Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018
Architectural engineering services contract approved for park expansion
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
The Barrow County Board
of Commissioners, on Tuesday,
approved a $434,000 architectur
al engineering services contract
for the expansion of Victor Lord
Park, an estimated $7.4 mil
lion project approved by county
voters last fall as part of the
SPLOST 2018 referendum.
The park expansion on roughly
35 acres leased to the county
by the state will include syn
thetic-turf, multi-purpose athlet
ic fields, tennis courts, exercise
courts, a dog park and splash
pad. Off-site, the football fields
at Apalachee and Winder-Barrow
high schools will be converted to
synthetic turf.
Lawrenceville-based Lose and
Associates was selected for the
architectural engineering ser
vices over four other bids and
two other finalists. Barrow Coun
ty leisure services director Dan
Magee said their specific experi
ence with several hundred parks
and recreation projects stood out
to the four-person selection com
mittee, which included Magee,
county manager Mike Renshaw,
county human resources direc
tor Charlie Felts and Jeff Prine,
of Ascension Program Manage
ment, who is serving as a consul
tant on the project.
Prine and Magee recom
mended the project go through
a design and pre-qualified hard
bid delivery method, meaning
a request for qualifications be
issued to narrow the focus of
what the county will be looking
for and to prevent from receiving
unqualified low bids.
Prine said that would be the
best approach since the project
will be primarily civil construc
tion work and since funds for the
project won’t be available until
September.
PLANNING,
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
DIRECTOR
Also Tuesday, commissioners
approved the creation of a new
full-time planning and communi
ty development director position
as the county plans to split the
current economic and communi
ty development department into
two separate departments.
In 2013, the county created the
position of economic and com
munity development director,
removing the former planning
and community development
director position from the pay
plan. The position was responsi
ble for management and super
vision of county-wide economic
development-related activities
as well as daily operation and
management of the planning and
community development depart
ment.
County manager Mike Ren
shaw recommended the split of
the department to improve effi
ciency and in response to an
uptick in both community and
economic development activi
ties.
The person hired to be the new
planning and community devel
opment director will essentially
replace outgoing economic and
community development direc
tor Guy Herring, who was hired
earlier this month as Oconee
County’s new planning and code
enforcement director.
The board also approved Ren
shaw to serve as the interim plan
ning and community develop
ment director for a period not to
exceed six months. Advertising
for the new position will begin
immediately.
While the role of the future
economic development director
has not yet been fully fleshed
out. Renshaw is expected to rec
ommend that position be funded
on a part-time basis in the Fiscal
Year 2019 budget.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business Tuesday,
commissioners:
•approved a request by Barrow
County Emergency Services to
purchase extrication equipment
from High Tech Rescue in the
amount of $406,287.95, with
90 percent of that cost to be
acquired by a federal grant the
county was awarded in Septem
ber. The 10-percent local match is
$37,793.50. The remaining grant
funds of $9,440 will be used
to purchase miscellaneous hand
tools, including battery-operated
saws.
•approved the paving of a 0.4-
mile stretch of Jim Johnson Road,
beginning at Mulberry Road, for
$40,662.04 using the services of
Baldwin Paving Company. The
money is left over from the coun
ty’s 2017 Non-LMIG resurfacing
contract with Baldwin. Residents
along the dead-end dirt road have
been petitioning for its repaving
for several years and the road
is next in line on the county’s
priority list to be paved. Chair
man Pat Graham voted against
the request, saying she believed
there were other higher-priori
ty roads in need of paving and
repairs.
•approved a roughly $19,000
Fiscal Year 2018 budget amend
ment to account for a legal settle
ment between the county and a
former animal control employee.
•met in closed session to
discuss pending litigation. No
action was taken.
Barrow BOE member objects to AP text; board hears about mental health
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
The Barrow County
Board of Education will
vote on one textbook for
an advanced placement
government and politics
course.
Three other AP text
books - biology, calculus
and statistics - will be on
the consent agenda Tues
day.
