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BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011
HERO RECOGNITION
Family members of Lt. Jason Bittner, including his
parents Norman and Cheryl Scott of Dacula and grand
mother Eunice Saunders were in attendance during a
recent banquet honoring the Winder native.
Winder native awarded for
being ‘Hometown Hero’
Family members of Lt. Jason
Bittner accepted an award for
military heroism on his behalf
during a recent Hometown
Heroes Recognition.
Bittner, a graduate of
Winder-Barrow High School,
is the son of Norman and
Cheryl Scott of Dacula and the
grandson of Eunice Saunders
and the late Charlie Saunders
of Winder.
The Winder native was
credited for his role in a naval
search and rescue operation.
Brittner, an aircraft command
er at the Naval Air Station in
Key West, piloted the air sta
tion's SH-60 Seahawk during
a March 2010 rescue of miss
ing diver Andrew Schlieper.
The diver had been sepa
rated from his party during
an excursion and was locat
ed after a three-hour search
involving the Coast Guard,
the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission
and Bittner’s naval crew.
Barrow grad test results
finish 93rd among 187
Barrow County 11th graders ranked 93rd out of 187 school
systems in Georgia on the state graduation test this year. Only
71.1 percent of Barrow students passed all four sections of the
test on the first try.
Barrow students' strongest performance came in science
where only 8.5 percent of students failed. The students' weakest
performance was in social studies where 21.8 percent failed.
Oconee County students led the area with a 92.1 percent over
all passing rate while Clarke County was the area’s worst with a
57.9 percent overall passing rate.
Individual high school results haven’t been released yet by the
state. The graduation test is currently being phased out by the
state as more emphasis is being put on end of course tests.
Bittner's crew, using night
vision goggles, was able to
locate Schlieper after he acti
vated a chemical light as a
signaling device.
Bittner was honored with
a Navy and Marine Corps
Achievement Medal for “pro
fessional achievement in the
superior performance of his
duties as helicopter aircraft
commander.’'
Graduation Test:
11th Graders, 1st Time Test Takers
NEGA Area School Systems
Rank
School
Pass
ELA
Math
Sci
Soc
State*
System
All%
Fail
Fail
Fail
Fail
11
Oconee
92.1
2.9
2.2
1.1
6.0
17
Banks
87.3
3.8
7.0
.6
6.3
23
Jefferson
84.8
6.8
9.9
3.1
11.0
26
Gwinnett
83.8
6.0
9.6
4.4
12.4
29
Franklin
83.1
6.0
6.6
3.6
17.1
47
Hall
79.1
5.9
9.7
3.3
15.2
74
Jackson
74.2
11.1
12.5
4.9
19.8
83
Walton
72.5
9.4
13.8
6.7
22.2
88
Madison
71.8
12.5
16.6
9.1
21.4
93
Barrow
71.1
11.4
17.0
8.5
21.8
94
Commerce 71.0
8.5
20.2
2.2
19.1
110
Haber.
68.8
12.4
21.4
8.4
21.7
120
Ogle.
66.4
8.5
15.6
8.6
29.1
160
Clarke
57.9
18.5
23.1
15.2
33.4
'■State rank is from 1-187 by system, not individual high
schools.
Local unemployment drops
The unemployment rate in Barrow County fell in April to 9.5
percent, down from 9.7 percent in March.
The rate was also down from April 2010 when it was 9.9
percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in April.
AARP offers driver's safety class
Barrow County AARP Chapter No. 3735 will offer a driver
safety program course Tuesday, June 28, from 9 a.m. — 3 p.m.,
at the Barrow County Leisure Services Center, 175 Second
Street, Winder.
The course cost is $12 for AARP members and $14 for non
members. Payment is due the morning of the class.
Participants may be eligible to receive a discount on car
insurance upon completing the course.
For more information on the upcoming safety class, call 770-
725-2239.
Sunflower Festival seeking vendors
Organizers of the Sunflower Festival — set for Saturday,
Sept. 17, in downtown Statham — are seeking vendors for the
event.
Applications are available online at www.cityofstatham.com/
events.htm.
For vendor information, call Betty Lyle at 770-725-5323. For
general information, call LeRue Schultz at 706-255-4023.
