Bay District Schools wrap up successful school year

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – As the old song says, school’s out for the summer, at least here in Bay County.

Students attended a half day of classes today before the final bell rang.

Bay district school buses made their final routes Friday afternoon.

More than 28,000 students from 45 different schools had an early release. They said goodbye to their teachers and friends until they meet again on August 12.

Faculty and staff said they are proud of all the hard work students put in this year.

“Very proud of all of our young students and what they’ve done and for our faculty and staff that have poured into them. It’s been awe-inspiring for me as an outsider coming in and seeing what they’ve done,” Bay District Schools Superintendent Mark McQueen said.

While students and teachers will be enjoying their vacation time, the administration will be hard at work planning for the next school year.

This was Superintendent Mark McQueen’s first year.

He said he has learned a lot and looking to apply those skills for the future.

“I’ve seen some of the challenges that we have. We’re striving to be better and be leaner and more efficient and more effective so that we can put more resources into the classroom,” McQueen said.

McQueen said he’d like to improve the amount of space available for incoming students, recruiting teachers, and training personnel.

Other administrators are trying to improve on what will happen in that space.

“We’ve seen some nice jumps in our ELA and biology scores but we have some work to do in math and social studies. And so we’re just going to develop our plans and work hard this summer in preparation for next year. And I’m confident that we will be standing on some more success next year as we brag about the scores that we feel are coming,” Bay High Principal Blythe Carpenter said.

More than 1,700 seniors graduated this year.

Most underclassmen were successfully promoted to the next grade level.

“It’s just going to be a lot of work, but if we just persevere, we got it. We’ll be fine. Enjoy all your high school years because they go by very fast,” Bay High student Kelsey Fields said.

For students who need a little extra academic help, summer school classes will start on June 4th.

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