The Advance. (Vidalia, Ga.) 2003-current, September 27, 2023, Image 5

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The Advance., September 27, 2023, Image 5

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Newspaper Page Textgfre Aiiuancg The ADVANCE, September 27, 2023/Page 5A MCBOE Approves Community Partnerships By Makaylee Randolph Staff Writer mrandolphadvance@gmail.com Partnering with entities within the community for the betterment of students within the area was a hot topic at the Montgomery County Board of Educa tion meeting on Monday September 18, as the Board approved partnerships with the Ohoopee Regional Li brary System and Brewton- Parker College. Board members agreed to allow the Ohoopee Re gional Library System to provide every student with library cards through the PINES Library Access for Youth (PLAY) cards. Ac cording to Library System Director Cameron Asbell, these cards will give stu dents a public library ac count based on their stu dent number at their school; this access will let students access all digital library re sources for free, as well as check out 5 books or mov ies with no overdue fees and two renewals. Students can also use this account to use computers at a library within the Ohoopee Re gional Library System for up to 3 hours per day, pending a parent’s written agreement. “We are not trying to take away from your school media centers in any way,” Asbell emphasized to the Board. “We just know how much digital content can cost and want to help en hance those media resourc- es. BPC Nursing The Board also ap proved to partner with Brewton-Parker College to allow nursing students to shadow the school nurses at each campus. “Last year, we started our first nursing co hort,” Director of School of Nursing Debbi Bryarly told the Board. “Part of nursing education is for students to work in a clinical setting. A lot of that is done in a hos pital, but there is also a lot more to nursing than just working in a hospital. So, another part of those clinical experiences is working with community-based nurses and seeing what else there is out there for nursing stu dents once they graduate for them to go into besides hospital nursing if that’s not what they want to do.” Brylarly said that school nurses are included under the category of “communi ty-based nurses;” thus, al lowing students to utilize the school nurses’ offices as clinical settings was an ex cellent option to broaden students’ horizons of career options. These nursing stu dents will not administer any care to the students who enter the school nurses’ of fices, but will merely shad ow the nurses. Extension Agent Board members also renewed their contract with the University of Georgia to help fond the Montgomery County Extension Agent, whose salary is paid by com bined efforts of UGA, the Montgomery County Board ofEducation, and the Mont gomery County Commis sion. The Board’s portion of the salary is $10,000 plus benefits. Action Items In addition to these community partnerships, the Board approved the annual Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) budget, which to tals $15,616. Seven buses were de clared as surplus to enable them to be sold, which will save the district over $6,500 per year in insurance costs. Several Bard air condi tioning units were approved to be purchased to replace outdated units at the Mont gomery County Elemen tary School and Little Eagle Learning Center campuses. Currently, the units in place at the locations are almost 20 years old, and can be used for parts once they are uninstalled. The purchased units include 12 3-ton units and 8 4-ton units, totaling $131,300. These units are currently in stock, and are expected to arrive in 16-18 weeks. Superintendent Stan Rentz informed the Board that a $7,000 of safety grant money that was received over the summer will be used to purchase security cameras to install within the district’s bus fleet, and that an additional $10,000 of Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) will fund a GPS system, which will not only help substitute driv ers to efficiently drive their routes, but will also allow administrators to be able to locate the buses at any mo ment. Superintendent’s Report During his report, Rentz also told the board members that the school year was almost 25% com plete, and that Fall Break would be coming up on Oc tober 6 and 9. In addition, he shared that the school’s softball and cross country programs were currently thriving, as softball pitchers Shelley Conner and Marley Bell had struck out a total of 98 bat ters within 12 games, and 5 softball players - Conner, Bell, Bailey Fountain, Erin Adams, and Trinity Wide- man - all had batting aver ages over .300. Meanwhile, Cross Country Runner Tulsi Patel came in 1st place at a meet on Saturday, Sep tember 16, while Runner Yaribeth Ortiz came in 3rd at a recent meet at Bulloch Academy. Rentz also in formed