With the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024, we want to ensure everyone is well-informed about our procedures to guarantee the safety of all our students.  While Holmes County is not in the path of totality, our area may still experience partial eclipse conditions.

No students will be permitted to watch the eclipse outside. Safety is our priority. We will be using this event as a teaching and learning opportunity and teachers will have access to a NASA live stream of the event if they choose to share it with their students.

All outdoor activities will be moved inside during the eclipse timeframe (12:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.)

Bus drivers are provided with safety information to help ensure the children have a safe journey home.

Schools will hold students inside until the latest possible time for dismissal.

Parents always have the option to pick their children up. Please ensure the designated person is named in the Parent Portal for pick-up and that the parent/guardian is honoring the school's previously posted early checkout windows and procedures. Absences will follow normal procedures.

All after-school activities will begin as scheduled AFTER 3:30 p.m.

If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact your child's principal. Thank you for your support as we strive to enjoy this memorable event in the safest manner possible for our students. 

This week, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released school grades for the 2022-23 school year.  As a part of Florida’s first-in-the-nation transition to using progress monitoring, grades for the 2022-2023 school year serve as a baseline and carry no negative consequences. These grades provide a starting point for future achievement for our schools.

The new grades are based on schools' performance in various achievement components.  For elementary schools, those components are English, math and science components. Middle schools have those components, plus social studies and a middle school acceleration component. High schools are graded on English, math, science, and social studies components, plus a graduation-rate component and a "college and career acceleration" component.

All Holmes County Schools received a school grade of either “B” or “C” for 2022-23.  Both Bonifay K-8 and Holmes County High improved by a letter  grade to “B” status.  Ponce de Leon High School and Poplar Springs School maintained their “B” status.  Four of the six schools received a grade of “B”, but in spite of this, overall the district received a grade of “C”, based on the most recent scoring scale provided by DOE.  Last year’s scale would have placed the district as a “B.”  

Superintendent Brown stated, “While we are excited to see this improvement in our overall score, we are not satisfied with this score.  Our goal is to make Holmes District Schools an “A” district even as we continue to chase the changing scale scores set by the state.”

Schools have just completed Progress Monitoring #2.  We will be evaluating scores and growth demonstrated between PM 1 and 2, and revising instruction to meet academic needs as indicated by the progress monitoring results.