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PAGE 2A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2010
State to phase out graduation test
Medical center seeks input on name change
Bryant speaks on education at chamber gathering
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
STUDENTS enter
ing Georgia high
schools next school
year won't have to
worry about taking the
Georgia High School
Graduation Test four
years later.
Speaking Nov. 3 to
the Jackson County
Area Chamber of
Commerce, interim
state school superintendent
Brad Bryant explained that the
Georgia Board of Education
intends to remove the test as
a graduation requirement in
favor of end-of-course exams
in each subject.
“From a student standpoint,
from a parent standpoint, from
a teacher standpoint, it felt like
we were spending too much
time on tests and not enough
time on content," Bryant said.
He also reported that high
school seniors complained
about being tested on material
covered four years prior.
For the 2011-12 school year,
the end-of-course tests will
account for 15 percent of a
student’s grade in a class. That
figure will move to 25 percent
in the 2013-14 school year.
Bryant will turn the reins of
Georgia K-12 education over
to John Barge Jan. 1 following
Barge's election as state school
superintendent Nov. 3.
“The state of
Georgia got it right
last night,” said
Bryant, referring
to that election.
“We’ve got a very
good individual in
John Barge.”
Bryant went
through a
PowerPoint pre
sentation on “hot
topics” related
to Georgia education. They
included the federal Race
to the Top program, a new
data system, the Common
Core Georgia Performance
Standards, a movement toward
national education standards,
the GHSGT, and a “perfor
mance index.”
He spoke generally about
plans to put a higher priority
on science and math educa
tion. including making science
the second Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) indicator.
On the subject of funding,
Bryant said the upcoming state
supplemental budget (for the
current fiscal year) and the
budget for fiscal year 2012 will
be “extremely difficult” for
education, with Quality Basic
Education funding cuts of two
to four percent anticipated.
The state has also increased
the high school math require
ments starting in2012. Students
will be required to take Math 1,
Math 2 and two other classes,
although Bryant expressed
some concern that a significant
increase in the math require
ments might create “standards
that discourage students from
staying in school.”
Asked about the future of
the HOPE Scholarship amid
discussion that eligibility
requirements should be tight
ened, Bryant said the “big
ger question” will be the
competition for lottery dollars
between the state’s pre-kinder
garten program and the HOPE
Scholarship.
One of the issues, said
Bryant, is that a high percent
age of students who accept
HOPE Scholarship funding to
go to college end up in reme
dial classes or drop out.
He might have indicated
the state school board's posi
tion on the debate when he
observed that, “access to
high-quality early education
reduces the money spent on
remediation.” He also point
ed out that other states have
more stringent requirements to
access HOPE-style state schol
arship money.
Bryant said HOPE was orig
inally considered a “privilege
based on their continued hard
work rather than an entitle
ment,” but that the public’s
view “moved quickly to more
of an entitlement.”
BRYANT
THE NEW owners of BJC Medical Center
want to change the facility's name. They
want to change it badly enough that they're
offering $500 to anyone who can come up
with just the right moniker.
Submissions are being accepted through
Monday, Nov. 15, at namechange@bjcmc.
org. There is no limit on the number of times
one can enter.
The winning name will be selected by the
medical center's board of directors, which
includes its physician owners, with input
from the marketing consultant, said Steve
Clapp, CEO of Restoration Healthcare,
which acquired the facility — with the local
physicians as partners — March 23.
In the event that more than one name
selected was entered by more than one indi
vidual, the prize money will be split.
The hospital is now owned by a group
of nine local doctors. Since March, BJC
has added new services, such as a sleep
lab and bone densitometry. New physician
specialists have been recruited to join the
medical staff, including general and plastic
surgeons.
The medical center will celebrate its 50th
anniversary this year, and the new name will
be unveiled as part of the celebration.
“That will probably be in early December.
We’re still trying to nail down a date,” reports
Clapp. “We will have an unveiling of what
the name will be. We’re just in the planning
stage, figuring how best to prepare.”
Meanwhile, said Clapp, the medical center
is operating in the black and its business is
gradually improving. Since the transition,
he said, the hospital has generated about
$300,000 in revenue over expenditures,
which has been put back into operations.
“The census is steady. It continues to be
up over what it was prior to the transaction,”
he explained. “It's steadily building. That’s
what you want, people to gain confidence in
you. We’ve had some good strong days in the
ER (emergency room) and some good strong
days in surgery.”
The hospital brought its dietary and house
keeping departments back in-house, and
it recently added two physicians — Dr.
Kenneth O’Neal, in internal medicine, in
Jefferson, and Dr. Michelle Patterson, a fam
ily practitioner, in Commerce.
In addition, Clapp said he expects to
announce another new service to be offered
at BJC within a couple of weeks.
No decision yet on airport manager
JACKSON COUNTY has
yet to make a decision regard
ing its next airport manager.
