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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.’” Does Extra Cash Sound Good To You? We can sell just about anything through our classified ads! Your classified ad runs in The Jackson Herald, The Madison County Journal, The Commerce News, The Banks County News, The Braselton News and online at mainstreetnews.com for one low price! $10 for 25 words. To place your classified ad, call 335-2927,367-5233 or online at mainstreetnews.com or mail to MainStreet Classifieds, P. 0. Box 908, Jefferson, GA 30549. N MainStreet P EWSPAPER J < > V. J Please Recycle! 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