Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3A
County school administrators hold two-day retreat
SPEAKS AT RETREAT
Cass Robinson, literacy support specialist, spoke at
the Jackson County Board of Education retreat in
Jefferson Tuesday.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
BY SHARON HOGAN
THE ADMINISTRATIVE
personnel with the Jackson
County School System are
taking part in a two-day
retreat this week in the audi
torium at Jackson Electric
Membership Corporation.
To kick-off the retreat on
Tuesday, Pam Daniels, spoke
to the group about the place
ment of teachers in the class
rooms and the emphasis to
make sure highly qualified
teachers are hired. Daniels
works with 33 school sys
tems through RESA.
“Highly qualified is a
federally-imposed standard
for minimum qualifications
and focuses on subject mat
ter knowledge,” she said.
“The title of certified deals
with the certificate. Highly-
qualified deals with the
expertise of that teacher to
teach.”
Daniels stated the No
Child Left Behind act places
a major emphasis on teacher
quality as a factor in improv
ing student achievement -
and schools must describe
their success in terms of stu
dent achievement.
Mike Vanairsdale,
Performance Leadership
Consultant, Georgia’s
Leadership Institute for
School Improvement, spoke
to the group about the bal
anced scorecard during the
second part of Tuesday’s
session. Vanairsdale has 37
years of leadership experi
ence in the military and in
school systems.
Vanairsdale said a school
leader has eight roles. They
are: data analysis leader:
curriculum, assessment and
instruction leader; perfor
mance leader; operations
leaders; relationship leader;
process improvement leader;
change leaders; and learning
and performance develop
ment leader.
Vanairsdale said, “A bal
anced scorecard is a tool that
translates the organizational
mission and vision into a
comprehensive set of per
formance measures, linked
through a framework of bal
anced organizations strategic
goals areas.”
The balanced scorecard:
provides a performance
measurement tool; provides
a strategic management sys
tem; becomes a communica
tion tool - both inside and
outside the organization; and
eliminates SPOTS (Strategic
Plans On The Shelf).
Vanairsdale said the ques
tions most people in leader
ship ask is, “What’s in it for
me?”
The answer to that is it helps
with Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools
(SACS) accreditation, feder
al consolidated grant appli
cations, curriculum reviews,
system improvement plans
and SACS follow-up.
Vanairsdale said the sys
tem’s vision statement needs
to be specific, objective and
measureable. “The vision is
important,” he said.
The strategic goal areas are
student achievement, student
and stakeholder engagement,
internal processes and learn
ing and growth.
The Jackson County
School System’s goal areas
are: mission, beliefs and
visions. Covered in the goal
areas are: student achieve
ment, operational effective
ness, student, parent and
community engagement, and
internal and external stake
holder communications.
After breaking for lunch,
Vanairsdale discussed with
the group developing the bal
anced scorecard and select
ing performance measures
and developing performance
measures and SMART tar
gets.
County personnel gave a
presentation on the adminis
trative handbook and general
procedures.
WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday, county
staff planned to discuss the
RTI manual and scheduling
training, central registration,
credit recovery, House Bill
251, state reporting, cam
pus ad hoc reports, campus
CRCT demo, IC behavior,
data dig - system IP, SACS
recommendations - progress
check, the administrative
handbook and the balanced
scorecard.
Graham continued from 1A
CASA volunteer training
coming up Aug. 18-Sept. 29
ing as Braselton’s mayor and
was profiled in a Georgia
Trend magazine cover story
this year.
She serves on the State
Water Council as a mem
ber of the Upper Oconee
Board. Her peers across
Georgia have recognized her
by electing her to the Board
of Directors of the Georgia
Municipal Association and
she also serves as Chair of
the Municipal Government
Legislative Policy Committee
for GMA.
Graham also repre
sents the cities of Barrow
County on the Board of the
Northeast Georgia Regional
Development Center and
she serves on the Board of
Directors for the Jackson
County Area Chamber
of Commerce and the
Barrow County Chamber of
Commerce.
Elections for Braselton
mayor will be in November
and Graham said she’s mak
ing her announcement now
so that others can consider
the open mayor’s seat. In the
last election, Graham was re
elected with over 70 percent
of the vote.