Auburn DDA receives FY2011-12 approved budget
By Katie Cofer
katie@mainstreetnews. com
The City of Auburn's Downtown
Development Authority (DDA) received
its fiscal year 2011-12 approved operat
ing budget at a business meeting May 25
at city hall.
For FY 2011-12, the DDA is bud
geting $52,000 in total expenses - of
that amount, $25,000 is slated to go to
part-time wages and the majority of the
larger breakdowns will go to marketing
and advertising.
The DDA will continue to have one
part-time position. Its objectives for the
year include soliciting business owners
and developers to come into downtown
Auburn and to create a new business
package with the city planner and licens
ing and permit department.
In other business:
•Committee member Tina Parks
reported that she and city council mem
ber Dorissa Shackelford planted flowers
in Burel Park.
•Committee member Connie Ross
reported positive feedback from having
dropped off City of Auburn promotion
al materials at local businesses, which
included a small replica of the down
town caboose on 4th Avenue.
•The committee discussed creating a
DDA booth for promotional materials
to be sold at the city's upcoming July
4th event.
•No report on the 2010 Facade
Improvement grant was made. In March,
Ronald and Jill Tanner, co-owners of the
Tax Depot, were recognized as the city's
recipient of the 2010 Auburn Facade
Improvement Grant, which allows for
$5,000 for external improvements. The
project has not been started.
•presented the Mayor's Choice Award
to committee member Parks for her
family's float in the city's 2011 Armed
Forces Day Parade and Celebration.
•recognized and voted on Community
and Southern Bank in Auburn as the
city's Business of the Year.
•discussed the 2011 co-op project,
•accepted the resignation of Paul
Nadeau from the committee. Nadeau
explained that he has too many respon
sibilities with his job as interim police
chief.
Auburn redevelopment plan now closer to fruition
By Katie Cofer
katie @ mainstreetnews. com
Despite heavy storms and
rainfall, several residents
turned out for the second
public hearing held by City
of Auburn leaders May 26
to gain public input into its
soon-to-be-adopted redevel
opment plan.
The Auburn City Council
is slated to review the plan
again at its June 2 business
meeting, following a final
public hearing.
City planner Larry Lucas,
who led Thursday's hearing,
focused on the goal of better
rental housing for the city.
Local Georgia Initiative for
Community Housing mem
bers were also present.
“We've heard citizens say
that they want better housing
and a mixture of housing to
meet a variety of needs,” said
Lucas.
Empty nesters, young pro
fessionals and aging baby
boomers who want to down
size, but stay in their same
area are the plan's target.
Industry looking to set up in
Auburn will need housing for
its employees, as well, said
Lucas.
One resident asked what
impact the building of new
apartments would have on
local schools. Lucas said
that with 200 apartments, the
developer will have to set
aside 40 acres for the pros
pect of a school. Students
would otherwise move into
Auburn Elementary School
until a new school is needed.
Lucas also discussed a tax
credit incentive program for
local governments, funded
by the State Department of
Community Affairs, which
allows local governments to
earn up to $3,500 per job cre
ated in an area within or adja
cent to a census block group
with 15 percent or greater
poverty.
Because Auburn's down
town district has Atlanta
Highway as its southern
boundary and is adjacent to
a census district in Winder
that has 15 percent poverty,
it allows Auburn's census
district to be declared as an
“opportunity zone.”
The six areas the city
plans to target include Carter
Road, Main Street, Parks
Mill, Auburn Business Park,
the Downtown District and
Auburn Station.
Carter Road is dominat
ed by a large mobile home
park with 122 trailers and a
street containing six trailers.
Maintenance and appearance
of trailers, inefficient street
layout and the absence of rec
reational facilities are revital
ization projects in that area
that the city plans to target.
The goal of revitalization
for Parks Mill will focus on
its current apartments, which
the city hopes to replace. The
current rental housing con
sists of converted chicken
coops. Lucas said a project to
replace these apartments with
a new contemporary apart
ment building is in the works.
That location is currently on
a septic system and the future
could see the possibility of
connecting the area onto a
sewer, as well, said Lucas.
Main Street is a small area
also served by a septic sys
tem, which Lucas said he
would not like to see reach
its capacity.
Auburn Business Park is a
target for redevelopment.
“We feel that this district
suffers from a lack of iden
tification,” said Lucas. “The
redevelopment plan would
provide a way of creating
some signature means of
identifying this property right
along Atlanta Highway.”