The county narrowed its
list to two finalists in early
October but is still mulling
the situation.
“We're still trying to fig
ure out what we're going to
do,” county manager Darrell
Hampton said.
Former airport manager
Bob Stapleton stepped down
in June and Glen Boyd has
been running the facility as an
interim manager since June
21.
Boyd was one of the
two finalists named during
an Oct. 1 Jackson County
Airport Authority meeting.
The other was Doug Faour
from Jacksonville, Fla.
The Jackson County Airport
Authority met Tuesday morn
ing and discussed personnel
in closed session, but took
no action once it reopened
the meeting, according to
Hampton.
Bed bugs topic for local health board
No complaints yet in county but a lot in nearby Athens
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
“DON’T LET the bed
bugs bite” is an adage that
could take on a more lit
eral meaning, thanks to what
the regional health director
called a “worldwide epidem
ic” of the tiny pests.
Following a presentation
last Wednesday by district
environmental health direc
tor Keli Hinson, the local
board of health is consid
ering requiring hotel/motel
operators in Jackson County
who encounter bed bugs to
notify previous occupants of
the room in which the pests
were discovered.
“There have been no com
plaints in Jackson County
yet, but we're getting a lot in
Athens-Clarke,” Hinson told
the board.
She presented a lengthy
discourse on all aspects of
environmental health, but the
part on bed bugs seemed to
resonate the most.
Member Brad Morris
raised the prospect of requir
ing motel/hotel operators to
notify customers who may
have stayed in a bed bug-
infested room without know
ing it.
“Is there any requirement
that they contact the people
who stayed in the rooms that
have bed bugs?” he asked.
Hinson replied that there
is not.
“Can we change the rules
and require that?” Morris
continued. “They should
do that. That person (who
stayed in the room) is now a
spreader (of bed bugs).”
“I don’t see why that’s
something that couldn't be
done here,” Hinson respond
ed.
The Environmental Health
section of the Jackson
County Health Department
inspects just two motels and
one campground in Jackson
County. The protocol calls
for inspections of 10 per
cent of the rooms, but on
smaller units, the department
inspects at least six rooms,
making sure there are clean
sheets on the beds, fresh soap
and sanitized glasses in the
bathroom — and now no bed
bugs in the beds.
Bed bugs are notorious for
hitching rides to new places
on trains, planes, cars, buses
and in travelers' suitcases.
They’ve been found in movie
theaters and, where infes
tations are heavy, in elec
trical sockets, alarm clocks
and bookcases. Formerly
relegated to cheap places of
lodging, bed bugs can now
be found in fine hotels, col
lege dorms, apartments and
single-family residences.
According to Hinson’s pre
sentation. bed bugs often con
gregate along the seams of
mattresses and box springs.
She advises travelers to leave
their luggage in the hallway
and check beds themselves
before taking occupancy of
hotel and motel rooms.
“They are usually discov
ered by a visitor,” Hinson
said, when the visitor discov
ers bites and welts. When bed
bugs are found, all adjacent
rooms — including those
directly above or below the
infested room — are closed
off for a three-phase treat
ment by a professional exter
minator. Another option is to
heat the rooms to 120 degrees
for a specific time to kill the
bugs and their larvae. When
the Environmental health
people inspect a motel room
they look for the bugs and
signs of the bugs (the blood
spots) on the mattress and
mattress seams, headboards,
nightstands, walls and base
boards.
Hinson said many opera
tors of “higher end” hotels
and motels are “training
themselves” in regard to bed
bugs.
Hinson and Richard
Harrison, head of the Jackson
County Environmental Health
unit, will consider Morris’
suggestion for an amendment
to local regulations.
The environmental health
unit promotes public health
through prevention via sur
veillance, education, enforce
ment and assessment of pro
grams designed to identify,
prevent and abate environ
mental conditions that could
adversely affect human
health. As such, it inspects
and regulates on-site sewage
management, food service,
rabies control, swimming
pools and tourist accommo
dations.
DOT: Turn off sprinklers to prevent black ice
AS WINTER begins, the Georgia
Department of Transportation is asking resi
dents to turn off sprinkler systems with auto
matic timers set to run overnight.
“Sprinkler systems that are left on overnight
in freezing temperatures can create a hazard
ous condition for motorists the next morning.”
said DOT district Todd McDuffie in a state
ment. “Every year we see accidents caused by
icy spots formed when water from sprinkler
systems gets onto the roadway.”
“Spray from the sprinkler is blown onto the
road or water drains onto the road; black ice is
formed and ice develops creating a hazard for
motorists,” he added. “Please take a moment
and ensure your automatic sprinkler system
is turned off. Anytime we have sub-freezing
temperatures, please be on the lookout for icy
patches or black ice, especially early in the
morning.”
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