"I chose to make this
announcement at this time
for dual reasons - to allow
residents of Braselton ample
time to consider the munici
pal elections this November
and to show citizens of the
47th Senate District my com
mitment to a positive, issue-
focused campaign during the
upcoming year,” she said.
District 47 is made up of
all of Barrow, Madison and
Oglethorpe counties, as well
as a large part of Jackson
County and smaller areas of
Elbert and Clarke counties.
The Republican Primary
for the Senate race will be
July 13, 2010.
TRAINING FOR volun
teers interested in serv
ing the Court Appointed
Special Advocates (CASA)
program will be held Aug.
18-Sept. 29.
“Know true satisfaction
when you help a child
in foster care find a bet
ter future by becoming a
Court Appointed Special
Advocate,” said Annette
Raymond, director. “You
help the child on your
schedule (five to 10 hours
per month) and CASA
staff is there to support
you.”
The training class meets
every Tuesday evening
from Aug. 18 through
Sept. 29 from 6 to 9 p.m.
“You need no special
experience to become
an advocate,” Raymond
adds.
For more information on
CASA and the training,
contact Raymond at 706-
387-6375.
Food bank hours announced
THE HOURS of operation of the Banks-Jackson
Emergency Food Bank, located at 111 Atlanta Avenue,
Commerce, are from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The food bank provides one-time emergency food sup
plies for individuals and families referred by churches or
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Concrete manufacturer
considers county site
By Mark Beardsley
AFTER JUNE, in which
not one new industrial
development project looked
at Jackson County, things
are picking up in July.
Shane Short, president of
the Jackson County Area
Chamber of Commerce,
briefed the Jackson County
Industrial Development
Authority last Friday on
new prospects.
Among them was a com
pany that manufactures con
crete materials that is look
ing for 200,000 square feet
of space at a couple of sites.
It would hire 100-125 peo
ple. Short said the company
visited Jackson County the
previous week.
A Korean company that
manufactures electric cars is
looking at a site in Jackson
County - along with several
other sites in Georgia and
other states.
It plans to hire 300-350
workers.
In addition, Short said,
the chamber sent proposals
to two “bio-companies,” one
of which would hire 40 peo
ple, utilize a 50,000-square-
foot facility and manufac
ture testing kits.
“These are high-paying
jobs and the equipment
is very expensive,” Short
said.
Jackson County has linked
itself with several other
counties to form the “inno
vation crescent,” where the
focus is on attracting bio-
technical firms due to the
proximity of the University
of Georgia, Georgia Tech,
the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and
Emory University.
At the same time, it is
turning its focus away from
distribution centers, which
have been attracted to the
county due to its location
on Interstate 85.
“It’s a matter of educat
ing the state (economic
development officials) as
to where we are working,”
Short said. “We’ve got a lot
of tire-kickers. Now we just
need to seal some deals.”
So far in 2009, the county
has worked on 30 projects,
23 of which are still open.
Arcade qualifying ahead
QUALIFYING FOR the
positions of mayor and five
council members at large
for the City of Arcade will
be held at Arcade City Hall
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday, August 31, through
Wednesday, September 2.
Qualifying fees for the
office of mayor are $156.
Qualifying fees for the
office of council member
at large are $36. The quali
fying fee shall be paid to
the city administrator at the
time the notice of candidacy
is filed.
The City of Arcade will
conduct a general election
on Tuesday, November 3,
from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The current mayor and
council members are as fol
lows: mayor, Doug Haynie;
and council members, Ron
Smith, Dean Bentley, Cindy
Bone, Polly Davis and Tom
Hays.
Commissioners finalizing
comp plan committee
BY ANGELA GARY
A CITIZENS commit
tee to oversee the update
of Jackson County’s
comprehensive plan is
being formed by the
Jackson County Board of
Commissioners.
The BOC reviewed a list
of 30 possible members
Monday night and decided
to narrow the list down
to four representatives
from each commissioner.
In addition to these 20
people, the committee will
also include a representa
tive from the BOC, as well
as the county planning
commission. An at-large
member and two minority
representatives will also be
on the committee.
The committee will serve
in an advisory capacity
only. All recommendations
will be forwarded to the
BOC for final action.
At least 10 meetings will
be held in the effort to
update the county’s com
prehensive plan.
The plan is due to be
finalized in October 2010.
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