The Auburn Station rede
velopment area identifies
property that came into the
city in 2009 with a plan of
redeveloping a mixed-used
complex with apartments,
commercial space, offices,
pedestrian walkways and
bike paths. The first phase is
200 apartments, said Lucas,
however the city has yet to
sign a deal with an interested
developer.
This redevelopment plan is
a requirement if we're going
to utilize tools such as federal
low-income housing tax cred
its or funds from the Atlanta
Federal Home Loan bank and
its affordable housing pro
gram, suggested Lucas.
“On the north side of the
property, which is above the
line to designate opportunity
zone, those businesses would
be able to take advantage of
the job tax credit,” said Lucas.
“So we have a combination
of both the access to vari
ous redevelopment funding
programs that are offered by
state, federal and local banks,
as well as the jobs tax cred
its. But the key to accessing
these funds is having a plan
that first sets out geographic
areas that are going to be the
focus of the redevelopment
activities.”
Lucas lastly addressed
that the concept of eminent
domain will not be employed.
“All of these redevelopment
activities are with the coop
eration and the collaboration
with the property owner,”
said Lucas. “We are looking
to partner with owners who
have a desire to improve their
property but just have not
been able to find the right
combination of funding and a
developer.”
The final public hearing
is set for Thursday, June 2,
at the city council business
meeting at 7 p.m. in the city
chambers.
Once adopted, the plan
will be submitted to the
Georgia State Department
of Community Affairs
for approval. If the plan is
approved by the state, each
project will be subject to pub
lic hearings.
Charter system training underway for Barrow schools
By Katie Cofer
katie @ mainstreetnews. com
While summer break may
be here for students, training
to convert Barrow Schools
into a charter system has
begun and there is a lot of
work ahead for school lead
ers, parents, business lead
ers and community members
who want to be involved in
local education.
School leaders discussed
that process Friday at the ini
tial training session for mov
ing into the new way local
public schools will be gov
erned.
In March, the state granted
the Barrow County School
System charter status, a move
that allows more decision
making on the local level.
About 200 participants
showed up at Apalachee High
School for last week's semi
nar and received tutoring on
what the 2011-12 school year
will look like and the pro
cess of how decisions will
be made.
“We are now granted the
flexibility to run our schools
in the way we haven’t
before,” Sherrie Gibney-
Sherman said, a contracted
consultant the system hired
during the petition drafting
process. Gibney-Sherman has
been working with the school
system for the last 5 years in
developing its petition.
“This is really just kind of
scratching the surface,” assis
tant school superintendent
Claire Miller told partici
pants. “This is an overview
of the initial training.”
Miller said training for the
school governance would
be ongoing throughout the
TRAINING SESSION
School system officials, including Winder-Barrow
High School assistant principal Justin Grant and
principal Al Darby, took part in an initial training ses
sion into school governance. Approximately 200 par
ticipants took part in the session held at Apalachee
High School Friday. Each school will hold trainings
with their School Governance Teams beginning in
August. Photo by Katie Cofer
given copies of rules and reg
ulations. The first year under
the charter system status for
Barrow is primarily focused
on training, which tentative
ly includes educating SGT
members on balanced score
card, annual yearly progress,
SACs requirements, and state
board of education rules, to
name a few.
For more information,
download the system’s char
ter at http://www.barrow.kl2.
ga.us/, click charter schools
FAQ’s, and click Charter
petition for SBOE.
CALL
school year.
SCHOOL LEVEL
TEAMS
For Barrow schools, the
new structure will start on
each school level with school
governance teams, or SGTs.
Because the system is divided
into two clusters, Apalachee
and Winder-Barrow, those
SGTs will be divided into
two Cluster Governance
Teams. Members of the
CGT will make up a District
Governance Team, or DGT,
which will report directly to
the Barrow County Board of
Education.
Each SGT will be made
up of 7-11 members: The
principal of the school it gov
erns, parents and business
partners, teachers, students
and an assistant principal.
Each seat has a defined term.
Those will include an officer,
a chair, a vice chair and a
secretary.
Participants in Friday’s
seminar were provided with
a diagram outlining the roles
and responsibilities of each
of the governance teams and
706-367-5233
for information
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