the Board that the athletic department had purchased 36 cushioned chairs with the school logo on them to utilize for basket ball games, wrestling meets, and other events. He stated that the Montgomery County High School senior one-on-one meetings with Principal Scott Barrow to update in dividualized graduation plans had been completed, and that Barrow was meet ing weekly with 10 seniors at risk of not graduating to ensure they were staying on track. The junior one-on- one individualized gradua tion plan meetings will be held this week. Rentz informed board members that the 20-min ute Teacher of the Year ob servations were completed on Wednesday, September 20, as teachers from Tattnall County Schools, Treutlen County Schools, andVidalia City Schools came to evalu ate the teachers. The Teach er of the Year and Support Person of the Year Annual Breakfast will be held on Friday, October 13, where the system-wide Teacher of the Year will be announced. According to Rentz, As sistant Superintendent Bev erly Faircloth, Instructional Coach Emily Cartwright and Instructional Coach Leigh Anne Helms have began a literacy leader insti tution, which will provide professional learning devel opment in preparation for the installation of House Bill 538, which focuses on early literacy standards. Montgomery County Elementary School had their most successful Coca- Cola fundraising sale to date, Rentz said, as over $35,000 of products were sold. Also, he shared that Principal Eric Burns had informed him that over 450 grandparents had attended the Grand- Please see MCBOE page 10A Growth continued from page 1A may be particularly attrac tive for industrial develop ment due to its growing economy, access to trans portation networks, in creasing port activity, skilled workforce, and col laborative culture.” He said that the Au thority has been working to find more industrial space for the last two years, as only a single parcel current ly is available for industrial space. “When we started looking, we knew we would be out of land very soon. When we’re out of land, we’re out of room for indus try growth. So, that really drove us to start looking.” Authority Executive Director Michele Johnson noted, “Most industries are currently looking for spaces with at least 50 acres for their industrial sites,” She also stated that this ac quisition of land comes in preparation for anticipated further development. Many industries that have gained interest in the area because of the developing Hyundai Plant in Bryan County and the growth of the Savannah Port now have options in Toombs County. The Authority, along side government and util ity partners, will immedi ately begin to work on the development of the site, as they create transportation and utility infrastructure to meet anticipated future in dustrial demand. The park will include multiple prop erty types, including spaces built-to-suit and speculative development. “Industrial parks don’t fill up overnight,” Authority Prospect & Park Commit tee Chairman Trent Wil liams remarked. “These are big projects. They require a lot of time, nurturing, and relationship building. The acquisition process actually took several years, but that whole process can really begin now that we have the land.” Johnson emphasized, “We are making the most of a great opportunity. With this acquisition, Toombs County will continue to provide companies with strategic location options. We look forward to work ing with economic develop ment partners in growing jobs and prosperity in our community.” From the Record THE BLOTTER These are the reported arrests from the Toombs County Sheriff's Office, the Vidalia and Lyons police departments, and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office for the past week. Incidents are taken directly from police files. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty. In Lyons... • Tyler Austin Long, of Lyons, was arrested on Septem ber 5 and charged with Probation Viola- tion-Misd. • Staci Leigh Wil liamson, of Vidalia, was arrested on Sep tember 5 and charged with Driving While License Sus pended or Revoked (First). • Jiyone Kair Jo seph, of Vidalia, was arrested on Septem ber 5 and charged with Criminal Trespass (Motor Vehicle). • Jimmy Ray Ray, of Lyons, was ar rested on September 8 and charged with No Insurance 1st, No Tag. • Jose Pasqual, of Lyons, was arrested on September 10 and charged with Criminal Trespass. • Donterrious Ant- wan King, of Lyons, was arrested on Sep tember 11 and charged with Driving While License Sus pended or Revoked (First), Obstruct Hin der Law Enforcement Officer, Possession of Marijuana Less Than Ounce. • Cierra White, of Reidsville, was ar rested on September 16 and charged with Driving While License Suspended or Re voked (First), Expired Tag. • Steven Paul Sanders, of Collins, was arrested on Sep tember 21 and charged with No In surance-1 st. In Toombs County... • Caroline