- Hundreds of thousands of students will see some big changes to school safety and cell phone policies when they head back to class on Monday.
- Some school districts, including Gwinnett County, have installed high-tech systems designed to detect weapons on its campuses.
- In metro Atlanta, hundreds of new teachers have been hired, and many school districts are telling kids to turn off their cell phones and keep them out of sight.
Around 105,000 Cobb County students are heading back to school.
Last week, kindergarten and first-grade students had the chance to do a bus ride-along to help them get familiar with their bus routine, meet their bus driver, and ease some of the first-day nerves.
More than 250 new employees, including hundreds of new teachers, will greet students on the first day of class in Atlanta.
Earlier this year, the school district announced a pay increase for frontline employees, including bus drivers, custodians, paraprofessionals, and nurses. Those raises are in addition to the district’s 11% pay raise for teachers. APS Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson hopes to eventually raise the average teacher salary to $100,000.
The district says all APS employees will also receive step increases in pay.
As with previous years, Clayton County students will need to have clear bookbags when they head back to class.
In 2022, the district banned all backpacks through the end of the school year for safety reasons.
In DeKalb County, students will have to leave their phones and other personal electronic devices off during the school day.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the DeKalb County School District announced that it is expanding its Disconnect to Reconnect initiative across all of its elementary, middle, and high schools.
The policy change will be posted in classrooms and common areas.
(Photo by Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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