Shown above during the “Tie Tying Ceremony” are Charla Jordan, Federal Programs Coordinator; Leo Branch, School Board President; Rev. Christopher Spencer, Director of Community Development, University of Alabama; Toice Goodson, Jr, Ninth Grade Academy Principal; Leona Morrow, Board Member Children’s Policy Council; Dr. James Carter, School Superintendent; DeShayla Steele, Juvenile Officer; Nigel Speights, Demarius Cockrell, Lataursa Jones and Ivan Peebles, Freshman Academy students and participants in the CPC Mentoring Program; Judge Lillie Osborne, President of CPC; and Dr. Shayla McCray, Student AT-Risk Coordinator. The Ninth Academy enrolled 109 students who participated in the Tie Tying Ceremony.

At the opening of the school year, August 8, 2016, Greene County School System launched its first-time Freshman Academy or Ninth Grade Academy, which serves as a transitional program for students moving from the middles school program.
On the first day of school, a special Tie Tying Ceremony was held for the Freshman Academy students. The ties were donated through the Greene County Children’s Policy Council Boys Passage to Manhood Mentoring Program. District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne serves as President. Community volunteers and school personnel were on hand to guide the Academy students in tying their ties.
The Academy students will be guided through an academic program focusing on career and college readiness. Students will receive individual counseling and guidance as they adjust to goal oriented scholastic achievement.
Superintendent James Carter explained that it is important that the 9th grade students just coming to high school are given special attention as they transition. “We determined that a special dress code for this class would be significant so the students would feel this special embrace and know that we intend to carry this throughout their high school tenure. We want students to enjoy school and be serious in working to achieve,” he explained.
The dress code for the Freshman Academy students include blue blazers, white shirts and maroon and gold ties. The blazers are not required until after Labor Day.