Newspaper Page Text
(Eift Aiiuancg
The ADVANCE, February 17, 2021 /Page 3A
Literacy Strategies Focus
of Toombs BOE Session
By Rebekah Arnold
Contributing Writer
Literacy for early read
ers and vaccines for educa
tors was the focus of the
February Toombs County
Board of Education meet
ing. Superintendent Barry
Waller informed the Board
that plans for targeting
reading support for stu
dents using CARES Act
funds and the Literacy
for Learning, Living, and
Leading in Georgia Grant
(L4GA) were moving for
ward.
Waller said, “The data
shows we’ve got to teach
students to read.” Success
in other content areas de
pends upon reading. In
conversations and brain
storming with Curricu
lum Director Tonawanda
Irie, Instructional Coach
Brandon Hartley, and prin
cipals, the needs of the
students and targeted strat
egies to meet those needs
were laid out. The entire
literacy program will tar
get birth to 3rd grade. The
L4GA Grant and some of
the CARES Act money,
which is to be received in
the next six months, will
fund these plans.
For birth to four years
old, the L4GA Grant is
being used to refurbish an
old school bus to be a mo
bile library containing an
interactive literacy board,
chrome books and physical
books. The bus will travel
by a weekly schedule to
area daycares.
Pre-K students will
benefit from a partnership
with Toombs Family Con
nection, directed by Paige
Williamson, and a FERST
Readers program (https://
ferstreaders.org). Through
donated subscriptions,
children can receive a book
at home every month un
til they are five years old.
The pre-K classroom has a
tailored curriculum which
can be greatly enhanced by
the story books at home.
Targeted reading sup
port, using a scientifically-
based, structured program,
for kindergarten through
third graders who need to
catch up to grade level will
be available after school
for four days a week. The
L4GA funds will be used to
contract with retired teach
ers who will instruct the
students for an hour and
15 minutes. Snacks will be
offered during this time.
During the school day,
paraprofessionals will use
a push-in, pull-out model
with students needing
to raise reading levels. In
this model, the instructor
takes the instruction and
the reading materials to
the student into a general
classroom setting (push-
in). The pull-out instruc
tion generally occurs by
taking the student outside
the classroom.
Regarding the vac
cines, Waller shared re
sults of a survey of school
personnel who would
choose to receive the CO-
VID-19 vaccination when
it becomes available in the
tier lb roll-out for teach
ers. About 50% of school
personnel said they would
receive the vaccination.
School nurses have begun
registering those who said
yes, although Meadows
Region Medical Center
has advised that it could be
April or May before the lb
tier of vaccinations will be
available.
Board members ques
tioned why 50% of the staff
doesn’t want to take the
vaccine. Although there
are many reasons, Waller
said the majority surveyed
believe it is too early in
the use of the COVID-19
vaccine to fully know its
effects and its undesirable
effects.
School System Attor
ney Tom Everett advised
Waller that the Board
would need to approve
the declaration of the old
school board building lo
cated on East Wesley Av
enue as surplus property
in order to advertise the
sale of the property, and to
accept or reject bids. The
Board approved the dec
laration, and Everett will
move forward with adver
tising the sale.
Waller reported that
he and Johnny Jones, who
was in attendance, had an
encouraging conversation
as they recently toured the
school system’s Ag Center.
The discussion was about
how the community can
support the improvement
and the growth of the agri
culture department and of
FFA. Waller said, “I want
to thank Mr. Johnny for
his longtime commitment
to helping the Ag Depart
ment.”
Waller shared with the
Board that he enjoyed at
tending the FFA hog show
recently hosted at the Ag
Center. Several area stu
dents participated in the
show, and local farmers
also attended. Also, the
high school wrestling team
became area champions for
the 8th year in a row. Waller
said, “That is a pretty good
accomplishment for our
wrestling team, and the fu
ture is bright for that team.”
Are
Coming
Include your
childrens photo
in The Advance
Kids Issue
2021.
It's FREE.
Bring your photo
by The Advance
office, 205 East
1st St. or email
to gailadvance @
gmail.com
Include the
childrens names
and ages, parents
names, and
grandparents
names.
DEADLINE MARCH 4
Call 537-3131 for more information.
www.theadvancenews.com
March 15 Last Day to
Complete Enrollment for 2021
Agriculture Risk Coverage,
Price Loss Coverage Programs
Call Today About
2021 Crop Year
Eligibility
Agricultural producers
who have not yet enrolled
in the Agriculture Risk
Coverage (ARC) or Price
Loss Coverage (PLC)
programs for 2021 must
do so by March 15. Pro
ducers who have not yet
signed a 2021 enrollment
contract or who want to
make an election change
should contact their local
USDA Farm Service Agen
cy (FSA) office to make
an appointment. Program
enrollment for 2021 is re
quired in order to partici
pate in the programs, but
elections for the 2021 crop
year are optional and oth
erwise remain the same as
elections made for 2020.
