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The ADVANCE, January 6, 2021/Page 4A Stye Aiiuance MOCO BOE Renews Superintendent’s Contract Through 2023 Photo by John Koon STUDENT RECOGNIZED — Mikkelle Peters, a student at Vidalia High School, was recent ly recognized for her winning entry in the Voice of Democracy Scholarship contest. Presenting a check and certificate to Peters is Shirley Curl of the local VFW Auxiliary. Also shown are VHS Principal John Sharpe, far left, and Bobby George at right, George is the school's Honors World History and Dual Enrollment U.S. History teacher and has been involved in the essay contest since the late 90's. VCS Meets Challenges, Looks Ahead Renewal of Super intendent Hugh Right’s contract was among items the Montgomery County Board of Education tackled during its final meeting of the year on December 14. Meeting in the board offices in Mount Vernon, the board took action to extend Right’s contract through June 30, 2023, following his satisfactory evaluation. In other business, the board took the following action: In his report, Superin tendent Right covered the following topics: • Teacher in-service day on January 4 during for Google training. • Wrestling Duals Tournament hosted by Montgomery County High School set for January 15 and 16. • COVID-19 reports remain low and virtual stu dents number 85. • Elementary School Junior Beta members par ticipated in the Alabama/ Georgia Virtual Leader ship Summit. • The school system’s community libraries are being used and books are refilled each week. Library locations include Higgston MoCo continued from page 1A stitutional officers while Probate Judge Rubie Nell Sanders swore in other newly-elected and newly- reelected county officials. Raufold and Sanders ad ministered the oaths for one another. The ceremony was socially-distanced and the small group attending was masked in deference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge Raufold explained to those assembled that he had decided earlier to move the ceremony out of the courtroom to the grounds of the courthouse because of an uptick in the number of COVID cases in the community. The courthouse has recently been fitted with new electronic equipment which will allow court cases to be streamed live since the public will not be allowed inside. The public can go online to follow court proceedings. Your Mind ONLINE Got a complaint? Got a compliment? Call Your Mind On Line at 537-6397 and let us know what's on your mind. Quotes are printed exactly as they are called in and are not nec essarily factual, but rather, callers' opinions. Libelous, slanderous, personal at tacks, and unfounded ac cusatory or lengthy com ments will not be printed. Two calls per week per caller, and calls should not exceed 30 seconds, please. “When can we ex pect to get the vac cine in this area?" Park; Robinson/Quarter- man Park; Uvalda City Park; and J’mon Warnock Park (Tarrytown). “Higgs ton Park is the most used. We have added workbooks to the libraries that were donated by Walmart,” Right reported. • The school system’s Induction Class participat ed in a Google classroom workshop on December 10. Horace Austin, RESA Tech Leader, was the pre senter. • RESA hosted a din ner/talk on December 9 for area superintendents that was attended by six area representatives and senators. Topics of discus sion included funding, property taxes and the Teachers’ Retirement Sys tem. • Rubber has been in stalled on the school track and painted lines were completed during the Christmas break. • Donation letters have been mailed and responses are starting to come in for the system’s Eagle Acad emy which is scheduled to open in 2021. “We are writing instructional re source grants for the Acad emy. Teachers have applied to Donors Choose to cover The judge said that for the present, cases requiring ju rors will not be conducted, but he hopes that this may change by February. Taking their oaths December 29 were: Chad Renney, District 1, Tim Williamson, District 2, and Ginger Byrd Morris, Dis trict 3, Post 1, Montgom ery County Commission; Henry Price, District 1, Su- “If you voted for the democrats, you voted for a radical party to increase taxes and oppose our traditional beliefs and bring about a socialist communist govern ment that will take away your freedom regardless of your race. They used race to promote their agenda." “A great big thanks to the Altamaha EMC crews who restored power on a very nasty Christmas eve. Thank you." “Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Raphael, quit trashing our mailboxes. Enough is enough. Your lies are disturb ing." student furniture costs. Parents’ night has been scheduled for January 13 at 6 p.m. for elementary students and at 6:30 p.m. for middle school students who have been tapped for attendance at the Acad emy. The event will be held in the MBOE auditorium. • Coach Suttles and the system’s Hall of Fame Committee sponsored a special Hall of Fame Nom ination event at the last home football game during half-time. Nominees were Curtis Ryals, John Mar shall Peacock and Mayes Dobbins. The Hall of Fame Committee consists of Tim Suttles, Gabe Gay, Dr. Joe Brogdon, Peter Dees, Zelene Robinson, Johnnie Sneed and Dr. Scott Bar- row. • The Eagle Thrift Shop is open one day a week from 1 until 3:30 p.m. Donations may be made anytime during the week. • Basketball and wres tling team competitions have begun. • System employees were featured in the 2020 Montgomery County Magazine published by the Montgomery County De velopment Authority. san Beard, District 2, and Pete Ward, District 3, Post 1, Montgomery County Board of Education; Mont gomery County Sheriff Doug Maybin; Montgom ery County Tax Commis sioner Loretta Lane; Supe rior Court Clerk Tammy Foskey; and