Newspaper Page Text
36 Pages 3 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50« Copy Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Barrow
Briefs
BOE
accreditation
meeting set
for today
The Barrow County Board
of Education will hold a called
meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday,
March 15, to hear a report on
accreditation of the system.
The meeting will be in the
board room at the central
office.
A group of people from
AdvancED. which is an accred
iting agency, will be in the
schools from March 12-15 to
review the school district.
The district must be accredit
ed every five years, David Bee-
land, the schools’ federal pro
grams director, told the board.
Beeland said the group will
observe classes in six schools
that were not visited at the last
re-accreditation in 2012.
The group will make a pre
liminary report to the board
Wednesday. It will provide an
“initial quality score.”
It will include the impact
of teaching and learning, lead
ership capacity among the
staff and use of resources, he
explained.
Board members also will be
interviewed as part of the visit.
They will be interviewed in
groups of three members for 45
minutes Wednesday morning.
Questions about accredita
tion should be sent to Beeland,
david.beeland@barrow.kl2.
ga.us or call 770-867-4527.
BOC retreat
set for
Saturday
The Barrow County Board
of Commissioners will hold
its annual strategic planning
retreat Saturday, March 11,
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
at the Carl Vinson Institute
of Government. 201 North
Milledge Ave., Athens. The
meeting is open to the public.
Index:
Church News
10A
Classifieds
8-9 B
Legals
4-11C
Obituaries
11A
Pets of the Week
3C
Public Safety
7-9A
Sports
1-4B
Mailing
Label Below
8
14 5 4 1
7
‘Master plan’ for Sims school
property in works, per official
Large amount of property remains undeveloped
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
The Barrow County school
system will begin planning for
developing the Sims Academy
property.
Joe Perno, assistant superin
tendent for system operations,
told the board the site “still (has)
a large amount of property” that
is undeveloped.
The school district will seek
proposals from architects and
construction managers to pre
pare development plans for the
property this spring.
The systems operation office
will develop information to seek
proposals from design and con
struction professionals.
He said the district will appoint
a committee to review those pro
posals.
Board members agreed one of
their members should serve on
that committee.
Perno said Tuesday he would
expect the committee would
make a recommendation this
spring to the board for an archi
tect and construction manager.
The architect and construction
manager chosen would help the
district develop a “master plan”
for the site, Perno said.
The school system has 93
acres at Sims Academy, includ
ing the property for that facility.
Theoretically, the district could
build two more schools, but that
would depend on the grade con
figuration.
Perno said developing the mas
ter plan could take six months to
a year. It would be late in 2018
before any construction could
start, and it could be later than
that. He said Tuesday the priori
ties for development can change
over time.
“A year or two ago we would
have said that elementary
(schools were the need). Now,
we aren’t so sure,” Perno said.
The school district’s two high
schools, Winder-Barrow and
Apalachee, have 1,914 and 1,699
students respectively. It also has
three elementary schools with
more than 900 students. They are
Statham. 970; Holsenbeck, 919:
and County Line, 904.
After the 120th day of school,
Feb. 17, the district had 13,603
students, an increase of 226 over
the same time last year.
See BOE on Page 12A
Hice at Apalachee
HICE VISITS APALACHEE HIGH SCHOOL
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice talked about an average day in Congress and answered questions from
students at Apalachee High School on Friday morning. Hice told the students about why and
how he decided to run for Congress. Photos by Ron Bridgeman
Congressman during speech to students:
Politics requires citizen involvement
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
The U.S. political
system “does not work
without the involve
ment of the people.”
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice
told government stu
dents at Apalachee
High School last week.
“It’s our country. It’s
our turf.” Hice told the
AHS students.
Hice spoke to about
200 students for about
30 minutes. He talk
ed about an “average
day” in Congress, his
district and answered
questions from the stu
dents.
The students pre
pared 10 questions
for Hice about issues
of the day, and five
of them were asked
before he had to leave,
Emily Reynolds,
a junior, was the first
questioner. She asked
what made him inter
ested in politics.
Hice recounted two
issues that brought
him attention, the fight
to keep the 10 Com
mandments posted at
the Barrow County
Courthouse and IRS
regulations about how
explicit ministers can
talk about politics from
the pulpit.
Hice said he was a
pastor for 30 years.
He hosted a radio talk
See Hice on Page 2A
ONE-ON-ONE
Jody Hice, congressman for the 10th District,
talks with Grace Gerely at Apalachee High
School last week. Listening to the conversa
tion is Jessi Hand. Hice spoke to government
students at the high school. He was at the
school for about 30 minutes.
School
fundraisers
generate
questions,
debate
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
A new policy about solic
itations and procedures
for handling money gen
erated some discussion at
last week’s and Tuesday’s
Barrow County Board of
Education meetings, most
of it about how to avoid
mismanagement of money
and recordkeeping.
Jennifer Houston, assis
tant superintendent for
business services, told the
board the new policy will
“separate” school employ
ees from handling money
and doing the bookkeeping.
She said the policy pro
vides “more timely notice”
for getting receipts from
fundraisers into the bank
and records to the central
office. It also gives the
See Debate on Page 3A
Community
mourns
loss of
Teasley
Winder and Barrow
County are mourning the
loss this week of longtime
community servant Doro
thy Teasley, who died Sun
day at 71.
Teasley volunteered
her time with the Barrow
County Woman’s Club, the
Georgia Business Educa
tion Association, Georgia
Association of Educators.
National Education Associ
ation, GAE Black Caucus,
NEA Black Caucus, Wal
ton Association of Educa
tors and Career Educational
Association.
She was a board member
of the local Boys & Girls
Club. The Tree House. Inc.
and the Glenwood Alumni.
Teasley, who was men
tioned near the end of Tues
day’s Winder City Council
meeting, was also instru
mental in the annual local
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
celebration.
See Teasley on Page 2A
