Newspaper Page Text
Page 6A
The Braselton News
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Jackson County’s Gordon Street Center
looking for more students, officials say
BY BRITTANY WHITLEY
he Gordon Street Center is look
ing for more students. That was
the message Tuesday when a
group of county human resource leaders
met at the Jefferson facility to learn more
about what’s offered at the alternative
school.
Employers in Jackson County were
encouraged to send employees to the
school for additional training, including a
high school diploma or GED.
Jackson County School Superintendent
Shannon Adams said that since the center’s found
ing, both the funding and mission have changed.
In the 2005-2006 school year, a major grant the
center had been receiving was no longer available.
Also, the center was suppose to work with five
school systems and students enrolled were to pay
up front, but that has stopped happening, he said.
Adams also said the focus of the school has changed
from a vocational school to an alternative school.
Adams said that a task force was formed to
increase the number of students and make the center
more feasible from a monetary standpoint.
At Gordon Street Center, which is both an alter
native school and an evening school, students can
become enrolled at anytime. Students can use
computer instruction and work at their own pace to
obtain degrees. Since the start of school in August,
five students have graduated.
Principal Janice Stowe said that if someone is
under 21-years-old and has children, DFACS will
pay for childcare.
Michele Hunter, the graduation coach
at the center, said that they try to recruit
students and sustain as many students as
possible. She said what she tries to do is
either prepare students for work, college
or the military.
She also reiterated that the school wants
temp agencies and employers to send peo
ple to get their high school diploma from
the center rather than just turning them
away for lack of a diploma or GED.
Students who go the center to finish
high school degrees follow the state’s rules and
regulations for graduation that were in effect at the
time they entered into high school the first time.
Hunter said the center also wants people to know
that the evening classes exist.
Taking courses is free, unless it is a student who
enters the school for recovery credit not earned in
the previous school year. This is when a student fails
a course, or does not finish a course during enroll
ment at their high school.
The Gordon Street Center also offers a wide-
range of vocational classes. The school has a green
house where students raise fish and hydroponics, a
manufacturing tech lab where students work with
hydraulics and laser engraving machines, a foods
and home lab, an early childhood education room,
infant and toddler daycare, a healthcare sciences
program and computer labs where students can
work at their own pace to finish their high school
curriculum.
ADAMS
Public meeting schedule provided for readers
The public is invited to attend public meetings
held by Braselton’s and Hoschton’s councils and
planning commissions.
BRASELTON
The Braselton Town Council meets the second
Monday of each month, at 7 p.m., at the Braselton
Police and Municipal Court Building.
They discuss voting items in a work session
the Thursday before the second Monday, at 4
p.m. in the Braselton Police and Municipal Court
Building.
At those meetings, the council hears public com
ments about recommendations from the town plan
ning commission.
The Braselton Planning Commission holds its
public hearings on the fourth Monday of each
month, at 7 p.m., at the Braselton Police and
Municipal Court Building. If no planning requests
have been filed, the town planning commission
usually doesn’t meet for its regular session.
Braselton’s Zoning Board of Appeals meets on
the fourth Thursday of the month at 7 p.m., at the
Braselton Police and Municipal Court Building.
The board also meets on an as-needed basis,
depending on requests to be heard.
For more information about Braselton meetings,
contact town hall, at 706-654-3915.
HOSCHTON
The Hoschton City Council holds its regular
meeting on the first Monday of each month, at 7
p.m., at city hall. The council’s non-voting work
session is held the Thursday prior to the regular
meeting, at 7 p.m.
The Hoschton Planning Commission meets on
the third Monday of each month, at 7 p.m., at city
hall.
Due to observed holidays, some meeting dates
may be altered.
For more information about Hoschton meetings,
contact city hall, at 706-654-3034.
JACKSON COUNTY
The West Jackson Fire Board meets the second
Tuesday of each month, at 7 p.m., at the West
Jackson Fire Department. The meeting is open to
the public.
The Jackson County Board of Commissioners
meets at 6 p.m. the first and third Monday of each
month at jury assembly room in the courthouse in
Jefferson.
The Jackson County Planning Commission meets
at 7 p.m. the fourth Thursday of each month in the
state courtroom in the administrative building in
Jefferson.
BARROW COUNTY
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners
meets the second and fourth Tuesday every month
at 7 p.m. in the commission meeting room on
the second floor of the administrative annex in
Winder.
The Barrow County Board of Education meets
the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m., at
Barrow County Schools Professional Development
Center on W. Athens Street in Winder.
The Winder City Council meets the first Tuesday
after the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m., at
the Winder Community Center, Winder.
GWINNETT COUNTY
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners
holds meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of
each month, at 2 p.m. Before the official meeting,
the board conducts a work sessions at 10 a.m.
The board also holds a public hearing to consid
er zoning requests on the fourth Tuesday of each
month at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Gwinnett
Justice and Administration Center.
On some Tuesdays, the board has informal dis
cussions with county departments and community
groups that are held in the conference room of the
Board of Commissioners suite. Informal discus
sions and official meetings are open to the public.
The Municipal-Gwinnett County Planning
Division meets on the first Tuesday of each
month for rezoning and related special use per
mit applications. They meet the third Tuesday of
each month for special use permits and moved-in-
house applications. Meetings are held at 7 p.m.,
at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center
Auditorium.
HALL COUNTY
The Hall County Board of Commissioners work
session meetings are held on the second and fourth
Thursday of the month, at 3 p.m. The meetings are
held in the commission meeting room, on the sec
ond floor of the Courthouse Annex Building, 116
Spring Street, Gainesville.
The BOC hold its regular meetings on the second
Thursday of each month, at 5 p.m. Those meetings
are held in the Georgia Mountains Center, located
on 301 Main Street, Gainesville.
