About Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2016 BARROW JOURNAL PAGE 3A School rezoning vote set Tuesday By At ex Pace Journal Reporter HOT RODDERS CLUB One of the Barrow County School System Future Hot Rodders of Tomorrow teams works on a Chevy 350 engine. The team is seeking donations to purchase another engine to practice on. Students pictured are Brandon White, Tyler Hall and Hunter Poteete. Photo by Alex Pace Team seeks donations for new engine By At ex Pace Journal Reporter School zones could soon change in the county. The Barrow County Board of Edu cation discussed rezoning for a new ele mentary school at its Jan. 26 work session. The district is set to open the new ele mentary school in 2017. The school is being constructed on the district's property on McNeal Road and Candler Street. A committee has met several times this year to discuss creating a new zone for the elementary school. The committee also dis cussed which middle school the new school will feed into. If the BOE approves the committee’s rec ommendation, students attending the new school (and students at Bramlett Elemen tary School and County Line Elementary School) will go to the Russell Middle School. Students at RMS will continue to feed into Winder-Barrow High School. The district is also constructing a replace ment RMS at the McNeal Road and Candler Street site. It is set to open this fall. The proposal also includes several “grand-fathering” issues. Assistant superin tendent of support services Ken Greene said the proposal was well received in public forums. The BOE will vote on the proposal at its Feb. 2 meeting. If approved, the rezoning would not take place until the 2017-18 school year. A map of the proposed zoning can be found at http:^arrow.kl2.ga.us/zone-infor- mation.html. BOND UPDATE Also at its meeting, the BOE talked about how it will fund the construction of the new elementary school. The district expects to receive $6 million in state funding. And based on current Education Local Option Sales Tax revenues, the district could receive $47.7 million in the new ELOST referendum. Citizens voted to approve the renewal of ELOST in 2014, along with tak ing out a bond to fund construction for the new elementary school. Most of the ELOST money ($37 million) will be used on past debt. And the remain ing revenues cannot be collected immedi ately, so the board could issue bonds to pay for construction. The BOE could vote at its Feb. 2 meeting to allow Raymond James & Associates to proceed with the bond bidding process. The BOE is considering issuing $15 million in bonds. CONSENT AGENDA Other consent agenda items include: •a guaranteed maximum price of $13.5 million for several construction projects on the new elementary school. The district previously discussed hiring sub-contractors for earthwork, paving, structural steel and doors/hardware. •a revision to its curriculum development policy to include current standards. •a new Career, Technical and Agricultural Education class in career management for eighth graders. •the purchase of lab equipment from Southern Educational Consulting and Training and Learning Labs for the CTAE mechatronics lab at the Sims Academy of Innovation and Technology. The total cost of the equipment bid is $67,000, which will be paid through a grant. OTHER BUSINESS Also at its meeting, the BOE: •discussed its winter parent workshops held last week. Parents discussed student writing and math, Georgia Milestones tests, social media and Internet for Spanish speaker and college for students with learn ing disabilities. •received a presentation from the Charter System Foundation. The group provides advocacy, training and workshops to school districts. The district’s charter system status with the Georgia Department of Education requires annual training. Superintendent Chris McMichael said he thinks the founda tion could cut down on the time BCSS staff must spend on charter system requirements. McMichael will speak with the foundation and bring his proposal to the BOE at a later meeting. On Friday afternoons when school gets out for the weekend, several high school students set up shop at the Sims Acade my of Innovation and Technology. The Future Hot Rodders of Tomorrow, an engine-building club, gathers in one of the school’s classrooms to prep for com petition. Teams are made up of five students. There are currently three Barrow Coun ty School System teams, with a mix of students from each high school. But team members say the each team works together, despite being from different high schools. “We’re all on one team,” said team member Rayan Kennedy. Two teams have qualified for compe tition at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in April. The senior team’s best time is 26 min utes and the lOth/llth grader team’s best time is 42 minutes. Advisor Michelle Beck thinks the teams could improve those times if they had another engine to practice on. The teams currently share one engine, and each team alternates between practice and waiting. Jordan Johnson, an 11th grader and alternative senior team mem ber, said another engine would allow the teams to compete with each other and improve their competition performance. “We’d be able to see who could beat each other,” said Johnson. Several team members plan to attend college after graduation, and pursue a career in mechanics and the automotive industry. Beck said many colleges attend the competitions to recruit students on the best teams. Many of the students rely on scholarship opportunities from these colleges. Beck said one of these students challenges his team members to improve their times so the team will be more impressive to colleges. “He tells his team, “we’re gotta get quicker, we’ve gotta get quicker,” because without this scholarship money, he can’t go to college,” said Beck. Beck said that with another engine, the teams could push each other to improve their times and performance. But the group lacks funding for the $3,000 engine and Beck is seeking help from the com munity. For more information, or to make a donation, contact beck at michelle.beck@ barrow.kl2.ga.us. BCSS continued from 1A The hiring season also starts soon and McMichael said the district is working to sign on new employees for the next school year. “This is a huge focus for all of us as we want to be sure we bring in the best teachers and staff members we possibly can,” said McMichael. The district is also working on rezoning in the Winder area. The district is working with the board of education rezoning committee to speak with the public about the new zones and “grandfathering” options. BCSS will also begin its charter system renewal application process soon, and the district is working on its strategic and improvement planning. “Charting a clear course for the system and each individual school is key,” said McMi chael. Statham continued from 1A Council member David Huth countered that he was informed that McDaniel Utilities did have the nec essary experience for the job. which would include filter and flow control updates. The council then voted to award the bid to McDaniel Utilities. In other business at the Jan. 19 meeting, the Statham City Council voted to approve a liquor by the drink license for Vintage Billiards on Atlan ta Highway. Owners of the business said other estab lishments in the area had liquor by the drink licenses and that Vintage Billiards needed one as well to be competitive. 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