South Putnam ready to embark on 'exciting' school year

As the 2024-25 school year kicks off, South Putnam superintendent Dr. Corey Smith cannot stop smiling. 

The reason?

As he looks around his district, he sees nothing but excitement and reasons to be proud. 

From new turf and a track surface to construction about to begin on a fieldhouse project to roofs and parking upgrades, Smith has much to be excited about as he gears up to welcome faculty, staff and students back to his campus.

"It really is an exciting time. There is a lot of activity and we call it the year of positive disruption at South Putnam. You will have to bear with us, it will be an inconvenience for the next 12 months, but it will be exciting," Smith told Giant FM during an appearance on Putnam People last week.

South Putnam closed out the project it began two years ago, which was mainly work to restrooms, HVAC and locker rooms. From there, the district went to its track and turf project at South Putnam High School and will then go to the fieldhouse project. 

"We are ready for Friday night lights. The fieldhouse is staged to begin August 15. The fieldhouse is two brand new courts, new locker rooms, new restrooms and a lot of storage for our PE department. It is not just a sports facility, it is all education based," said Smith. 

Smith said there is also a lot of activity taking place at the roofs across the district. He said the district was able to get four roofs done this summer. 

"Almost all the roofs in South Putnam will be under warranty for the next 20-30 years," Smith. 

While there has been a lot of work taking place, Smith said his district was not worried about weather concerns. 

"We had very minor issues and they were handled within 24 hours. I have been very pleased with all of our contractors. It's about the partners you are working with and so far, everything is either on or ahead of the timelines," Smith said. 

When it comes to the upcoming school year, Smith said consistency has been huge.

"We build on our strengths. We have a great staff returning with very minimal turnover. The staff is amazing, and we have some great programs," Smith said. 

One of those programs is a new all-day preschool program, which Smith said the response has been huge.

"We are about to start phase two of that, and, hopefully, by Labor Day, we can have a second cohort of preschool. We are very aggressively working on that at Fillmore Elementary. We know there is a community need, and we want to meet that need," Smith said. 

In addition, South Putnam is now recognized as an Early College School, something Smith is exceptionally proud of. 

"There are a lot of boxes to check for that. We are very excited to launch our South Putnam Early College for the first time," he said. 

As for what Smith is most looking forward to, it is seeing students return in full force Wednesday. 

"We have had great scores in the spring and we want to continue to build on those strengths. The excitement is there and our enrollment is the largest it has been since I have been here. We will continue to grow and adapt to meet the community's needs," Smith said.