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PAGE 2A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018
Home sales hot over the last year in northeast Georgia
Home sales have been hot in northeast Georgia over the last year, according to
data from the Norton Agency in Gainesville. Gwinnett County continued to lead
the area in total home sales between April 2017 through March 2018 with 12,002
houses sold. Forsyth County was second with 4,477 home sales, followed by Hall
County at 2,330.
Barrow County was fourth at 1,557 and Jackson County was fifth at 1,412.
Banks County had the fewest home sales in the area at 157.
Year-over-year data for just the month of March from the Georgia MLS service
shows that the average sales price in the area has gone up over the last 12 months.
The following chart shows the number of home sold and the average price for
March 2017 vs. March 2018:
County
March 17 sold
March 17 Price
March 18 Sold
March 18 Price
Banks
14
$156,300
15
$160,500
Barrow
149
$165,700
158
$187,500
Gwinnett
973
$254,369
943
$278,600
Hall
254
$254,400
199
$281,100
Jackson
147
$219,200
148
$230,900
Barrow school board rejects
Advanced Placement textbook,
citing ‘liberal-leaning ’ bias
GOVERNOR’S HONORS
Apalachee High School students who will attend the state’s gover
nor’s honors program this summer are, from left, Holly McCauley,
Maraline Saenz, Kelly Eick and Henry Craig. Photo by Ron Bridgeman
Four students from Apalachee
High School to attend
governor’s honors program
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
Four students from Apalachee
High School will attend the state’s
governor’s honors program this
summer.
The four will study different sub
jects at the Berry College campus
for the month-long program, June
17-July 14.
The program is designed to pro
vide intellectually gifted and artis
tically talented high school students
challenging and enriching educa
tional opportunities not usually
available during the regular school
year.
AHS students who will attend
and their fields of study are: Henry
Craig, science; Kelly Eick, com
municative arts; Holly McCauley,
social studies; and Maraline Saenz,
world languages, Spanish.
All are juniors except Eick, who
is a sophomore.
It is the most students the school
has had qualify for the program in
the past four years.
About 670 students attend the
program. About 1,600 interviewed
for the schools.
Craig, who said his “dream
school” is the Massachusetts Insti
tute of Technology, said he has
“always been interested in” science.
He plans to major in computer
science in college and is on the
robotics team at Sims Academy of
Innovation and Technology.
He is the president of the robotics
team and former vice president of
finance. He was the highest-scoring
member of the academic team and is
a section leader, playing saxophone,
in the band.
He takes AP and honors classes.
McCauley said she is “really pas
sionate” about political science. She
plans to study law, probably consti
tutional law.
She would like to attend New York
University and also is considering
Emory and William & Mary.
She is a drum major for the
school’s marching band and is an
officer of the Beta Club and National
Honors Society.
She was named an AP scholar with
honor.
Saenz, who has spoken Spanish all
her life, said it is becoming more and
more important.
“More people are going to need to
learn (it),” she said.
She plans to become a surgeon and
hopes to go to Emory University.
Saenz is in the National Span
ish Honor Society and the Hispanic
Organization Promoting Education.
She received a certificate for Span
ish honors and takes AP and honors
classes.
Eick said she is “really good at
public speaking. That’s what I really
like to do.”
The sophomore plans to get a
medical degree in global health or
epidemiology.
She plans to work on international
policy in infectious diseases and
hopes to attend Duke University.
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
The Barrow County Board of Educa
tion rejected a textbook for an Advanced
Placement government and politics class
Tuesday on a 4-4 tie.
The vote was women versus men on
the board. Voting to reject the textbook,
which vice-chair Lynn Stevens said is
heavily biased, were Suzanne Angle, Ste
vens, Connie Wehunt and Debi Krause.
Voting for the recommended text were
Rolando Alvarez, Rickey Bailey, Mark
Still and Garey Huff Sr. Board mem
ber Michael Shelley did not attend the
meeting.
The College Board, which oversees the
AP courses, requires students in those
courses to have a textbook.
Superintendent Chris McMichael rec
ommended the text and said he did not
know what course of action might be
available to the board with the rejection
of the text.
He said the text is an updated version
of the current textbook.
It was one of four AP courses that had
new texts recommended for purchase.
The College Board requires that texts
be no more than 10 years old, and all
four are at the age limit. The other texts
— biology, calculus and statistics —
unanimously were adopted. The books
cost between $114 and $145 each.
Stevens raised objections to the text at
the board’s work session and asked that
it be voted on separately.
The other three texts were approved as
part of the board’s consent agenda.
The text has “serious problems,” Ste
vens said. “It has a serious bias in one
direction.”