Board vice chair Lynn
Stevens said she would
like to separate that text
from the others. She said
she had “serious con
cerns” about the book.
“We get a lot of stat
ic," she said from parents
and community residents
about “indoctrination” of
students.
Stevens cited a cartoon
in the book that set the
First and Second Amend
ments of the Constitution
against one another.
She said the book has
“page after page after
page” of information like
that.
Other board members
said the cartoon might be
for illustration purposes.
Board member Michael
Shelley said he would
have to know the context
in which the cartoon is
used. He asked about the
teacher’s manual for the
course to see how it fits
in the curriculum.
Melinda Kay, the direc
tor of secondary educa
tion for the district, said
students learn to analyze
meaning and significance
of materials in the course.
Stevens said after the
meeting she would meet
with superintendent
Chris McMichael before
the board meeting next
week.
MENTAL HEALTH
The board also heard
Matt Thompson, director
of student and data ser
vices, report on items the
district has emphasized
this year for additional
mental health services for
students.
Board members have
discussed discipline and
mental health issues in
the past three or four
board meetings.
Board members Garey
Huff Sr. and Rolando
Alvarez have support
ed increasing programs
for mental health in the
schools.
Thompson told the
board that in a 2016-17
student health survey,
28.9 percent of Barrow
middle and high school
students reported being
sad or withdrawn at least
three days in the past 30
days.
Huff called that per
centage “unbelievable.”
The survey also showed
between 13.8 percent of
students and 17.9 per
cent said they had felt
overwhelmed with fear,
intense worry or severe
mood swings at least
three days in the past 30.
Thompson said part of
the feelings of students
“is called being a teenag
er,” but he said the needs
of students in the mental
health area “are at an all-
time high in many, many
ways.”
A major part of the
problem, he said, is
social media because it
is so prevalent and so
immediate.
The school district has
focused more on those
areas, including training
in “first aid” for mental
problems.
He said the district
plans to make that train
ing an annual event.
Trauma and suicide
prevention training also
have been added for
counselors and adminis
trators.
The district hosted a
behavioral youth sum
mit that was attended by
about 200 people from
a variety of school dis
tricts.
The school district also
has specific groups who
meet about critical inci
dent stress management,
local interagency plan
ning for teens who might
need to be in regular
mental health programs.
He said the school
district no longer can
“involuntarily institution
alize” students. Parental
approval must be includ
ed in any decisions, he
said.
“What can we do about
it," Huff asked, and Ste
vens said that might be
the key. She said educat
ing parents about social
media might be one ave
nue.
She sarcastically added,
“I don’t know how we
got along for 300 years
without cell phones.” She
was reacting to a com
ment that parents often
say their children have
cell phones for “safety"
reasons — so the parents
can reach them.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the
board:
•heard from John St.
Clair, information tech
nology services director,
that the district would
like to contract with
CDW, Vernon Hills, Ill.,
for consulting services
on upgrading its email
service. The cost would
be no more than $39,576
and the estimate was
$32,980. St. Clair said
the district already has
bought new servers for
the Exchange email soft
ware. He said the servers
were necessary without
the upgrade because of
their age.
•heard from Pam
LeFrois, director of
school nutrition, that
Royal Produce and May-
field Dairy are the rec
ommended vendors for
produce and milk for the
FY 2019. Royal had a
point score of 163 to 128
and 126 for its compet
itors. Mayfield had 100
points to 40 for Borden
Milk and it bid $538,88
to $550,163 from Borden.
•heard a request from
Tonya Royal, director for
elementary education, for
Holsenbeck Elementa
ry School to buy Foun-
tas and Pinnell indepen
dent-reading collections
and classroom guid-
ed-reading collections for
K-2 grades. The school
will use its money to buy
the books for $32,074.
Budget continued from 1A
The budget also includes
6.5 new paraprofession-
als for special education,
halftime school psycholo
gist, half an assistant prin
cipal at Russell Middle
School and a speech lan
guage pathologist.
