Newspaper Page Text
28 Pages 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50c Copy Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Barrow
Briefs
BrandBank to be acquired
CFIT
Family Nights
Are you interested in what a
typical day at the Barrow County
School System's Center for Inno
vative Teaching looks like? The
CFIT is holding two family nights
open to the families of any elemen
tary or middle grades student in
Barrow County. On the two nights,
adults and students from each fam
ily will participate side-by-side in
art integrated class sessions that
incorporate theater, dance and
visual arts. These sessions will be
co-taught by current participants
of the CFIT Teacher Pilot Program
and art integration consultants
from the school system's partner
organization, ArtsNow Learning.
Monday. April 9 will be Elementa
ry Family Night and will focus on
fourth and fifth grade content, and
Tuesday, April 10 will be Middle
Grades Family Night and will con
centrate on sixth through eighth
grade content. Each night will con
sist of two 50-minute sessions last
ing from 6-7:50 p.m. with a short
transition between. There is no
cost to participate, but RSVPs are
required. Flyers and RSVP forms
for each night can be accessed
online at http://tinyurl.com/cfitfam.
Space is limited to 75 total family
members per night.
Genealogy
program
Genealogy Basics, presented by
Tracey Pritchard, will be held at
2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10, at
the Winder Public Library. The
library is located at 189 Bellview
St.. Winder.
Pilot Club
BBQ
The Pilot Club of Winder will
be having its 20th annual BBQ on
Saturday, April 14 at the Winder
Masonic Lodge from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. The BBQ is take-out only. The
cost is $8 per plate, which includes
a generous portion of pulled pork
with sauce, homemade baked beans,
pickles, chips and the club's sig
nature desserts. For tickets, contact
treasurer Tery Overbey at 770-307-
8289 or hteroverbey@gmail.com.
Walk-ups will also be available.
Index:
Public Safety
8-9 A
Columns/opinion
4-7A
School news
10A
Church News
11A
Classifieds
14-15A
Legals
5-11B
Obituaries
12A
Sports 1
-3, 12B
Mailing
Label Below
Merger expected to close 3rd quarter of this year
A Mississippi-based banking company
will acquire the parent company of Brand-
Bank and take over all 13 locations, includ
ing the one on North Broad Street in down
town Winder.
Renasant Corporation, the parent com
pany of Renasant Bank, and Brand Group
Holdings, Inc. jointly announced last week
the signing of a merger agreement, in which
Brand will merge with and into Renasant.
The deal, valued at about $452.9 million,
is expected to close in the third quarter
of this year, “subject to the satisfaction
of customary closing conditions, including
the receipt of required regulatory approvals
and the approval of Brand's shareholders,”
according to a news release.
The proposed merger was approved unan
imously by both company's boards of direc
tors recently.
Founded in 1905, the Brand Banking
Company had approximately $2.4 billion
in total assets, $1.9 billion in total loans
(excluding mortgage loans held for sale and
$1.9 billion in total deposits as of Dec. 31,
2017, according to the release.
Founded in 1904, Renasant had about
$9.8 billion in assets. It has 180 banking,
mortgage and wealth management offices in
Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and
Tennessee.
“The ability to partner with a 113-year-
old company with strong talent in one of
the most attractive markets in the country
is a tremendous opportunity.” said Renasant
chairman and CEO Robin McGraw in the
release. “We believe this merger will signifi
cantly enhance our Atlanta presence.”
See Merger on Page 2A
‘Breaking a lot of molds’
DIFFERENT METHODS OF LEARNING
Melissa Joy, an instructor with ArtsNow, makes a point to fourth-graders last Thursday
at the Barrow County School System’s Center for Innovative Teaching during
a class that combines dance, social studies and language. She said the students
were creating poetry using “onomatopoeia” and alliteration. Photos by Ron Bridgeman
CFIT seeing positive results in first year
POETRY AND DANCE
Amy Nix, fourth-grade teacher at Kennedy Elementary
School, works with students at the Center for Innovative
Teaching on poetry to go with dance moves. She and the
students were at CFIT for a three-week, twice a week class
to combine several academic disciplines with dance.