Stevens said the “direction” is liber
al-leaning and added, “I would be just
as concerned if it had been a bias on the
right.”
She characterized the text as the “best
of the bad” and called on the board to
take a stand against the bias.
“Somebody has to make a stand,” she
said. “It might as well start in Barrow
County.”
McMichael pointed out the classes
also use the U.S. Constitution and other
“primary” sources in the AP class.
Stevens and McMichael praised the
teachers for the class, saying they are
“outstanding.”
Stevens said she has objected to a text
book for the same kind of bias before.
Board member Rickey Bailey asked
what happens to the class if a text is not
approved.
McMichael said he does not know, but
it might mean not having the course.
Board member Garey Huff said board
members are instructed not to “micro
manage” their school system.
But, he said, he believes, “in some
fashion, the people who elect us expect
us to know what our kids are being
taught.”
Chairman Mark Still said he believes
the only way the subject can be reconsid
ered is if one of the people voting “no”
ask that it be reconsidered.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the board:
•agreed to sell the former central school
office on Church Street for $275,000.
Closing on the property would be in
60 days. The building has about 7,000
square feet of rentable space and is on a
lot that is 0.73 acres.
•heard Lynn Stevens say the board
should “revisit” giving staff members a
raise, or bonus, at its December meeting.
One of the options the board discussed
for the FY2019 budget was to increase
the salary schedules between 1 and 2.5
percent. That was dropped because of
the cost.
•approved the purchase of “leveled
readers” books for Holsenbeck Elemen
tary School. Money from the school’s
fund will be used to make the $32,000
purchase.
•approved Royal Produce and May-
field Dairy as the produce and milk ven
dors for FY2019.
•agreed to a consulting contract with
CDW of Illinois for an email upgrade
for the district. The cost is estimated to
be $32,980 and will be no more than
$39,576.
•learned the schools received $950,677
in ELOST money in April and the dis
trict is getting 5.7 percent more money in
that fund than year-to-date in 2017.
•learned the school district had a
reserve fund of $22.4 million at the end
of April.
•heard McMichael and Angela Moton,
assistant superintendent for teaching and
learning, recognize 35 people who are
retiring at the end of this school year.
They represent nearly 600 years of expe
rience in the schools.
Budget continued from 1A
is projected to increase about 13
percent for 2018.
The board adopted the budget
unanimously and without discussion
Tuesday.
Jennifer Houston, assistant super
intendent for business services, told
the BOE the district spends more
than 86 percent of its budget on sal
ary and benefits.
The 2019 budget will include
an increase in “step” increases for
experience and education levels of
about $1.6 million. That is for teach
ers and non-certifted employees.
The new positions will cost near
ly $2.5 million. The budget also
includes 6.5 new positions for spe
cial education paraprofessionals,
$199,050; a halftime school psy
chologist, $32,000; and an assistant
principal at Russell Middle School,
$50,000.
About $1 million of the increase
will be for five new bus drivers,
a transportation mechanic, payroll
clerk and increases in contracts and
utilities costs.
The instruction category, which
includes teachers’ salaries and ben
efits, is about $85.6 million, an
increase of $5.4 million over the
current year. Other major categories
include maintenance and operations,
$9.7 million, up about $300,000;
school administration, $7.9 mil
lion, an increase of about $268,000;
and transportation, $7.7 million, up
about $384,000.
The board agreed last week to add
two items to the budget. They are
adding 2 percent to the salary sched
ule for those who got a bonus, but
not a salary increase, in this year’s
budget and a new position of safety
coordinator.
The salary increase includes most
of the people in the central office.
The cost is $438,300. The new safe
ty position, which would be in the
central office, is projected to cost
$120,935.
The state is requiring the local
system to contribute more to the
teachers’ retirement system. The
total cost for teacher retirement is
$14.2 million. The increase for 2019
is 4.09 percent, $3 million. That
total does not include money indi
vidual teachers put in the system.
Other state requirements will
add $90,100 for classified employ
ees’ health insurance. The classi
fied insurance now costs the dis
trict as much as teacher insurance.
The district pays $13.7 million in
health insurance for all employees,
$ 11,340 per employee.
Fong participates in GTA production
Laura Fong, from
Bethlehem, participat
ed in the Gainesville
Theatre Alliance pro
duction of “Monstrous
Regiment” Feb. 16-24 at
the University of North
Georgia’s Ed Cabell
Theatre. She worked
on the marketing and
served as an usher.
Fong is a class of 2018
student majoring in act
ing at Brenau Univer
sity.
She is a graduate of
Apalachee High School.
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