Montgomery County Coroner Laurie Holland. “Thank you so much for fixing the dip in the road in front of Bloomfield and Center Dr. But now we have a hump in the road that's like a ski-jump in Aspen, CO." “This is to the one who didn't like the Christmas parade in Lyons. You make sure you sit next year out cause we didn't miss you this year and we won't miss you next year either." “I see where the Altanta Falcons lost again. Maybe they need to call Stacey Abrams so she can slip them a few points in under the radar." By Rebekah Arnold Contributing Writer Through a year of un precedented challenges Hal Chesser served as Chairman of the Board of Vidalia City Schools. Soon, he will hand over this responsibility. VCS Board of Educa tion members rotate of ficer positions each year, as set by board policy. The term of office is Janu ary 1 through December 31. Chesser will rotate to Parliamentarian for 2021 and Tim Truxel will rotate to the role of Chairman. Julee Torrence will serve as Vice-Chairman, Bruce Asberry will be Treasurer, with Andy Blount as Assis tant Treasurer. These ap pointments were reported by Superintendent Dr. Garrett Wilcox at the De cember 8 meeting of the Board. From Chesser’s view, he knows overcoming the challenges took the whole team within the VCS sys tem. “I cannot say enough about our staff and faculty. They stepped up and went above and beyond the call, into unchartered territory. Our school administrators have done a great job pro viding support and lead ership for the staff in their buildings,” Chesser said. The beginning of the shut down in March re quired immediate atten tion for the students in at least two areas while they were at home for an unde termined time: instruction and nutrition. Chesser said, “Our teachers were flexible and adapted to virtual learn ing and worked extremely hard to make sure each student had what he or she needed to complete assignments at home and to stay on track as much as possible. The cafeteria staff came up with a plan to pro vide lunches to students from the beginning of the shut down until the end of the school year. They worked faithfully while the rest of school operations were shut down.” Additional responsi bilities were handled dur ing the months leading up to the startup of the 2020- 21 school year, again, with an uncertain time frame. This time was used well as the teachers engaged in their own instruction in technology and the CDC’s public health guidelines. “Our teachers had to learn to teach virtually and stepped up to the plate to do what they had to do.” Chesser explained. “Our teachers’ top priority is the safety of the students in the classroom while providing an environment suitable for learning and staying on track.” All personnel in the schools succeeded in adapting to new require ments. Plant operations, the custodial staff and the bus drivers have been at tentive to additional deep cleaning and sanitizing needs, he assured. “I am impressed and am immensely proud of everyone working togeth er to get our children back into an educational envi ronment safely,” Chesser concluded. The calendar for 2021- 2022 is being developed. The principals of Vidalia City Schools will review the calendar in the coming weeks, as well as the Su perintendents of Toombs, Treutlen and Montgomery Counties. The four school systems coordinate the calendar because students from each system also at tend classes together at the Southeastern Early College and Career Acad emy. The plan is that the proposed calendar will be ready for the Board’s con sideration at the January 2021 meeting. Assistant Superin tendent Ginger Morris reported to the Board that Sally D. Meadows El ementary School has been designated as a Promise School, one for which the Georgia Office of School Improvement gives fo cused support for improv ing learning effectiveness. With the Promise School status, a certain amount of funds are available for 2nd through 5th grades. This money has been used to add a math consultant for SDM Elementary. The math consultant is in the school once a week to monitor the math curriculum for meeting standards within the same grade level, and to ensure learning activities coordi nate from grade to grade. Teachers at SDM are very positive about the consultation and the progress in student’s math skills, Morris reported. The funds provided by the Promise School status also help with virtual instruc tion as well as in school les sons using Chrome books. Morris also noted that administrators are look ing at using programs for virtual learners that will allow teachers to help keep students on-task and to protect instructional time from inappropriate content. Currently, the school system’s Technolo gy Director Sabrina Wiggs must block certain sites that students shouldn’t access. With the use of a classroom management program, each classroom teacher will have the abil ity to monitor students’ computer activity and to keep them on class work. Two programs, each at a nominal fee per student, are being considered and one should be in place for system-wide use by mid- January. MRMC WELCOMES FIRST BABY OF 2021 — Every year a child has the chance to be recognized as the first born baby of the New Year. This year, that baby is Kaiser Jay Salem, born Friday, January 1, at 3:51 a.m, at Meadows Regional Medical Center in Vidalia. Kaiser weighed in at 6 pounds 7.8 ounces, and is 20 inches long, His par ents, Jada Childs and Treshan Salem, shown with Kaiser above, are overjoyed by the safe arrival of their new son. Photo by Deborah Clark SIGNS PAPERS - After she took the oath of office Mont gomery County Tax Commissioner Loretta Lane signs papers during a ceremony at Montgomery County Courthouse on December 29. Probate Judge Rubie Nell Sanders provides assistance.