Chan nel, of Vidalia, was arrested on Septem ber 18 and charged withProbation Viola tion-Misdemeanor-2 counts. • Joseph Gutier rez, of Lyons, was ar rested on September 22 and charged with Criminal Trespass. • Jason Hatt- away, of Vidalia, was arrested on Septem ber 21 and charged with Probation Viola tion-Felony. • Jermairah Hol land, of Clearmont, was arrested on Sep tember 22 and charged with Proba tion Violation-Felony. • Terrell Hurston, of Collins, was ar rested on September 19 and charged with TCDC-Out of County Hold. • Loquacious Jackson, of Vidalia, was arrested on Sep tember 19 and charged with Proba tion Violation-Fel ony-2 counts. • Haley Johnson, of Mt. Vernon, was arrested on Septem ber 21 and charged with Probation Viola tion-Felony. • Ambrose Kend rick, of Lyons, was ar rested on September 20 and charged with Possession of Firearm or Knife During Cer tain Crimes, Burglary 2nd Degree. • Bradley Lorack, of Collins, was ar rested on September 20 and charged with Failure to Maintain Lane, Driving While License Suspended or Revoked-Misd. In Montgomery County... • Stephanie Ma rie Campbell, of Alma, was arrested and charged with Seat Belt Violation, Failure to Maintain Lane, Possession of Schedule IV Con trolled Substance, Original Container, DUI/Drugs, Possession of Drug Related Ob jects. • Brenton Hunter McDaniel, of Ailey, was arrested and charged with Aggra vated Cruelty to Ani mals. • Katrina Lynn Bargeron, of Mount Vernon, was arrested and charged with Serious Injury by Vehi cle, DUI, Stopping and Yielding. • Timothy Dustan Faulk, of Uvalda, was arrested and charged withSpeed- ing, Driving with Sus pended License, Pos session of Metham- phetamine, Posses sion of Drug Related Objects, Fleeing/At tempting to Elude. • Jarvis Trenton Taylor, of Mount Ver non, was arrested and charged with Felony Probation Vio lation. In Vidalia... • Veronica Blair, of Vidalia, was ar rested on September 18 and charged with Theft by Shoplifting. • William Scott Ford, of Vidalia, was arrested on Septem ber 18 and charged with Theft by Shoplift ing. • Jessica Stever- son, of McRae, was arrested on Septem ber 18 and charged with Theft by Shoplift ing. •Amanda Kelley, ofFreemont, OH, was arrested on Septem ber 19 and charged with Simple Obstruc tion / Criminal Tres pass. • Christopher Fos- key, of Lyons, was ar rested on September 19 and charged with Warrant Served (Ev ans County). • Emily Johnson, of Lyons, was ar rested on September 19 and charged with Suspended License / Expired Tag / No In surance / Warrant Served (Soperton PD). • Brian Lopez Go mez, of Vidalia, was arrested on Septem ber 19 and charged with Burglary. • BriddariousMills, of Vidalia, was ar rested on September 20 and charged with Simple Obstruction / Possession of a Fire arm by a Felon / Pos session of a Firearm during Commission of a Crime / Posses sion of a Controlled Substance / Theft by Receiving Stolen Property. •Joseph Williams, of Vidalia, was ar rested on September 20 and charged with Possession of Meth- amphetamines. • Jikiah Leshae Knight, of Vidalia, was arrested on Sep tember 22 and charged with Simple Assault/Disruption of Public School. • YashekiaMckin- ney, of Lyons, was ar rested on September 23 and charged with Bench Warrant (Vi dalia). • Jacob Keswoan Smith, of Soperton, was arrested on Sep tember 23 and charged with DUI / FailtoMaintainLane. • Whitney Dani elle Giles, of Collins, was arrested on Sep tember 23 and charged with Theft by Shoplifting. • HenryLeaundra Ricks, of Collins, was arrested on Septem ber 23 and charged with Theft by Shoplift ing. • Grace Fantasia Hall, of Vidalia, was arrested on Septem ber 24 and charged with Theft by Shoplift ing. In Wheeler County... No report avail able. GSP Investigates MoCo Crash Courtesy of the Georgia State Patrol The Georgia State Pa trol is continuing to investi gate a Montgomery Coun ty crash, which caused one motorcyclist to be airlifted to Macon while in critical condition on Wednesday September 20. According to the pre liminary crash report, a vehicle was traveling south on Third Street and stopped at the intersection of State Route 30 in Mount Vernon. A motorcycle was traveling west on State Route 30 and approaching Third Street, when the ve hicle traveling south failed to yield to the motorcycle, and began to turn left onto State Route 30. The motorcycle skid ded and struck the front of the vehicle, causing the vehicle to come to a con trolled rest facing south east in the eastbound lane of State Route 30, and the motorcycle to travel off the south side of the roadway, overturn, and come to a fi nal uncontrolled rest facing east. The motorcyclist was thrown from the bike, and suffered serious injury, causing him to be airlifted to Macon to receive medi cal treatment. The identities of the drivers and further infor mation regarding the ac cident have not been re leased, as the crash is still being investigated.