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Barrow County’s only mid-week newspaper
B * Wednesday, March 23, 2016
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www.barrow journal, com
Barrow County’s Legal Organ
VOL. 8 NO. 22 24 PACES 2 SECTIONS, PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 50« COPY
BOC faces another vacancy
By Cliris Bridges
Journal Editor
The Barrow County Board of
Commissioners once again has a vacancy,
although the current one is for a completely
different reason than the previous set of
circumstances.
When District 5 commissioner Billy
Parks opted to run for county chairman,
he had to resign his BOC seat. That leaves
the commission one member short and it
will remain that way until the November
election.
Monica Franklin, Barrow County elec
tions supervisor, said the county charter
does not allow for an interim commissioner
to be appointed and the way the election
calendar falls with the primary being set for
May 24, the earliest voting date would not
be until the Nov. 8 general election.
The Barrow BOC recently had a vacancy
for District 3 when Steve Worley resigned
(see related story) after he was indicted on
a federal bribery charge.
He resigned in April 2015 and that vacan
cy was not filled until Roger Wehunt won a
special election in September of that year.
Wehunt is filling the remainder of Worley’s
unexpired term and is now up for re-elec
tion in 2016.
Parks is challenging current commission
chairman Pat Graham in the upcoming
primary. With no Democrat qualifying, the
winner of the primary will be chairman for
the next four years.
Worley sentencing delayed once
again, now scheduled for April
By Cliris Bridges
Journal Editor
Stop us if you’ve heard this one
before: the sentencing for former
Barrow County commissioner Steve
Worley has been delayed.
Worley’s fate will now not be known
until April, although another sentenc
ing delay is always possible. Currently,
Worley will be sentenced on Tuesday,
April 12, at 9:30 a.m. at the federal
district court in Athens. Initially, Worley
was to be sentenced last fall.
Worley resigned from the BOC in
April 2015 following a federal indict
ment and is subject to 10 years of incar
ceration and a $250,000 fine. He served
as Director of Public Works for the City
of Monroe for more than 15 years and
was terminated in 2013 for “violations
of personnel policies and procedures.”
Barrow
Briefs
City of Statham plans
annual Spring Fest
The City of Statham will
host its third annual Spring
Fest on Saturday, May 7.
from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
For those interested in
being a vendor at the event,
applications can be picked
up at City Hall. Food vendor
spaces are $55 or $65 with
electricity. Craft vendor spac
es are available for $30 or
$40 with electricity.
Contact Randy Gordon at
randygordon @ cityofstatham.
com for more information
on reserving vendor space or
about Spring Fest.
Inside: I
Index:
Auburn News
3A
Church News
10A
Classifieds
8-9A
Legals
5-11B
Obituaries
11A
Opinion
4A
Op-Ed
5A
Pets of the Week
10A
Public Safety
6-7A
Sports 1
-4B.12B
Contact Info:
Phone: 770-867-6397
Mail: 77 E. May Street,
Winder, Ga. 30680
Fax: 706-621-4115
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McMichael
discusses
state bills
on education
By Al ex Pace
Journal Reporter
State education bills could
potentially have an impact on the
Barrow County School System.
Superintendent Chris McMichael
recently spoke about those bills,
teacher evaluations and standard
ized tests.
McMichael said he has seen a
large increase in standardized tests
in recent years.
“It seems we are at the point
that we have ‘teaching windows’
instead of ‘testing windows,’” he
said.
The number of tests a stu
dent takes varies by grade level.
Students in third through eighth
grades are tested in four subjects
on a state standardized test. Third,
fifth and eighth graders also take
the ITBS, which is a BCSS deci
sion. High school students take
End of Course tests in eight areas.
McMichael said these tests make
up a large part (20 percent) of a
student’s final grade, due to state
rules. These courses still have final
exams.
McMichael said that while he
isn’t opposed to standardized test
ing, he does not think it informs
instruction.
“Testing negatively impacts
every single class of students
across the school,” he said.
“Financial and staffing resources
spent on preparation and adminis
tration of the test would be better
used to aid classroom instruction
and provide needed resources.”
See Education on Page 3A
Falcons help fuel breakfast
at Westside Middle School
By Wesleioji Sag' on
Photographer
Earlier this month, the
Southeast United Dairy
Industry Association (SUDIA)
observed National School
Breakfast Week at Westside
Middle School with a brunch
for lunch celebration for its 700
students.
Since starting the program
in October of 2014, they have
increased their breakfast par
ticipation by 37 percent. This
was the highest increase in
the state of Georgia, making
them the winner of the 2015
Atlanta Falcons Fuel Greatness
Breakfast Contest. For 2015-
2016, the Barrow County
School System started a dis
trict-wide school breakfast pro
gram, offering free breakfast
to all students, regardless of
family income.
“Breakfast participation has
increased 58.5 percent district
wide in the first 100 days of
school,” said SUDIA officials.
“From Aug. 1, 2015, to Dec.
18, 2015, our School Nutrition
Department served 675.408
breakfasts. This is up 250,000
from the same dates in 2014,”
said Chris McMichael, Barrow
County superintendent said.
See Breakfast on Page 2A
ATLANTA FALCON VISITS WESTSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL
Atlanta Falcons player Grady Jarrett is shown with Westside
Middle School drumline students.
Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
