About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2019)
EDUCATION THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17 - 23, 2019 • Page 11 BROOKHAVEN Mother and daughter receive BY TAYLOR ROBINS taylor@dekalbchamp.com Each year, schools honor teachers with Teacher of the Year awards. During the most recent awards ceremony a mother and her daughter, both DeKalb County School District employees, received awards from their respective schools. The DeKalb County School District banquet has held Nov. 10 at the World Congress Center. Rachel Elizabeth Petrucelli, a visual arts teacher at Evansdale Elementary, received the Teacher of the Year award. Petrucelli’s mother, Raylene Fruit Lowe, counselor at Briarlake Elementary and Hawthorne Elementary, received the Educational Support Personnel 11 of the Year award from Briarlake. “It’s kind of funny that we got it the same year,” Lowe said. Petrucelli is currently in her fourth year of teaching at Evansdale and Lowe has been with DCSD for 40 years. “Rachel is very into her job,” Lowe said. “She’s an art teacher but she goes way above and beyond. She doesn’t do arts and crafts. She teaches about theories of art and different artists. She does a lot.” Lowe started as a paraprofessional with DeKalb in 1978. She was a classroom teacher at Briarlake from 1981 until 1989. For 20 years Lowe was a counselor and assistant principal at Medlock Elementary School. She says that she has come “full circle” now that she is back at Briarlake as a counselor. Only those who have taught for at least three years are eligible to be nominated for the award. The mother and daughter recipients comprise a first of that combination for these honors from the DeKalb school system. A love for teaching and working with students runs in the family. According to the mother and daughter winners Lowe’s mother, Ruth Fruit, also served DeKalb County as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and area director before retiring. Together the three individuals have given more than 80 years of service to DeKalb County School District. “I guess we just all really enjoy kids and love helping others,” Lowe said. “People ask me all the time why haven’t I retired yet. I just love what I do every day. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I wasn’t at school every day and enjoying the kids.” Fruit was also in attendance at the banquet. PUBLIC NOTICE The public is hereby provided notice that the City Council of the City of Brookhaven may take up and consider, and may act upon, changes to the Charter of the City of Brookhaven pursuant to the authority of O.C.G.A. § 36-35.3. A copy of the Changes to be considered shall be on file in the office of the City Clerk for the City of Brookhaven and in the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of DeKalb County, as required by Code. A summary of the changes to be considered includes: 1. Amend Section 2.14 of the Charter to require that members appointed by the Council to the Planning Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Public Facilities Authority must be residents of the City of Brookhaven. 2. Amend Section 3.02 of the Charter to explicitly require the City Manager be appointed based on his or her executive or administrative qualifications and further permit and allow the City Manager’s contract to extend for 2 years, coinciding with each council election cycle. 3. Amend Section 3.03 of the Charter to clarify the reference of a pronoun in the section. 4. Amend Section 3.06 of the Charter to allow the Council to suspend or terminate the City Manager in accordance with the City Manager’s contract and to allow the appointment of an interim city manager in the event of the death of the city manager while in office. 5. Amend Section 3.07 to permit city manager to appoint an interim city manager in the absence of the city manager. 6. Amend Section 3.08 to remove the disqualification of a member of the General Assembly from serving as City Attorney. 7. Delete Section 3.10, that makes the Finance Director a mayoral appointment, and allow the City Manager to directly supervise and answer to the Mayor and Council for the financial health of the City. 8. Renumber Section 3.11 to 3.10 9. Renumber Section 3.12 to 3.11 and make explicit the power of the City Manager to manage and direct staff subject to the budget and the table of organization approved by the Council. 10. Amend Article VI of the Charter to remove language related to the referendum, approval, transition, and other administrative text from the Article. 11. Amend Section 6.02 to make the Charter Commission a mayoral appointment, with Council confirmation, and to direct the timeliness of Charter reviews into the future. It is the present intent of the Mayor and Council that an ordinance may be considered by the Council making these changes at two consecutive meetings on January 8 and January 22, 2019. If the proposed changes and ordinance are approved at each meeting, the changes will take effect immediately. education awards Raylene Lowe, left, and Rachel Petrucelli, right, recently won teaching awards. (Photo provided by Raylene Lowe) Caleb was born to teach. In fact, every kid he plays with leaves knowing a little more about something. One thing he doesn’t know yet is that his dream of being a professor can one day come true, because you play the Georgia Lottery. For the past 25 years, the Georgia Lottery and you have been helping our students reach their true potential. That gets an “A” in Caleb’s book. profe$9°r | Caleb galottery.com $20 BILLION TO EDUCATION • 1.8 MILLION HOPE SCHOLARS • 1.6 MILLION PRE-K KIDS
