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PAGE 8A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010
Parents make county school transfer requests
City comp, plan amended
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
ABOUT 30 students in
the Jackson County School
System are taking advantage
of a state law that allows
them to switch schools within
a district.
The state law, passed in
2009, allows parents to ask
a school system that their
child be transferred to anoth
er school in the same district
— as long as there's avail
able space. The 2010-2011
school year marks the second
year that the law has been in
effect.
The law — referred to as
House Bill 251 — doesn’t
allow students to choose a
new school that has been
open less than four years.
For the Jackson County
School System, the state law
meant that all of its schools
— except East Jackson
Comprehensive High School,
Gum Springs Elementary
School and Kings Bridge
Middle School — were
available for school choice
requests. The deadline to
apply was Thursday.
Superintendent Shannon
Adams said a major miscon
ception of the state law is that
it allows students to transfer
to schools in another school
system.
“A student from Madison
County, for example, can’t
use House Bill 251 to come to
Jackson County,” Adams said.
‘‘They can use (House Bill)
251 to try to attend another
school in Madison County,
but it allows only for transfers
within school systems and
not across district lines.”
A total of 35 requests
for transfers in the Jackson
County School System were
submitted and an additional
three requests were denied
because of lack of classroom
space, Adams said.
The top three schools
receiving the most requests to
get transferring students were
South Jackson Elementary
School with nine requests,
East Jackson Elementary
School with seven requests
and West Jackson Primary
School with four requests.
Overall, all of the schools
available to accept student
transfers received at least one
request.
As for where those students
are coming from, Benton
Elementary School will lose
the most students with 12
requests.
East Jackson Elementary
School, Maysville Elementary
School, North Jackson
Elementary School, South
Jackson Elementary School
and Kings Bridge Middle
School each had three stu
dents ask to transfer from
their schools.
‘‘The high school (trans
fer requests) were low, but
you’d expect that,” Adams
said. ‘‘By the time kids get
in high school, they’re not
going to want to transfer to
another school unless it’s just
absolutely essential.”
Two students from EJCHS
asked to transfer to JCCHS,
according to the school sys
tem.
And once a district
approves a student’s transfer
to another school, the parents
are responsible for providing
transportation, according to
the state law. Students may
stay at that new school until
they complete all grades of
the school.
Adams said the state law
has also confused parents
about how escalating conse
quences for failure to make
Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) affect school choice.
Those schools that don’t
meet AYP for two consecu
tive years in the same subject
may be labeled as “Needs
Improvement.” After a speci
fied number of years desig
nated as “NI,” school choice
is available to those students.
Adams said no schools in
the Jackson County School
System qualified for the
“Needs Improvement” des
ignation and none must offer
school choice for failure to
meet AYP. The state depart
ment of education recently
named three Jackson County
schools as failure to meet
AYP.
Parents may still appeal
their child’s designated school
attendance zone directly with
the Jackson County Board
of Education, which hears
requests and makes a deci
sion.
Over the past three years,
Adams estimated that the
board has heard 10 such
requests. The board denied
all of them.
School systems are required
to publish their list of avail
able schools for BH 251 by
July 1. The Jackson County
School System published a
newspaper ad and posted its
options on its website.
BY KATIE HUSTON
THE JEFFERSON-Talmo
Planning Commission recently
made revisions to the Future
Land Use Plan Map and text of
the Community Agenda, ridding
it of inconsistencies.
The Comprehensive Plan was
adopted in 2009, but coding
errors were soon noticed, accord
ing to planner Jerry Weitz.
“We discovered (the errors)
and decided that we needed to go
back and be sure that that Land
Use Plan reflected accurately
what existing land uses were and
zoning and so forth,” Weitz said.
Jefferson city manager John
Ward said that the planning com
mission might face amendments
such as this about once a year
until it’s time to do a total update
of the plan. He said that way it
will save time and money when
it comes down to completely
updating the plan.
“We’ll still get the community
input,” Ward said. "We’ll still take
all of the regular public meetings
and everything, but by the time
we get around to (completely
updating), we’ll all be so familiar
with it, we’ll all know it like the
back of our hand.”
The committee went into a
public hearing where no citizens
spoke in favor or opposition to
the changes.
The motion to amend the
Comprehensive Plan was
approved and it will go before the
Jefferson City Council on Aug.
9 at the Jefferson Civic Center
at 6 p.m.