The cost for new posi
tions and smaller classes
is $2.5 million. Teachers
are calculated with a base
salary and benefits to cost
$50,000.
Other major costs
include a local step
increase for eligible
certified and classified
employees of $1.6 mil
lion, an increase in pay
for speech pathologists
of $142,000 and for spe
cial education parapros of
$265,000.
The additional items
considered include more
school resource officers,
$547,823; middle school
agriculture teachers,
$359,454; adding 2 per
cent to salary schedules
for all employees who
did not get that in the
current year, $438,300;
a safety coordinator for
the district, $120,935;
audio and video system in
every classroom, $1 mil
lion; and a bonus for all
employees from 1 to 2.5
percent, $835,817 to $2.1
million.
The BOE discussed
the items at its work ses
sion Tuesday and agreed
to include the 2 percent
to salary schedules for
everyone who did not
receive the raise in the
current budget and the
safety coordinator.
Jennifer Houston, assis
tant superintendent for
business services, said
about 400 employees,
certified and classified,
did not get the 2-percent
pay increase for this year.
Those employees got a
2-percent “bonus” in Jan
uary.
The $438,300 in the
2019 budget will make
all the salary schedules
the same.
The board also debat
ed another bonus for the
2019 budget but decided
to wait on it.
Lynn Stevens, vice
chair of the BOE, said the
board should give a 1-per
cent bonus to all employ
ees. She said a bonus,
even of 1 percent, would
emphasize to employees
their value to the school
system.
She also noted the
employees did not get any
raises for several years
during the recession.
Board member Connie
Wehunt said she agreed
“with everything” Stevens
said, except she would
make it a 2 percent bonus.
Chairman Mark Still
interjected that the system
pays more than 86 percent
of its budget in salaries
and benefits.
“We’ve got to have
some money to keep the
lights on,” Still said.
The board also debated
adding six school resource
officers so each school
would have one SRO or
adding a “safety coordi
nator” to the district.
SROs are sheriff’s
office employees and are
on call for emergencies
in the county. That means
they could be called away
from their schools.
Current SROs salaries
are split 50-50 between
the school district and
sheriff’s office. All equip
ment — cars, guns, uni
forms, etc. — are provid
ed by the sheriff’s office.
Houston said the sheriff
would not have the money
in his budget to split sala
ries of any new SROs and
the district would have to
pay for the equipment.
Board member Garey
Huff Sr. first said he
would recommend adding
the SROs, even though
the school district would
pay all the costs — sala
ries, benefits and equip
ment. However, when it
was pointed out those
SROs might be called to
help with an emergency,
he withdrew that recom
mendation.
Ken Greene, assistant
superintendent for support
services, said he wanted
the board to understand
the district does a lot of
things to contribute to
school safety.
He said the top priority
for school safety would
be the safety coordina
tor. That person would be
responsible for all safety
items.
Board members gen
erally agreed the safe
ty coordinator could be
added to the budget. That
person would make rec
ommendations about
security and safety items
to the board.
Board members Rickey
Bailey and Rolando Alva
rez said the district needs
someone to look at securi
ty issues.
Stevens suggested one
SRO per school might
not be needed because
the schools are so close
together. She used as an
example the Apalachee
High School area, which
has a high school, mid
dle school and elemen
tary school, close to one
another. She said two
SROs might be more than
adequate for those three
schools.
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Arcade City Park
Sat., April 28, 2018 • 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Rain or Shine
Pounding for Paws 5K Walk Run S3?
~ I soCtiy 1
Benefiting the Humane Society of Jackson County
Live Music: The Steve Bryson Band • Kristin Tinsley
Performances: Jackson County School System
Car Show: Benefiting Tri-County Shriners shriners Hospitals
for Children*
Bounce Houses • Face Painting • Food Vendors
Arts & Crafts • GACHIPS • Llama’s and More!
Directions: Exit 137 off 85 towards Athens • Highway 129 - Follow the signs
www.cityofarcade.org • 706-367-5500