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PAGE 8A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010
School furlough days not set yet for county, city
Districts weighing options
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
OFFICIALS WITH the Jackson County
and Jefferson City schools haven't decided
yet when to take three additional furlough
days.
Gov. Sonny Perdue outlined a proposed
budget on Friday that calls for three more
unpaid furlough days for teachers and other
state employees.
The furlough days would have to be
taken during the current fiscal year, which
ends on June 30.
Already, school systems across the state
have taken three furlough days this school
year.
With the slumping economy, school dis
tricts have been anticipating additional fur
lough days — but the question remained
how many unpaid days would be required
and when they must be taken.
“It was real clear that state revenue
had not increased,” said Shannon Adams,
superintendent of the Jackson County
School System. “When you talk about state
revenue being down 14-16 percent over the
same month previous year, that’s just not
good news.”
The district has two options for setting
the mandatory furlough days, he said.
The first option would trim three school
days from the remainder of the school year
to equal 177 days in class for students — as
opposed to the required 180 days.
That option would require the Jackson
County Board of Education to meet in the
coming days to ask the Georgia Department
of Education for a waiver, Adams said on
Wednesday. The state needs any requested
waiver by Tuesday, Jan. 26.
The second option would center on the
four remaining teacher planning days in the
district’s 2009-2010 school calendar.
The Jackson County School System has
two regular teacher planning days remain
ing, along with two post-planning days at
the end of the school year. It also has to
take into account the potential of using the
days for inclement weather.
The second option would take three of
those four teacher planning days for the
furlough days, Adams said.
The Jefferson City School is also limited
in its options for taking the three furlough
days, according to superintendent John
Jackson.
“We don’t have many days left available
to us,” he said on Tuesday.
The city school system has three remain
ing teacher post planning days, Jackson
said. District officials haven’t decided
when to take the furlough days.
Another proposal from the governor is
also generating controversary across the
state.
Last week, Perdue announced a plan to
change how teachers are paid based on a
performance-based system. The compen
sation model would award salary bonuses
based on classroom observation and stu
dent growth, according to the governor.
Currently, teachers can earn an auto
matic pay increase if they earn an advanced
degree.
Perdue said his proposal would pre
serve the current salary structure, but will
allow current teachers to opt-in to the
new performance pay system when it is
fully implemented in 2014. New teach
ers and those opting into the pay system
will not be eligible for automatic supple
ments for advanced degrees, but will be
eligible for higher bonuses based on class
room observations and student academic
achievement.
Adams said he’s adamantly against the
proposal, which he said would be “grossly
unfair” — especially to teachers whose
areas don’t require state testing to measure
student achievement, such as physical edu
cation and music.
“I’m against performance-based com
pensation for teachers,” Adams said. “I
don’t think there’s any conceivable way to
do it fairly. The majority of it would have
to fall on standardized test scores, and you
cannot level the playing field based on
those issues.”
Jackson is also concerned how counsel
ors, foreign language teachers, vocational
teachers and other educators could benefit
from the proposal.
“I’ve got a good many questions about
it,” Jackson said. “I don’t know if I have
a hard and fast opinion on it, as it stands
right now. But I do have some questions
about it.”
The proposed performance-based pay
system could lead to the best teachers
wanting to teach only the best students to
improve the teachers’ chances of better
pay, he said.
Both superintendents said there’s been
no word on how Perdue’s proposed chang
es would be funded or additional details
since the governor’s announcement.
Improved WJ fire rating could help lower bills
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
WEST JACKSON residents
may soon learn if they’ll pay
less for their homeowners insur
ance rates.
The West Jackson Fire
Department has been working
for two years gathering data to
submit to ISO — a company
that uses information to deter
mine a rating of a community’s
fire-fighting capabilities.
The New Jersey-based com
pany looks at how well a fire
department receives fire alarms
and dispatches its resources, the
number of engines to fight fires
in a community and sufficient
water supply, according to its
website.
