PRINCIPAL'S WELCOME

Dear BASA Community,

As our campus has grown and evolved over the past year, I have been thrilled to see the Blazer culture develop.  Our community as a whole is unique to any other school in the area and seeing the passion our students exhibit in all aspects of their lives is a true joy to me.  I cannot wait to see BASA continue to thrive in the 2021-2022 school year, its second. 

First, I want to personally assure you that BASA is committed to developing and protecting an equitable school community in which all students are respected, supported, and challenged to succeed. We believe that racism is unacceptable in any form, and we are committed to leveraging education as a positive force in all our students’ lives.

I would also like to take this opportunity to share three guiding principles that we stand for as a school:

• Connection: We fully understand that relationships are critical for everything that we hope to accomplish together. In that vein, we are excited to launch our “Crew” program in which students will meet in small groups each day to develop connections, set and monitor goals, and engage in social-emotional learning. We believe this will ultimately serve as the heartbeat of our school community. More information about this program will be coming soon.
• Clarity: In order to best serve our students, we need to be clear about what knowledge and skills are most important for their future success. We recently met with representatives from Lanier Technical College, Northeast Georgia Health System, The University of Georgia, and Georgia Institute of Technology to plan partnerships that will benefit students. We are very excited to have representatives from each of these organizations, and more, working alongside students and teachers at BASA.
• Challenge: We will challenge students to think at high levels and go beyond the minimum expectations. We want our students to quickly develop an “above and beyond” mindset. Our vision for BASA graduates is to grow into the future leaders of our community, state, and nation. In addition to learning important leadership skills, our students will have the opportunity to apply this learning in school and community-based service projects.

Each year at BASA, we will develop a theme for our school community to rally around. This year’s theme is Sparkle and Shine.  I call on all of our students, staff, and community to find the space at BASA which only they can occupy, and to truly shine in that space.  Your individual sparkle is what makes BASA shine as a whole. 

BASA is a very special place, and I am proud to continue leading this outstanding group of individuals.  Let us go forward in this year and build upon the blazing BASA spirit which we sparked last year. 

And, we can’t forget…. Go Blazers!

Dale Simpson, Ed.D.
Principal