State School Superintendent Woods Visits Toccoa

Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods was in Toccoa Monday visiting Toccoa Elementary and Stephens County High School.

Since taking office, Woods has made it a priority to visit schools around the state.

At Toccoa Elementary School, Woods learned the school’s fine arts program and met some students taking part in the school’s music program.

Despite a lack in state funding, Principal Chris Colwell said Toccoa Elementary has several full time fine arts teachers.

“We have a full-time music teacher, a full-time art teacher, full-time PE teacher and then we have a person who teaches keyboard skills so that works out well,” Colwell said. “Mr. Dockery who is our music teacher has a guitar class that he teaches from 8 to 8:30 every day. Some of the kids who really excel at guitar he teaches every day here at school.”

Woods then met several of the guitar students who gave him a lesson on a new way to read music called tablets.

Woods told the students he enjoyed meeting them and learning about their program from them. He said that doesn’t happen very often.

“I travel a lot in the state and I don’t get to see kids your age play the actual instruments,” Woods told the students. “Most of the schools are more traditional and have what they call recorders, which is a semi-flute. So, what you’re doing is pretty cool.”

After visiting Toccoa Elementary, Woods went on to visit Stephens County High School where he got a firsthand look at the school’s Career, Technical and Agriculture CTAE) program.