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
It still looks like the “old Rus
sell school,” but go inside and it's
a different story.
The Barrow County School
System’s Center for Innovative
Teaching is bringing together
teachers from art and other sub
jects and having them learn how
to teach those subjects together to
students in their classes.
Superintendent Chris McMi-
chael introduced the CFIT concept
a year ago by saying teachers and
students would “learn together.”
Lee Bane, Barrow County’s
STEAM integration coordinator,
talked about teachers in the class
room with students rather than
being at a conference for “profes
sional learning.”
One year ago, Barrow County
introduced the CFIT concept.
It includes a radical renovation
of the old school.
Bane said one small part would
start this summer. Staff members
at the University of Georgia have
a $150,000 USDA grant to begin
to create a farm-to-table garden at
the school.
Professors and researchers will
be at CFIT this summer to oversee
and help with the work, which
also will involve middle school
students and teachers.
Another, smaller project is light
ing and renovations in the band
room to create a small “amphithe
ater” indoors.
It includes filling out walls, rais
ing a floor and installing some
lighting. The cost is $6,000 to
$8,000, Bane said.
Another small part will enlarge
the dance space. The current 950
square feet will be enlarged by
350 square feet and the room will
be larger still.
Classes at the center will expand
next fall. Bane said another 12
teachers are expected to join the
26 who are participating now.
He said teachers are doing “fish
bowl observation” to see what
classes are about. They then apply
to be in the program.
One class that might be added
for next year is “world percus
sion,” Bane said. He explained
that “dozens and dozens and doz
ens” of items are used for percus
sion around the world - and none
are drums like are in school bands.
The CFIT program has “come
a long way” in a year, Bane said.
The idea is to try different ideas,
see which work and expand on
them.
“Organic growth that you can
maintain and sustain,” he said.
“Prove it in a small scale —
take a risk, a small risk.”
The center uses STEAM
— science, technology, engi
neering, arts and math — in
its classes. Instructors from
ArtsNow, a nonprofit group in
Atlanta, have an office at the
center and classes in the front
wing for dance, visual arts and
theater.
Bane said more than 200
classes with Barrow teachers
and ArtsNow instructors have
been held since the beginning of
the school year.
Council
split on
sewer line
contract
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
In a split vote Tuesday,
Winder City Council nar
rowly approved a con
struction contract bid for
a joint sewer line project
with Barrow County after
concerns were raised about
the city’s recommendation
against the two lowest bid
ders.
The roughly $4.15 mil
lion contract with Moor
head Construction. Inc.,
of Belton, S.C.. is for the
third and final phase of the
Auburn Sewer Line Project
— otherwise known as the
Cedar Creek Sewer Line
Project. As part of the proj
ect, an existing 12-inch line
will be replaced by a new
24-inch line for additional
capacity. Construction of
the new line will provide
the county access to the
Cedar Creek Wastewater
Recovery Facility's 1 mil-
lion-gallon-per-day capac
ity at a cost-sharing rate of
70 percent by the county
and 30 percent by the city,
which was outlined in a
2010 intergovernmental
agreement.
The vote was 4-3 with
councilmen Jimmy Terrell,
Chris Akins and Travis Sin-
gley opposed. Councilmen
Sonny Morris, Michael
Healan and A1 Brown voted
in favor, and Mayor David
Maynard broke the tie.
The county board of
commissioners, which is
scheduled to hold its regu
lar bi-weekly meeting next
week, will also have to
approve the contract award.
The contract price
includes a 10-percent con
struction contingency.
Moorhead's bid of roughly
$3.8 million was the third
lowest among 10 submis
sions. The lowest bidders
— Strickland and Sons
Pipeline, of Gainesville,
and The Dickerson Group,
of Lawrenceville — were
recommended by city staff
to be removed from con
sideration because of a
previous negative history
with the city. One had been
involved in legal proceed
ings against the city and
the other one, according
to the city’s judgment, did
not perform well, Maynard
said.
Terrell said he was
concerned the city didn’t
accept the low bid, and he
questioned why city and
county officials had not met
about the submitted bids.
See Council on Page 2A