Newspaper Page Text
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.
The council approved
the request by a 3-2 vote
with Huth, Perry Barton
and Gayle Steed in favor
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The city council also
voted to deny a variance
request for a Sunset Drive
property after neighbors
expressed concern over not
having any site plans.
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