OTHER BUSINESS
The following were approved
by the Jefiferson-Talmo Planning
Commission and will also go
before the Jefferson City Council
on Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson
Civic Center:
•a request from Tiger Direct,
com, an entity owned by CREC
Property Holdings, LLC, was
approved increasing the size of a
ground sign from 20 feet to 55.5
feet. The sign is located on a por
tion of the 37.7 acres of property
fronting the northwest side of
Hog Mountain Road. A sepa
rate request was also approved
increasing an area-restriction on
a sign from 96 square feet to
341 square feet. In addition, a
request was approved increasing
the number of wall signs per
mitted on a single building face
from one to two, and to allow
a total of four wall signs on the
building. The applicant desired
more signage to be viewed from
Interstate 85 in order to draw
more business.
•amended portions of Article
11 in the Land Use Management
Code (LUMC ) affecting "Specific
Use Provisions,” Principal
Residential Uses,” “Dwellings,
Single-Family and Two Family
and Manufactured Homes” and
deleted age restrictions on manu
factured homes.
•amended a portion of Article
2 in the LUMC affecting ‘Terms
Related to Residential Uses,” by
deleting the definition of modular
home, adopting the definition of
industrialized building and adopt
ing the definition of residential
industrialized building.
•amended portions of Article 9
affecting “General Development
Regulations,’’“ServiceFunctions”
and “Driveway Permit Required.”
In addition, provisions were
repealed in Articles 27 and 28
regarding a permit for work in
city right of ways.
•amended portions of
Article 11 affecting “Specific
Use Provisions,” “Principal
Residential Uses,” Multi-Family
Development,” "Institutional
Uses” and “Church.” In addi
tion, “Outparcel Development”
in “Principal Commercial
Uses” was deleted. “Retail and
Restaurant Uses Accessory to
Office, Institution or Lodging”
was re-tided.
•amended portions of Article 12
affecting “Parking and Loading,”
"Off-Street Parking” and “Off-
Street Parking Required;” as
well as deleted “Stormwater
Requirements for large Parking
Lots.”
•amended portions of
Article 21 affecting “Zoning
Amendments, Applications,
and Procedures,” "Rezoning,
Conditional Use and Concurrent
Variance Applications,” Criteria
to consider for Concurrent
Variances,” “Procedures for
Calling and Conducting a Public
Hearing,” “Report of Zoning
Administrator,” "Variances
and Appeals,” “Variances”
and "Criteria for Approval of
Variances.”
•amended portions of Article
21 modifying procedures gov
erning text amendments includ
ing "Zoning Amendments,
Applications and Procedures,”
"Text Amendments,” “Notice of
Public Hearing” and "Action by
Governing Bodies.”
•amended portions of Article
14A in Jefferson’s Flood
Damage Prevention Ordinance
changing the date of applicabil
ity of flood insurance rate maps
from Sept. 29, 2010 to Dec. 17,
2010.
•amended portions of Article
14B in Talmo’s Flood Damage
Prevention Ordinance changing
the date of applicability of flood
insurance rate maps from Sept.
29, 2010 to Dec. 17, 2010.
State-level policy changes to affect local schools
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
CHANGES FROM the state in education
policies will have a trickle down affect on
local schools this school year.
One of the biggest changes is that first
and second graders will no longer take the
Criterion-Referenced Competency Test
(CRCT), which had been given to all first
through eighth graders in Georgia.
The CRCT is a key test that not only
determines how well students understand the
state’s curriculum, but is also used in part to
determine if schools are making Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) — as required by the
federal No Child Left Behind Act.
But facing a budget shortfall, funding for
giving the CRCT to first and second grade
students was cut from this year’s state bud
get.
That means that students will take the all-
important test for the first time in the third
grade — when they’ll be required to pass the
reading portion of the CRCT to advance to
fourth grade.
State law also requires that filth and eighth
graders pass the reading and math assess
ments of the test to be promoted to the next
grade.
Jackson County School System superin
tendent Shannon Adams said he’s concerned
how well third graders will handle the CRCT
for the first time — since they won’t take it in
first and second grades.
"We’ll have to do a good job of preparing
kids to take tests in first and second grade,
(and) really starting in kindergarten,” he
said.
A bill signed by the governor in May
allows school systems to increase the maxi
mum number of students in a classroom
through the 2012-2013 school year.
The law allows classroom sizes to increase
by one to three students from the current
maximums, based on system-wide averages
for each district.
The Jackson County Board of Education
approved a resolution in June allowing larg
er classroom sizes for only the 2010-2011
school year.
