Editor’s note: The following is the fifth in a series of articles previewing the upcoming school year at each public and private school in Athens and Limestone County.

School name: Cedar Hill Elementary School

Principal: Glen Garner

Amount of time as principal: Beginning sixth year

Grades: Pre-K-5

Total number of students: 620

Total number of teachers: 41

Total number of support staff: 67

New programs: “We’re going to in our lower grades with Phonics First, a multisensory language-based program that emphasizes foundational skills for beginning readers,” Garner said. “Our teachers also received additional AMSTI (Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative) training this summer. In the upper grades, we’ll utilize the Achievement Series and target STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math).”

What makes Cedar Hill Elementary special: “The relationships teachers form with students and parents,” he said. “Our community as a whole is very supportive of our school and we’re a close-knit group.”

Primary objectives for 2017-2018: “Just raising our reading scores on standardized tests is something we’ve been striving for in upper grades and laying that foundation in the lower grades will pay off. We’ll also target attendance this year and getting (students) excited about coming to school. We do an ‘Every Minute Counts’ campaign ever year; we want parents to know the value of sending their kids to school.”

What the principal is looking forward to: “I’m just looking forward to students coming back, building new relationships and working with the leadership and coaching teams. We want to build and strengthen our relationships with everybody.”