Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
my
>rV
MW.
H Wednesday, August 11, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 9 58 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<J COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•NWA gives illegal
raises page 2A
•JCCHS may get new
buildings sooner than
expected page 3A
Op /Ed:
•'State's math
changes a debacle'
page 4A
Sports:
•Dragons know rest of
Region 8-AA will be gun
ning for them this year .
page 1B
Features:
Kidney donor match
found via Facebook
page 1C
•Rescued pups ready for
new homes page 3C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
. . . pages IOC, 1-28D
•Church News
pages 11A 8t 5B
•Obituaries
page 7B
•School News
pages 12A & 6B
O -S
School enrollment numbers up slightly
FIRST DAY OF THIRD GRADE
Third grader Cole Dowdy is shown with his teacher,
Stefanie Poole, on the first day of class at East Jackson
Elementary School Thursday. See more first day photos
on pages 12A and 6B. Photo by Angela Gary
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
DESPITE THE slow real
estate market, schools in Jackson
County are still welcoming more
students — even if that growth is
just a glimmer of what it was
several years ago.
The Jackson County School
System opened its doors to stu
dents for the 2010-2011 school
year on Thursday. By the third
day of school on Monday, the
district reported that 7,022 stu
dents had enrolled for a gain of
117 students — a 1.6 percent
increase from last year.
At the Jefferson City Schools,
enrollment grew by 3.6 percent
from 2.709 students last year to
2,809 students this school year,
which started on Aug. 2.
Those numbers, however, are
just a fraction of the growth that
local school systems saw dur
ing the height of the real estate
boom in Jackson County.
At the start of the 2007-
2008 school year, the Jackson
County School System grew
by 438 students — or 7.2 per
cent. That same year, the dis
trict opened two new schools
— East Jackson Comprehensive
High School and Kings Bridge
Middle School — to deal with
the growth.
Also at the start of the 2007-
2008 school year, the Jefferson
City School System grew by
130 students — or 5.6 percent.
For the 2010-2011 school
year, East Jackson Elementary
School grew the most among
county schools by 44 students.
West Jackson Intermediate
School welcomed an additional
29 students, while West Jackson
Middle School grew by 26 stu
dents.
Maysville Elementary School
has 35 fewer students than
last school year, while Benton
Elementary School also dropped
its enrollment number by six
students, as of Monday.
While Jackson County
Comprehensive High School
lost 13 students from the previ
ous school year, EJCHS gained
21 students.
From the first day of school
on Thursday until the third day
of school on Monday, a total of
71 new students enrolled in the
Jackson County School System.
The district's numbers don’t
include the 160 lottery-funded
pre-kindergarten slots.
The Jefferson City School
reported that Jefferson High
School welcomed the most new
students with 49, as of Monday.
Jefferson Academy grew by
30 students, while 23 new stu
dents joined Jefferson Middle
School. Enrollment at Jefferson
Elementary School dropped by
two students.
Jackson Countv School System Enrollment*
School
2009-2010
2010-2011
BES
292
286
(-6)
EJES
468
512
(+44)
MES
397
362
(-35)
NJES
348
351
(+3)
SJES
509
523
(+14)
WJPS
351
356
(+5)
WJIS
317
346
(+29)
GSES
725
729
(+4)
EJMS
421
442
(+21)
WJMS
782
808
(+26)
KBMS
380
380
(0)
JCCHS
964
951
(-13)
EJCHS
942
963
(+21)
GSC (Alt)
9
13
(+4)
Total
6,905
7,022
(+117)
‘Figures do not include the 160 lottery-funded pre-kindergarten slots
in the school system. The numbers are from the third day of school.
Jefferson City School System*
School
2009-2010
2010-2011
JES
732
730
(-2)
JA
623
653
(+30)
JMS
615
638
(+23)
JHS
739
788
(+49)
Total
2,709
2,809
(+100
‘Figures include 80 lottery-funded pre-kinder
garten slots in the school system.
Jefferson’s total student enroll- System, enrollment grew by 1.06
ment of 2,809 does include 80 percent from 1,405 students last
pre-kindergarten slots, according school year to 1,420 students
to superintendent John Jackson. this school year, which started
At the Commerce City School on Monday.
Ginn wins in runoff
Health board reviews proposal on
school sex education curriculum
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County
Board of Health is edging
toward a recommendation that
the county school system change
its sex education policy and cur
riculum.
Meeting last Wednesday, the
board heard district health direc
tor Dr. Claude Burnett propose
“the next step,” a policy that
includes not just abstinence,
but also information about birth
control and sexually transmitted
diseases.
The Clarke County School
System recently adopted a new
policy, said Burnett, but most
school systems “have the old
policy which said abstinence
only, abstinence until marriage,
which is a desirable goal, but
does not address the issues suf
ficiently, given the realities of the
situation.”
One of the “realities” is that
Jackson County leads the health
district in the percentage of
babies bom to teenage mothers,
according to Burnett.
The Jackson County Health
Department provides birth con
trol information and birth control
at its Commerce and Jefferson
clinics. Burnett presented data
claiming that the two clinics pre
vented 81 teen pregnancies over
the last fiscal year, saving the
taxpayers more than $550,000
in services.
Burnett now wants to get the
information directly into the
schools.
“Part of the reason is there
are staff who have teens ask
them for information and staff
has felt unable to respond, hav
ing very stringent rules about
abstinence only,” he explained.
