Monday night marked the district's first graduation ceremony of the week, and there's seven more planned tonight all over Gwinnett County.

Friends and family of more than 100 students from Phoenix High School cheered on their young graduates during a ceremony Monday night -- the local school district's first graduation of the year.

The following students from Gwinnett County Public Schools received military appointments.

The following is the Gwinnett County Public Schools lunch menu for the week of May 20.

Kroger's Atlanta Division which includes Georgia, South Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Northern Alabama will donate a total of $168,300 in grants to 79 Atlanta city, metro-Atlanta and surrounding area schools as part of its 2012-2013 "Earning Plus Learning" program.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced more than 15,000 finalists for its annual $2,500 award. Among them: about a dozen local students.

Zachary Bellier and Naomi McAllister go to different schools. They have different friends. Different interests. They lead entirely different lives. But both have something in common: they have supportive families, a positive outlook and both have overcome personal obstacles as they prepare to graduate this week from Gwinnett County Public Schools.

The following is a list of the valedictorians and salutatorians in Gwinnett County.

Twenty-one graduation ceremonies will take place throughout Gwinnett County Public Schools next week. MOre than 10,500 students will cross the stage to receive their high school diploma.

Georgia Gwinnett College graduated more than 270 students Friday during its spring commencement.

 Cobb resident Monty S. Levy sent me this column on the school tax exemption extended to seniors in his county. He describes himself as "a recovering real estate attorney.'  He is now an investment sale broker focusing on hotel real estate.
By Monty S. Levy
I just ...

I had to share this release from Spelman College about its twin co-valedictorians. Congrats to Kristie and Kirstie Bronner:
Identical twins Kirstie and Kristie Bronner, C’2013, have been named co-valedictorians for the Spelman College Class of 2013. With a 4.0 GPA, the Bronners are the first twins to receive ...

I continue to hear from teachers about the difficulty of the state’s new End of Course Test in coordinate algebra.  In its debut year, the test reflects the higher rigor infused into math by the state’s adoption of the Common Core State Standards.
I am hearing that the 2013 spring ...

Judy Craft is a Gwinnett County resident who served on the State Resolutions Committee at the state GOP convention in Athens this past weekend representing the 7th Congressional District.
She wrote this piece in response to the failure of the GOP convention to take up a resolution opposing the Common ...

The Atlanta school board is having a "Special Legislative Meeting" today at 5. On the agenda are the adoption of a tentative budget and approval of a resolution for waiver of the state maximum class sizes.  (Final vote on the budget would come June 3.)
While such class-size waivers ...

Here are some passages from President Barack Obama’s commencement address today at Morehouse College.  Link here  for the full speech, which is worth sharing with your students and your children:
Excerpts of Obama's address:
I see some good looking hats on the moms and grandmas here today. Which ...

This seems an extreme way to avoid telling your parents that you failed a college course:  "I was kidnapped."
The AJC has a story about a Johns Creek student who resorted to faking his own kidnapping to dodge having to explain a failing college grade to his parents.
I know ...

A veteran music educator in Pennsylvania, teacher B.C. Tozer recently self published a book about his philosophy of teaching,  “The Four C's of Successful Teaching: Consistency, Contingency, Compassion and Courage.”  I thought this essay he wrote based on his book and sent to the AJC was interesting and wanted to ...