By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer 

PELHAM— When school starts back up Aug. 12, Pelham City Schools will have about 35 new teachers, counselors and media specialists, getting to know the district. To provide those new hires some insight into Pelham, the schools hosted an orientation session at Valley Intermediate School Aug. 4.

“It was a great opportunity for new teachers to meet each other and many staff (members) from the central office,” said Dr. Elisabeth Davis, director of curriculum and instruction. “They were welcomed by Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield and Board of Education President Rick Rhoades. We made the event fun with games and icebreakers to introduce them to Pelham and our school system.”

The day was broken up into morning and afternoon sessions, providing information relating to the system and processes in Pelham, the instructional resources and curriculum initiatives, technology support, professional development and more.

Each of the 31 teachers submitted a reflection on completion of the orientation, and Davis said the feedback was “overwhelmingly positive.”

“Teachers appreciated the information, the supports, the breakout sessions based for elementary and secondary teachers and the presence of the Central Office and administrators,” she said.

Teachers were trained on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, the Equip Rubric for effective lesson plan writing, respecting cultural differences and Pelham City Schools’ technology initiatives.

Pelham City Schools will be working with an additional 1,500 devices in the district, and will be implementing academies for the first time this year. Academies are classes with a specific focus, such as law, engineering or medicine, and draws on real-world professionals to design the curricula.

“They had great fun learning about “What’s New in PCS” through Family Feud game with a fierce competition that led to the Green team stealing the winning points with their answer about our new academies,” Davis said. “The feedback indicated that they appreciated all of the information because it all pertained to classroom instruction and correlated to their new job.  They are excited about the upcoming school year and are a great group that we’re proud to have in Pelham.”

For more information about Pelham City Schools, visit Pelhamcityschools.org.