The West Jackson Fire
Department expects to learn the
results of a possible new ISO
rating in three weeks, chief Ben
Stephens said at a town hall
meeting in Hoschton last week.
If the fire department is given
a better ISO rating, that means
homeowners should see their
insurance ratings reduced, he
added.
The West Jackson Fire
Department is one of 12 fire
districts in Jackson County that
is independently operated by a
board that sets a property tax
millage rate, Stephens said.
And while the other fire dis
tricts were created through the
board of commissioners, the
West Jackson Fire Department
was established through the
Georgia General Assembly.
The only source of revenue
for the West Jackson Fire
Department is property taxes,
Stephens said.
“We’re not part of Jackson
County government,” he said.
“We are a separate entity.”
The West Jackson Fire
Department operates one fire
station with four fire engines,
he explained. It offers 24/7 fire
protection with seven volun
teers, eight part-time employees
and seven full-time employees.
There are also eight EMTs and
11 first responders.
The fire department has
grown from one paid employee
FIRE SERVICES
West Jackson fire chief
Ben Stephens talks about
local fire protection dur
ing a town hall meeting at
the Hoschton Depot.
Photo by Kerri Testement
in 2000 to seven paid employees
currently — which has helped
reduce incident response times,
Stephens said.
The West Jackson fire district
is 30 square miles and its fire
board has five elected repre
sentatives, he added. For the
past three years, the board has
lowered the West Jackson fire
tax, while increasing services
and its finances remaining in
the black.
NEW HOSCHTON PARK
Construction on a concession
stand for a new recreational park
in Hoschton is slated to start this
week, according to one official.
Rick Sanders, director of
the Jackson County Parks and
Recreation, said last week that
the construction will continue to
move along.
The county is building a
new park next to West Jackson
Primary School on Ga. Hwy. 53
in the spot of a decades-old rec
reation field. The estimated 10
acres for the park were donated
to the county by the Jackson
County Board of Education and
the City of Hoschton for the
project.
The revamped Hoschton Park
will feature a baseball field, soc
cer field, multi-purpose fields, a
concession stand and an almost
half-mile paved walking trail.
The board of commissioners
recently approved $274,900 for
outdoor lighting at the park.
The park is being funded with
sales tax funds approved by vot
ers in 2005 and has an estimated
price tag of $800,000, Sanders
said.
The park is slated to open in
June, he added.
AREA ROAD PROJECTS
Two road projects spearhead
ed by Jackson County will have
a significant impact on traffic
traveling through Braselton and
Hoschton.
The county is slated to start
construction in 2010 on a
revamped Zion Church Road
in Braselton, meanwhile, the
county is laying the ground
work for a possible Ga. Hwy.
53 bypass around Braselton and
Hoschton.
The Zion Church Road proj
ect starts at the intersection of
Ga. Hwy. 124 at Tom White
Road and will continue near the
Braselton Library.
When completed, the por
tion of the road from Ga. Hwy.
53 to Tom White Road toward
Jefferson will be called Lewis
Braselton Parkway; the southern
portion will be called Broadway
Avenue, Clerici said. It be the
new route of Ga. Hwy. 124
when finished.
Property acquisition has
slowed the project, which was
slated to start in the fall of 2009,
Clerici said. The county has
acquired 95 percent of the esti
mated 125 parcels required for
the Zion Church Road project.
One key problem spot in
Braselton — the intersection of
Ga. Hwy. 53 at a traffic light
for 1-85 northbound, where the
existing Zion Church Road
ends just feet from an interstate
entrance ramp — will be fixed
with the project.
Once completed, there will
no longer be access to what will
become the former Zion Church
Road. Instead, there will just
be an entrance for a nearby gas
station.
Jackson County officials are
also considering a possible cor
ridor to preserve from future
development in Braselton and
Hoschton that would establish
a route for a proposed Ga. Hwy.
53 bypass.
