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Jones County School District

Excellence in Academics, Arts, & Athletics

Gifted

GIFTED

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Welcome to the Jones County School District’s Star Reach Gifted Education Page! Our program realizes that students with exceptional abilities need differentiated curricula that adhere to their unusually high potential. Students must be immersed into a multi-disciplinary environment that meets their individual needs, and at the same time, challenges them to attain their highest potential. Students must be given continual opportunities to interact with their intellectual peers in an environment that is flexible and fosters creativity and risk-taking. Teachers of the gifted provide guidance and support to these students to help them recognize their talents and abilities.

Gifted Staff

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    Missy Bufkin
    Director of Federal Programs; Gifted; Elementary School Improvement; Pre-K

    Email Missy Bufkin

  • A woman with curly gray hair and glasses looks directly at the camera.Grace Pugh
    Executive Assistant - Federal Programs

    Email Grace Pugh

GIFTED

  • STAR REACH MISSION

    It is the mission of the Jones County School District’s Star Reach Program to ensure that gifted children, who demonstrate unusually high potential, are provided with an appropriate education that is based upon their exceptional abilities. Students deemed as “gifted” will receive uniquely qualitatively educational experiences that are different than the regular education classroom.

  • This process involves students who are individually referred for gifted eligibility. A student may be referred by a parent, teacher, counselor, administrator, peer, self, or anyone else having reason to believe that the student might be intellectually gifted. The person initiating the referral shall sign the referral form and date it. Once the student is referred, the district personnel shall collect the data required to satisfy the referral criteria. Once a referral form has been initiated, signed, and dated, only the LSC or parents can stop the identification process.