000 this fiscal year in an agreement with the county government and Sheriff Noel Brown to place sheriff’s deputies as school resource officers, or SROs, at all 15 schools. Previously, as of last school year, 10 law enforcement officers were assigned to schools as resource officers, and nine more are to be added, Wilson said in an interview later Friday.

For the first time, Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office deputies will serve as resource officers at public schools within Statesboro’s city limits, including one each at Julia P. Bryant Elementary, Mattie Lively Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, and Sallie Zetterower Elementary and four at Statesboro High School, according to school district officials. Statesboro High previously had one SRO assigned by the Statesboro Police Department, and this will no longer be the case, so the new Sheriff’s Office contract represents the addition of three more resource officers at SHS, according to Wilson. Also, an additional deputy will be assigned to Southeast Bulloch High School, which previously had one, and one will be a “floater” SRO to travel among schools, he said.

Not all of these deputies were in place as of Friday, but Wilson said the Sheriff’s Office appears to be ahead of schedule in adding them.

“It sounds like what the Sheriff’s Department has been able to acquire the officers and train them up sooner than we thought they would be able to, which is good,” he  said.

The plan is funded in part by the county Board of Commissioners for the SROs’ service as regular deputies outside of the school year.

Originally, the school district staff planned to budget an additional $300,000 in the current fiscal year and $800,000 next fiscal year for the expanded SRO program, with the idea that only two of the nine officers would have started work in July, but with the other seven to start in January 2026. But in recent budget meetings he told the Board of Education the cost would be closer to $500,000 this year and $1 million for a full term next fiscal year.

That was part of the added cost considerations that, when set against a reduction in per-student formula funding from the state, led Wilson to propose either increasing the property tax millage rate for funding the schools or cutting about 125 teaching positions plus a few specialized jobs and closing some programs including the Transitions Learning Center alternative school. Although none of those cuts would have taken effect until next summer for the 2026-2027 school year, word of the discussion reached schools just as teachers were returning to work for the 2025-2026 term.

Good for morale

Then, in a special meeting Wednesday evening, the Board of Education voted 5-3 tentative approval of a 3-mill property tax increase.

So, as Wilson stood in the lobby at of Langston Chapel Elementary on Friday morning, a Savannah TV station’s reporter asked how these events had affected employee morale on the first day of school.

“We want our teachers, we want our employees, we want everyone to know that they can come to school and focus on our students and not worry about anything else,” Wilson said. “Our board showed the other night that we have a commitment to that, so I think we’re headed in the right direction, to put minds at ease and move forward with that stability in our financial future.”

He and the board, he said, had listened to public input and tried to take a balanced approach to make a decision reflecting their “commitment to our employees and our students in this community.” But he acknowledged the school system governance team still has “some things to work through stewardship-wise in terms of resources.”

‘Say Something’ system

One school safety measure coming to the Bulloch County Schools at reportedly little or no cost is the “Say Something” anonymous reporting system for students.  Operated by the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, the system allows students to report any warning signs or threats to themselves or their schools anonymously via a website, phone call, text message or mobile app. Under a no-charge contract with a starting date of Aug.  1, the school district’s Student Support and Wellness Department is coordinating the local launch, said BCS Public Relations Director Hayley Greene.

All reports will go directly to a 24/7 crisis center staffed by trained professionals who assess each tip and alert school officials, emergency services or both when needed, Greene said in a news release summary.

“In the coming weeks, students will receive training on how to recognize warning signs and how to use the Say Something system responsibly and effectively,” she said.

School-based Health Center

The new health center, currently and temporarily located inside Langston Chapel Elementary School on the side toward Langston Chapel Middle School,  will serve only students and employees of those two schools. Again, it is slated to be replaced by a modular building to be placed between LCES and LCMS.

A $1 million grant from the Georgia Department of Education is funding the construction and startup with the goal that the school-based center should become self-sustaining. It is being operated by East Georgia Healthcare Center – not the Statesboro hospital but the unrelated corporation that operates healthcare clinics throughout the region – under contract with the school district. East Georgia Healthcare will bill Medicaid, insurance or other payers for services.

Part of a statewide effort to expand healthcare access through public schools, the Langston Chapel health center joins Georgia’s  network of so far 123 such centers, according to a news release. Back in 2022, Gov. Brian Kemp announced a $125 million state investment  in the School-Based Health Center program, to help reach underserved communities. The Langston Chapel schools were chosen for Bulloch County’s foray into the program because they have the school district’s  highest percentage of students who are in foster care, Medicaid eligible, or experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness.

Reporters met school-based operations coordinator Jean Marie Hunter, family nurse practitioner Alania Greene and patient representative Regina Quarterman, all employed by East Georgia Healthcare Center at the school site.

Vaccinations – of the types routinely offered for children and generally requested or required for school eligibility – will be one of the services available, but always and only with parent permission, Hunter said.

“We’ll be in the vaccine application process starting on Monday, to get approved  by the state to have vaccines  for children so that children who need vaccines can actually come to the school-based health  center, get those vaccines and go right back to class so kids are not missing  school to go get vaccinated,” she said.

In fact, parental approval is required for children to visit the center for any reason, and parents are welcome to come with their children, Hunter added.

The Langston Chapel schools each employ school nurses, who will continue to provide basic health services for students independently but can make referrals to the center.

About 50 parents from Langston Chapel Elementary had already signed permission forms for their children to access the new clinic, said LCES Principal Al Dekle.

“I think it’s going to be great for us,” he said. “It’s going to keep more kids in school, for one thing.”

Dekle reported that school started smoothly Friday, with well over 90% of Langston Elementary’s approximately 685 enrolled students showing up, many escorted in by parents for the first day.

Some growth expected

Countywide, enrollment has continued to grow by only about 2% to 3% annually in recent  years, and the faster growth project from the Hyundai Motor Group-related regional industrial development has so far not materialized.

The Bulloch County Schools’ official enrollment Friday remained 10,954 students, the number from May. “We expect to meet and exceed that enrollment this school year,” said Hayley Greene.

School officials had already processed and enrolled 609 new students and another 225 new students’ applications were pending completion, for a total of 834 new students, she reported. But it’s also still possible that some previously enrolled students may not be back.

Nevils Elementary was one school experiencing larger than average growth, with reportedly about 530 students showing up Friday, as compared to 487 last spring, which would be an almost 9% increase. But the most significant increase there was in kindergarten, where Nevils has enrolled over twice was many children as last year, Greene said.

Expect traffic delays

With school buses running 115 routes and all the parent cars around the schools, no serious mishaps were reported, but there were some of the usual back-to school issues.

“Bus routes and car pick up lines did run very slow today as expected for the first day of school,” Greene emailed. “We ask parents to expect delays through next week until drop-off and dismissal routines settle in. We ask parents to look for the Transportation Help Desk Icon on all district and school webpages to report issues, ask questions, or make changes to your child’s transportation plan.”