“We’ve come pretty close to
an alignment,” Clerici said of
the project.
Drivers can also expect a
new traffic signal in about six
months at the intersection of Ga.
Hwy. 124 and Ga. Hwy. 332,
near Publix and CVS in West
Jackson.
CVS is paying for a traffic
study of the intersection and
donating rights-of-way for the
signal, Clerici said.
Jackson County officials want
a traffic signal designed similar
to one recently installed on Ga.
Hwy. 211 in Braselton, across
from an entrance at Chateau
Elan and Thompson Mill Road/
Liberty Church Road.
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Prison escapee caught in
Banks County on Friday
A PRISON escapee who
was spotted several times in
Jackson County after esca
ping from a work detail in
Buford was apprehended last
week.
Anthony Eugene Miller, 29,
an escapee from the Phillips
State Prison in Buford, was
taken into custody on Friday
in Banks County.
Miller escaped from a
work detail in August 2009
and has been hiding since
that time. Undercover offi
cers from the Jackson County
Sheriff’s Office followed a
vehicle driven by a white
female to a house on Hwy.
323 in Banks County on
Friday. The woman repor
tedly picked Miller up the
house and he got into the car
and laid down in the back
seat. A Banks County deputy
stopped the car as it traveled
along Carson Segars Road.
Miller was taken to the
Banks County Jail and
was later transferred to the
Jackson County Jail to be
held until being transported
back to the Department of
Corrections.
Hoschton council outlines
transition for city clerk
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
HOSCHTON WILL
“phase out” one of its assis
tant city clerks while train
ing a new top city clerk.
As part of its effort to
crunch its 2010 general fund
budget, the Hoschton City
Council approved details
on Friday night that include
phasing out an assistant
city clerk during the transi
tion period of welcoming a
new city clerk.
Hoschton hasn’t had
a certified city clerk —
which is required by law —
since Kristen Mahan sud
denly departed in October.
Assistant city clerk Karen
Butler has been serving as
interim city clerk while a
council committee looks at
hiring a new clerk.
Hoschton currently has
two assistant city clerks —
Butler and Teresa Heath.
Mayor Erma Denney
didn’t want to say on Friday
which assistant city clerk
would no longer have a job
with the city in 2010.
“I don’t wish to comment
on which clerk,” she said
at a called council meet
ing. “But we are retain
ing a clerk and phasing in
another.”
Council member Theresa
Kenerly said the city clerk
position was offered to both
Butler and Heath. Butler
also served as interim city
clerk after the departure
of former city clerk Cindy
Edge in 2008.
Before leaving, former
city clerk Mahan was earn
ing $67,000 a year in salary
and benefits. Mahan didn’t
start her employment with
Hoschton as a certified city
clerk and the city helped
pay for her training.
Denney said the amended
2010 general fund budget
includes a $40,000 sal
ary for the city clerk, plus
training and travel costs for
that person to become a
certified city clerk.
The mayor has said that
she considers the city clerk’s
position “the center of the
universe” for Hoschton and
wants a driven individual
who will settle into the city
for the long run.
Hoschton hasn’t placed
an ad for the city clerk yet,
she added.
“We’ve discussed it,”
Denney said. “We’ve got
a committee. That’s anoth
er step. But the phase-
in, phase-out is the ideal
approach that we can do so
that the skills of the current
clerk are transferred to the
incoming clerk.”
One position that won’t
be advertised any time soon
for Hoschton is the plan
ning department director.
In trimming costs from the
2010 general fund budget,
the council cut the $52,200
in salary and benefits for the
planning and development
department. Director Wistar
Harmon was the only per
son in the city department.
Hoschton officials plan
to outsource planning and
development work when
needed. Before hiring
Harmon in 2006, the city
contracted its planning ser
vices with a consultant.
The amended 2010 bud
get — which was approved
during a called meeting on
Wednesday, Jan. 12 — fur
ther calls for the elimina
tion of one public works
position.
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