The Hall County Planning Commission meetings
are held the first and third Monday of each month,
at 5:15 p.m. in the Georgia Mountains Center.
REDISTRICT — continued from page 1A
Hamilton Mill parents maintain close ties with
the school. Residents have donated considerable
amounts of time and money to help Duncan Creek
grow into a school many in the community call their
own.
Now, some Hamilton Mill residents are faced with
the prospect of starting over at the new Puckett’s
Mill elementary while others will return to Fort
Daniel elementary, a school Hamilton Mill residents
were removed from just five years ago.
Feaving Duncan Creek elementary is bad enough
news for most Hamilton Mill parents. The prospect
of being divided between two elementary schools
is worse. The proposed split has left residents frus
trated and questioning the school board’s reasons for
dividing their community.
Construction in the Hamilton Mill subdivision
began in 1995. From the beginning, the subdivision
master plan showed the ultimate size of the neigh
borhood. For over a decade, Hamilton Mill students
have been kept together.
VOWS TO FIGHT
Resident Mark Montini said homeowners would
like to know why the school board has now decided
Hamilton Mill is so big that it needs to be split at the
elementary school level.
“If you look at the numbers, if you look at the
facts, you can’t find a reason why they’re doing it
now — why they’re doing it this way,” he said.
Montini is concerned about the precedent the pro
posed redistricting sets for communities throughout
the county.
“I’m afraid it is going to become a Hamilton Mill
issue, but it’s not,” he said. “It just happens to be in
this round of redistricting, Hamilton Mill is the larg
est community affected.
“You look at these maps and see there is no way
they won’t start splitting other communities down
the road. This is much bigger than Hamilton Mill
versus the school board. We just happened to be the
people the school board targeted this time.”
Brannigan said Hamilton Mill will remain focused
on what is good for the whole county.
“We understand a redistricting needs to take
place,” he said. “What we don’t understand is
why they say it is impossible to keep communities
together in doing so.”
Brannigan believes a solution exists which will
keep Hamilton Mill together while at the same time
reduce disruption to students and relieve overcrowd
ing at area schools.
In a statement on the neighborhood’s website,
Brannigan wrote: “As a large community in the area,
we must set the example and take the lead in being
a good neighbor. That is our primary goal. And we
firmly believe that this can be accomplished by
keeping Hamilton Mill united and in the Mill Creek
cluster.”
FUTURE SPLIT?
While the immediate concern for residents is keep
ing the youngest students together at one elementary
school, ensuring that Hamilton Mill remains in the
Mill Creek cluster is an underlying concern.
Current plans call for six elementary schools
to feed Mill Creek High School while only three
elementary schools will feed into the new Mountain
View High School. Parents are concerned that the
locations of the two elementary schools proposed to
service Hamilton Mill make either of them prime
candidates to be removed from the Mill Creek clus
ter and placed into the Mountain View cluster.
Jorge Quintana, director of media relations for
Gwinnett County Public Schools, said these worries
are unfounded. Quintana said the school system is
simply “balancing numbers” to relieve overcrowd
ing at schools within the cluster.
“The good news is that the boundaries for the clus
ter are not changing at all,” Quintana said.
Some Hamilton Mill parents believe that may
be true for now, but worry that a division at the
elementary school level may eventually lead to the
neighborhood being moved to a new cluster or split
along cluster lines.
Resident Angela Pavlichek said the Mill Creek
community as a whole has resources that the school
board could spread to the new Mountain View clus
ter.
“I can completely see them having us open
Mountain View,” she said. “I think they were smart
enough not to immediately divide us in half. I think
they are taking baby steps.”
Homeowner Tracy Persson agrees, “It may not
be their design that are going to slowly divide up
Hamilton Mill, but I can see it happening.”
Kim Walton, chair of Hamilton United’s aware
ness committee, said a lack of trust now exists
between residents and the school board.
“Where is the integrity and the character?” she
said. “What message are we sending to families,
children? If you build up a strong school, we’ll
divide you and take it away? You’re being punished
for having community spirit. Why would you do that
to our kids, our community?”
Hamilton Mill resident and educator Ed Varn said
the redistricting hurts students by weakening com
munity ties to the schools.
“I don’t know if anybody wants to spend a great
deal of time and put as much effort into their local
cluster schools as the Hamilton Mill community has
done with theirs only to have it yanked out from
under their feet four years later,” Varn said.
Varn said Duncan Creek and the Mill Creek clus
ter are important not only to Hamilton Mill resi
dents, but also to the entire area.
“I don’t know that you can separate the two,” he
said. “We built those schools. All three of them.
I would challenge you to go to any cluster in this
county and drive around. I doubt you would see as
many people wearing their school’s colors as you
see around here.”
Jim Markham, principal of Mill Creek High
School understands why Hamilton Mill residents
feel strongly about the Mill Creek cluster.
“We’re doing a good job,” Markham said. “We
have worked very hard to establish a sense of family
and belonging. We have made Mill Creek the center
of the community.”
Markham said school spirit is strong throughout
the community. Markham credits parents, teachers,
business partners and students with building pride
in Mill Creek.
“We want our kids to believe it is important to be
a Mill Creek Hawk,” Markham said.
Residents realize the school board may ask why the
community cannot build the same strong ties with a
new school. Mark Montini believes the actions of
the school board will make people throughout the
area think twice about becoming heavily invested in
their schools.
“I would wager 98 percent of the school districts
would love to have more community involvement,”
he said. “That happens here and all of a sudden,
what’s the reward? Why would parents be moti
vated, why would communities be motivated to
stay involved in their schools, when the board has
already said ‘thanks, but no thanks.’”
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