“This (new) policy has enabled
(Clarke County) staff to learn
more about it and to provide
information to teens they really
need, in part to graduate from
school. This has been a major
barrier for some teens in pro
gressing in their lives.”
Burnett wants the board
of health to recommend to
the Jackson County Board of
Education, and to the communi
ty, a similar change in the school
system’s policy.
“We will be talking with the
schools,” he said. “We would
like to have the board look this
over and see what comment you
might have in support of the
board of education passing such
a policy.”
The Clarke County policy also
addresses character education,
decision making, the legal con
sequences of parenthood, puber
ty and development, self esteem
and respect, sexually transmitted
diseases, communication skills,
community health services, peer
pressure, relationships, sexual
risk behavior and sexual vio
lence prevention. It is imple
mented through the Family Life
and Sexual Health curriculum
from King County, Wash., now
in use across the country and
free via the Internet.
“I think it’s a good idea,”
said member Brad Morris.
“Obviously, whatever we’ve
been doing in the past has not
worked.”
The board made no decision.
Chairman Henry Slocum asked
members to read over the mate-
continued on page 5A
To face Riley
in November
MADISON COUNTY’S
Frank Ginn defeated Shane
Coley of Barrow County in a run
off Tuesday for the Republican
nomination for the District 47
State Senate seat.
District-wide, Ginn defeat
ed Coley 55.3 to 44.7 percent
(8,962 to 7,256 votes). He edged
Coley 2,344 to 2,306 in Jackson
County.
Ginn will now face Democrat
Tim Riley in the November gen-
BYKERRI TESTEMENT
A MAJOR drop in the coun
ty's tax digest will eat away
at the Jackson County School
System’s recent budget surplus
by $2.4 million, according to
officials.
District officials recently
announced that the school sys
tem ended the 2010 fiscal year
on June 30 with a $3.3 mil
lion surplus — after starting the
2009-2010 school year with a
$908,600 shortfall.
But a large portion of that
surplus — which was largely
gained with dramatic cuts,
including layoffs — was slashed
last week when school system
officials learned that the Jackson
County tax digest was expected
to drop at least 5.3 percent this
faft.
The news was especially bad
for the Jackson County School
System, because its tax digest
is slated to fall by 6.2 percent
or more.
The difference leaves the
county school system with an
estimated $900,000 surplus.
“It's still positive,” said Jeff
Sanchez, assistant superinten
dent of finance and information
services, during the board of
education's Thursday meeting.
The positive balance is key
eral election.
The Republican candidate
for the state senate seat said
Wednesday morning that election
night was an emotional occasion.
He spoke of his family's tragedy
last fall, when his 10-year-old
son lost his life in an accident al
the family farm. Ginn, who had
already announced his intent to
run for the senate seat formerly
held by Ralph Hudgens, dropped
out of the race following the
loss of his son. He got back into
the race months later after Pat
Graham, whom he supported
continued on page 2A
for the Jackson County School
System, which had been required
to submit monthly fund balance
sheets to the state department of
education while it remained in
a deficit.
The state says any local school
system that has been required to
submit a deficit elimination plan
may stop sending the monthly
reports one year after it's out
of deficit — or if it ends a fis
cal year with operating reserves
totaling at least 10 percent of
the property tax revenue col
lected during the calendar year,
Sanchez said.
After crunching the numbers,
the Jackson County School
System has surpassed that
threshold, he said.
The Jackson County School
System levies 18.95 mills in
property taxes for maintenance
and operation. The drop in the
tax digest means one mill is now
valued at $1.6 million in reve
nue, while it was previously $1.7
million, according to Sanchez.
The estimated $2.4 million
loss of property tax revenue for
the school system is if the coun
ty collects 100 percent of taxes.
At the end of the 2010 fiscal
year, the county school system
continued on page 5A
Chamber to host SPLOST meeting
Public invited to get details no Nov. 2 vote
THE CAMPAIGN to renew the special pur
pose local option sales tax is under way.
The Jackson County Area Chamber of
Commerce has announced a “town hall meeting”
on SPLOST 5 for next Wednesday, Aug. 18. at 8
a.m. in the Jackson EMC auditorium. Jefferson.
The meeting is free and a light breakfast will
be offered.
President Shane Short said the program will
include reports on what the current tax, SPLOST
4, has accomplished, along with details on how
the next round of the tax. SPLOST 5. would be
used.
The chamber has accepted the job of promot
ing the passage of the referendum on behalf of
local governments, which are prohibited by law
from using public funds to promote (or oppose)
the referendum.
The current tax expires next June. The refer
endum for another six-year collection is set for
Tuesday. Nov. 2. during the general election.
Passage of the referendum is expected to
result in the collection of $47.5 million over six
years. The Jackson County government and the
county’s nine municipalities have agreed on how
that money will be split among the governments.
Each government has also approved a formula for
how it will use its share of the proceeds.
Sales taxes trending up
FOR THE first five months of 2010, sales tax
revenues in Jackson County are up 10 percent over
the same period last year.
So far, the county has collected $2.2 million in
sales taxes through May. That compares to a total
collection in 2009 of $5 million.
The county anticipates collecting $5.2 million
for aft of 2010.
The year 2007 was the highpoint for sales tax
collections in the county at $6.3 million.
Drop in digest to cost
schools $2.4 million