“FSA offices have mul
tiple programs competing
for the time and attention
of our staff. Because of the
importance and complexi
ties of the ARC and PLC
programs, and to ensure
we meet your program de
livery expectations, please
do not wait to start the en
rollment process,” said FSA
Acting Administrator Steve
Peterson. “I cannot empha
size enough the need to be
gin the program election
and enrollment process
now. This process can be
completed when applying
for other FSA programs as
well.”
ARC and PLC provide
income support to farmers
from substantial drops in
crop prices or revenues and
are vital economic safety
nets for most American
farms.
Although 1,033,310
contracts have been com
pleted to date, this repre
sents less than 59% of the
more than 1.7 million con
tracts anticipated by the
Agency. By enrolling soon,
producers can beat the
rush as the deadline nears.
Producers who do not
complete enrollment by
close of business local time
on Monday, March 15, will
not be enrolled in ARC or
PLC for the 2021 crop year
and will be ineligible to
receive a payment should
one trigger for an eligible
crop.
ARC and PLC con
tracts can be emailed,
faxed or physically signed
and mailed back to FSA.
Producers with level 2
eauthentication access
can electronically sign
contracts. Service Center
staff can also work with
producers to sign and se
curely transmit contracts
electronically through two
commercially available
tools: Box and OneSpan.
You can learn more about
these solutions at farmers,
gov/mydocs. Producers
may also make arrange
ments to drop off signed
contracts at the FSA coun
ty office. Please call ahead
for local mailing or drop off
information and options
for submitting signed con
tracts electronically.
Producers are eli
gible to enroll farms with
base acres for the follow
ing commodities: barley,
canola, large and small
chickpeas, corn, crambe,
flaxseed, grain sorghum,
lentils, mustard seed, oats,
peanuts, dry peas, rape-
seed, long grain rice, me
dium- and short-grain rice,
safflower seed, seed cotton,
sesame, soybeans, sunflow
er seed and wheat.
Yield Data and Web-
Based Decision Tools
Available
FSA recently updated
the annual and benchmark
yields for ARC/PLC pro
gram years 2019, 2020 and
2021. This data is useful to
producers in choosing to
participate in either ARC
or PLC.
For added assistance
with ARC and PLC deci
sions, USDA partnered
with the University of Illi
nois and Texas A&M Uni
versity to offer web-based
decision tools to assist pro
ducers in making informed,
educated decisions using
crop data specific to their
respective farming opera
tions. Tools include:
Gardner-farmdoc Pay
ment Calculator, the Uni
versity of Illinois tool that
offers farmers the ability
to run payment estimate
modeling for their farms
and counties for ARC-
County and PLC.
ARC and PLC Deci
sion Tool, the Texas A&M
tool that allow producers
to analyze payment yield
updates and expected pay
ments for 2019 and 2020.
Producers who have used
the tool in the past should
see their username and
much of their farm data
will already be available in
the system.
Crop Insurance
Considerations
Producers are remind
ed that enrolling in ARC or
PLC programs can impact
eligibility for some crop in
surance products. Produc
ers who elect and enroll
in PLC also have the op
tion of purchasing Supple
mental Coverage Option
(SCO) through their Ap
proved Insurance Provider.
Producers of covered com
modities who elect ARC
are ineligible for SCO on
their planted acres.
Unlike SCO, RMA’s
Enhanced Coverage Op
tion (ECO) is unaffected
by participating in ARC
for the same crop, on the
same acres. You may elect
ECO regardless of your
farm program election.
Upland cotton farmers
who choose to enroll seed
cotton base acres in ARC
or PLC are ineligible for
the stacked income protec
tion plan (STAX) on their
planted cotton acres.
More Information
For more information
on ARC and PLC includ
ing web-based decision
tools, visit farmers.gov/
arc-plc.
All USDA Service
Centers are open for busi
ness, including those that
restrict in-person visits
or require appointments.
All Service Center visi
tors wishing to conduct
business with NRCS,
Farm Service Agency, or
any other Service Center
agency should call ahead
and schedule an appoint
ment. Service Centers that
are open for appointments
will pre-screen visitors
based on health concerns
or recent travel, and visi
tors must adhere to social
distancing guidelines. Visi
tors are also required to
wear a face covering dur
ing their appointment. Our
program delivery staff will
continue to work with our
producers by phone, email,
and using online tools.
More information can be
found at farmers.gov/coro-
navirus.
Visit farmers.gov/ser
vice-center-locator to find
location and contact infor
mation for the nearest FSA
county office.
WE’RE HERE
AND READY TO
SEE YOUR
PATIENTS!
CHEMOTHERAPY
INFUSION
MEDICAL ONCOLOGY
RADIATION ONCOLOGY
One Meadows Parkway
Vidalia, GA 30474
meadowshealthcancercenter.cor