"Unless we have an unexpected rate of
growth, I don’t think there will be any dis-
cemable difference that anyone will see,”
Adams said.
Using the system-wide averaging, how
ever, would financially help the district from
hiring additional teachers if more students
move into the school system, Adams said.
But, Adams said he doubts that the school
system will grow much during the school
year with the poor economy and real estate
market.
"We’ve talked and talked about it, and we
don’t see a big influx of students coming
because the conditions are not that much dif
ferent than last year,” he said.
Another new state law will require that
schools notify parents when their child has
been involved in a bullying incident.
Senate Bill 250 also tells the Georgia
Department of Education to develop a model
anti-bullying policy that can be used by local
schools.
The state law was signed by Gov. Perdue
in response to an 11-year-old Dekalb County
student who committed suicide in 2009 after
being bullied at school.
The Jackson County School System
already requires that middle and high school
students involved in three bullying incidents
in a school year be automatically sent to the
district’s alternative school, Adams said.
The board also recently eased its zero-tol
erance policy on weapons brought to schools
by students.
The change follows a new state law
— Senate Bill 299 — that also relaxes a
similar policy, after a Morgan County student
was arrested and kicked out of school for
turning himself in for accidentally bringing a
fishing knife to school in 2009.
In another state law — signed in 2009, but
effective starting the 2010-2011 school year
— schools will be required to have annual
fitness assessments on students.
Individual student results will be given to
parents and a district’s overall results will be
given to the state department of education.
The Jackson County School System
will conduct the assessments through
HealthMPowers, which piloted a similar pro
gram at West Jackson Intermediate School
last school year.
No progress on reopening secondary runway at Jackson County Airport
BYBENMUNRO
TALK OF reopening of the
Jackson County Airport’s cross-
winds runway continues, but it
doesn’t appear that planes will
be landing on it anytime soon.
The Jackson County Airport
Authority heard July 20 that
the Georgia Department of
Transportation (GDOT) has
offered zero support for the
reopening of this secondary
runway.
“They do not support us doing
this,” interim airport manager
Glen Boyd said. “They did tell
us if we want to do it, in their
eyes it’s a closed runway, and it
does not exist as a runway.”
The DOT said for the runway
to properly reopen, the Jackson
County Airport needs to add the
project to the Airport Layout
Plan (ALP) and conduct the
proper analysis.
“Go from there basically,”
Boyd said. "That’s their recom
mendation.”
Should it open, pavement
issues will arise, Boyd warned.
The FAA will not fund mainte
nance on a secondary runway.
Without FAA funds, the DOT
would be the only other option.
“Given the tone of what I
heard in my telephone conver
sation, frankly, I really think it’s
unlikely that we would get their
support for maintenance on that
runway,” Boyd said. “So it’s
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going to be a local issue on that
runway.”
For the past couple of years,
the airport authority had hoped
the runway would reopen. Now,
the timetable to reopen is indef
inite.
Boyd said opening the cross-
winds runway makes sense in
an ideal situation but doesn’t
feel it’s practical right now.
"I think it would be great
to have,” Boyd said. “I’d also
love to have a new car. I can’t
afford a new car. I’d be really
concerned that it wouldn’t be
prudent to do that in terms of
money.”
Boyd suggested the airport
start the analysis of the second
ary runway without investing a
lot of money and see what hap
pens in the future.
In other news, a resident
wanting the FAA, Georgia DOT
or the Jackson County Airport
to purchase his property, which
sits at the end of the airport’s
runway, could be out of luck.
Doug Legg said his prop
erty is no longer usable for a
residence, largely due to noise
problems. His land, however,
lies just outside the Jackson
County Airport runway’s safety
zones (perhaps by just 50 feet),
which apparently negates him
from any government help.
“GDOT and the FAA said,
‘He’s outside of it; we will not
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Sell said that if Legg wished
to rezone his property to make
it more attractable for sale, he
felt the airport authority would
support that move.
Also, the airport authority
once again heard concerns from
Max Allen, who owns a busi
ness at the airport, regarding
fuel sales.
Allen has asked for a com
parison of this year’s fuel sales
- which are down — compared
to last year’s.
One citizen said Jackson
County is losing fuel customers
to the Franklin County Airport.
Sell said the Jackson County
Airport can’t drop fuel prices
any lower.
"All I can say is that we’ve
looked at the numbers, and we
can’t compete with that fuel
price,” Sell said.
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