Newspaper Page Text
Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson 500 copy
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Vol. 10 No. 33 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 16 pages, 2 sections
Prepares classroom for new year
Jennifer Simmons is shown preparing her classroom Monday for the school year. She moved from
her kindergarten classroom to the STEM lab at Gum Springs Elementary School.
Photos by Wesleigh Sagon
Summer break nears end
Students to return to
Braselton area schools are gearing up for the start of a
new year as summer break comes to a close.
The Barrow, Hall, Gwinnett and Jackson county school
systems will open their doors in early August for the
2017-18 school year.
Hall County and Gwinnett County students return to
the hallways on Monday, Aug. 7. Barrow County stu
dents start on Wednesday, Aug. 2, and Jackson County
students return on Friday, Aug. 4.
JACKSON COUNTY
Jackson County School System students and parents
will be welcomed with orientations and open house
events in the coming weeks in preparation for the Friday,
Aug. 4, start of school.
West Jackson Middle School will host its sixth- through
eighth-graders from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1.
On Aug. 2, all six of the district’s elementary schools
will greet their families, offering overlapping shifts, with
Pre-K through second-grade students from 3 to 5 p.m.
and third- through fifth-graders from 4 to 6 p.m.
Jackson County Comprehensive High School will hold
its open house from 5 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 2.
Supply lists for the schools are posted on their websites
and Facebook pages and additional information will be
available at the open houses.
JCSS has made changes to the starting times for its
elementary and middle schools for the coming year and
in its transportation program.
TIMES CHANGE
Classes in the district’s elementary schools will begin at
7:50 a.m. and end at 2:35 p.m., with the middle schools
set for 8:15 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. There is no change to the
high school schedule, 8 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Supervision for arriving students will be provided 30
minutes before classes begin to accommodate students
who want to eat breakfast in the school cafeteria, and
parents who drive their children to school should not drop
them off before that time, school officials said.
Beginning with this school year, the transportation
department will pick up students in buses dedicated to
each school in the morning and afternoon, with students
going from home, directly to their own school, and back
again each day.
The change ends the practice of all students riding
together in the morning and picking students up at multi
ple locations in the afternoon.
It also eliminates the drop-off and pick-up of middle
and high school students on elementary school campuses.
Parents of children new to JCSS but not yet registered
are asked to contact the schools their children will attend
as soon as possible. For more information, call the Jack-
son County central office at 706-367-5151.
school in early Aug.
Decorates classroom
Nichole Bennett is shown decorating her class
room for the back to school year. Bennett has
been teaching for six years, this will be her
first-year teaching at Gum Springs Elementary
School. She will be teaching fifth grade reading
and writing.
GWINNETT COUNTY
The first day of classes for Gwinnett County students
will be Monday, Aug. 7, and several schools plan back-
to-school activities.
“Parents are encouraged to check school web sites for
the dates and times of these planned activities,” according
to a school news release. “These activities are a great
way to get ready for the school year as students can meet
teachers, pick up schedules and locker assignments, learn
about bus routes, pay for school lunches, and leam about
clubs and other opportunities.”
For information on nutrition and transportation, visit
gwinnett.kl2.ga.us.
BARROW COUNTY
Barrow County schools resume on Wednesday, Aug. 2.
Open house is approaching on Friday, July 28. Times
include:
•elementary schools - 8-10 a.m.
•middle schools — 10 a.m. to noon
•high schools — 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
•Sims Academy of Innovation and Technology — 12-3
p.m.
HALL COUNTY
Hall County students will return to class on Monday,
Aug. 7.
Open house will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Aug. 2 for
elementary schools; Aug. 1 for middle schools; and Aug.
3 for high schools.
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Planners give nod for
Hwy. 211 widening
By Alex Pace
Local planning officials recently agreed to add the widen
ing of Hwy. 211 to its transportation plan.
The Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organiza
tion’s technical coordinating committee approved the proj
ect last week to its Transportation Improvement Program
and Gainesville-Hall Regional Transportation Plan. Other
GHMPO committees will vote on the plans in the next
coming weeks.
The widening of Hwy. 211 would be part of the TIP’s
four-year program (from 2018-21). GHMPO would only
continued on page 2A
Series on Hoard
murder coming up
A 5-part series describing the
events surrounding the assassi
nation of solicitor Floyd “Fuzzy”
Hoard 50 years ago will begin in
the August 2 issue of this news
paper.
Hoard was a crusading prosecu
tor in the Piedmont Judicial Cir
cuit (Jackson, Barrow and Banks
counties) who targeted the area’s
organized car theft and bootleg
ging gangs after taking office in
1964.
He was murdered in his car with
10 sticks of dynamite on August 7,
1967 outside of Jefferson.
The bombing made national
headlines and led to a four-month
search for his killers.
The upcoming series of articles
examines what led up to the as
sassination and the events that
happened afterwards.
Hall, Jackson leaders
get look at crash reports
By Alex Pace
Despite some decreases this year, two area counties have
seen a general climb in wrecks and injuries over the past
four years.
The Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning technical
coordinating committee discussed the Hall County and
Jackson County crash profiles at its meeting last week. The
information is based on the Georgia Electronic Accident
Reporting System.
JACKSON COUNTY
Jackson County saw a slight dip in the number of crashes
last year, but fatalities reached a four-year high.
The total number of wrecks dropped from 2,281 in 2015
to 2,097 in 2016. Injuries were also down slightly (from 862
to 793 injured).
But the number of fatal crashes and fatalities increased
slightly in the county. There were 22 fatal crashes in 2016
with 25 fatalities (up from 19 crashes and 23 fatalities in
2015).
While the county saw a drop in the number of crashes
and injuries last year, the numbers are up significantly from
2012. Four years ago, there were 1,747 reported crashes,
with 609 injures and 13 killed.
“The overall trend is an increase in fatalities and injuries
from year to year, which is consistent with the rest of Geor
gia,” according to the presentation. “Rising population num
bers and an increase in recorded distracted driving incidents
are widely believed to be partially contributing to the rise of
crashes across the country.”
Other highlights from the Jackson County crash data
included:
•the highest accident locations were at SR 15 and SR 98;
and SR 11/Hwy. 129 and 1-85. While these locations had
the highest number of accidents, there was only one fatality
at either.
•there were 37 pedestrian-involved crashes in 2016.
•November had the highest number of crashes followed
by December, October, March and August. The lowest
number of crashes was reported in June. Most wrecks
occurred on Friday, followed by Tuesday and Wednesday.
Saturday and Sunday had the lowest number of crashes. The
continued on page 2A
