Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
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H Wednesday, June 29, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 137 NO. 3 40 PAGES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<J COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Rabid fox found on
Cooper Farm Road
page 2A
•Nicholson plans fire
works for Saturday
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'EJCHS allegations
raise troubling ques
tions, if not legal
issues' page4A
Sports:
•New JCCHS softball
coach settling in
page 1B
Features:
•Honoring Miss Hilda
Wilhite page 1C
•Veterans' photo col
lection growing at
Nicholson library
page 3C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 4-1 SC
•Church News
page 6B
•Obituaries
page 7B
•School News
pages 8-9A
O -S
Jackson students excel in CRCT
All three systems rank hieh in state 5th Grade CRCT Failure Rates
Bv School Svstem
FIFTH AND eighth graders
Language Arts, Science and
fail the Reading and English/
in all three Jackson County
Social Studies. JES Fifth
Language Arts sections of
Svstem
Readina
ELA
Math
Science
Social Studies
school systems were mostly in
Graders were also in the top
the test. Commerce Eighth
Jefferson
1.9%
.5%
1.9%
1.0%
2.4%
the upper third of overall state
10 school systems in Reading
Graders were also in the top
Jackson
2.4%
1.7%
6.3%
8.8%
11.9%
results on the 2011 CRCT
and Math.
10 school systems in Social
Commerce
2.9%
4.0%
9.2%
9.7%
3.9%
tests.
The Jackson County School
Studies.
Banks
4.8%
3.1%
6.8%
17.4%
23.7%
System results were released
System Fifth Grade was also
JCSS Eighth Graders were
Madison
4.9%
4.9%
10.8%
12.9%
15.8%
by the state last week and indi-
in the top 10 school systems in
mosdy in the top one-third
Barrow
8.0%
6.0%
10.0%
20.5%
25.0%
vidual school results will be
the state in Reading, English/
of systems except for Math
Clarke
12.1%
8.7%
11.3%
30.2%
42.6%
released next month.
Language Arts, Science and
where the failure rate went up
STATE
9.5%
7.0%
13.4%
23.4%
28.7
On a system basis, the
Social Studies.
in 2011 to 19.3 percent, drop-
Jefferson Elementary School
EIGHTH GRADE
ping the system’s Math results
On the other hand, JCSS Eighth
Overall, Jackson County students
Fifth Grade was the top sys-
In the Eighth Grade,
to the middle tier of systems in
Graders were among the top 20 sys-
in all three systems were better than
tern in the state in English/
Commerce had no students
the state.
terns in the state in Science.
continued on page 3A
PUTTING THE MONUMENT IN PLACE
A crane was used to lift and place the pieces of a new Confederate States
of America monument on the square in Jefferson Tuesday afternoon. The
new monument stands at one end of the square, while the old CSA monu
ment stands at the other end. Photo by Ben Munro
Audit updates
Jefferson ends FY10 in the black
THE CITY of Jefferson finished
FY2010 in the black, according to
the town's recently released audit.
The city’s General Fund took in
$6.7 million on the year and net
ted $761,000, pushing the city's
reserves up to $3.5 million.
The city’s water and sewer funds
ended the year with a $45,900 net
on operating revenues of $4.6 mil
lion.
The city's largest general fund
department was the police depart
ment with expenses of $1.7 mil
lion. Parks and recreation spent
$1.4 million. City debt service
payments totaled $1.2 million in
2010.
Jefferson also had a lot of capi
tal projects in the year with total
expenses on the year of $2.8 mil
lion.
County ends year in the black
THE JACKSON County
government finished FY2010
$117,200 in the black in its
General Fund, pushing the coun
ty’s general reserves up to nearly
$10 million. Of that, $5.3 million
is unassigned.
In all of its funds, the county
government spent $78 million
last year. Nearly one-third of the
spending was for debt service.
The county spent $24.7 million
on servicing its debt in 2010,
almost as much as it spent in its
General Fund operations.
In revenues, the county’s larg
est source of income was prop
erty taxes at $24.4 million and
sales taxes at $13.7 million.
In expenses, the county's larg
est area of expense was in public
safety at $23.3 million. Public
safety spending increased by $1
million over the previous year,
mostly due to additional jail
employees and renovations at
the county correctional institute,
according to the audit.
Among other highlights in the
audit were:
• The county's waste disposal
facility lost $500,000 in 2010 as
fees didn't meet expenses. The
operation is subsidized from gen
eral tax revenues.
• The county’s 10 fire districts
took in $2.2 million last year and
at the end of the year, had a col
lective $1.9 million fund balance.
Arcade was the only fire district
with a negative fund balance.
• The county's net tax digest
doubled from 2001 to 2010. from
$1.3 billion to $2.6 billion.
• The county’s largest taxpayer
was Southern Power Company
which paid $460,000 in 2010.
The second largest was JEMC
which paid $277,200 in property
taxes.
• Total county debt was $127
million at the end of 2010, which
on a per capita basis was $2,115
per person.
EJCHS investigation
School officials have
‘no comment’ on probe
JACKSON COUNTY
School System officials had
no comment this week about
a state investigation of the prin
cipal and assistant principal at
East Jackson Comprehensive
High School over allegations
they falsified some student
attendance records.
“We have conducted our own
investigation into the circum
stances, and the PSC (Georgia
Professional Standards
Commission) has also looked
into the claims, and I don't
think it’s appropriate for me to
comment until the results of
that investigation are known,”
said Superintendent Shannon
Adams.
Principal Patricia Stueck
and assistant principal Chanda
Palmer are being investigated
by the PSC after a teacher at
EJCHS filed a formal complaint
in April claiming the two falsi
fied some student attendance
records.
The teacher said students
were being counted — and in
some cases receiving credit for
— classes they really didn't
attend. She also told the PSC
that school administrators cre
ated fake rosters and schedules
for a student and that she was
required to give credit to a stu
dent who really didn't attend
her class.
The PSC voted on May 12 to
investigate the allegations and
notified school officials of that
on May 18. The investigation
is ongoing.
Early deadlines for holiday week
News office to be closed Monday
THE JACKSON HERALD will have early deadlines for
next week's issue due to the July 4 holiday.
The deadline for advertising and news will be noon on
Friday.
The Jackson Herald office in Jefferson will be closed on
Monday in observance of the holiday.
School choice requests due by July 21
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
PARENTS WHO want their
child to go to another school
outside of their designated atten
dance zone will have the oppor
tunity to request a change.
A 2009 state law — House
Bill 251 — allows parents and
guardians to ask school systems
that their student attend a differ
ent school in their same district
other than one that the student is
currendy slated to attend.
But, the school choice law
has a number of provisions
— including that students can't
attend schools in another district.
“The biggest misconception
would be moving within school
districts — mostly if they're liv
ing in the city limits of Jefferson
or Commerce, they call and ask
continued on page 3A
SNOW CONE ANTICIPATION
Volunteer Gordon Wilson prepares a snow cone for thirsty customers including
Adrienne Diaz, 5, and her brother Jonathan, 4, of Jefferson. Grandfather Rafael
Santos supervises the chilly purchase. Funds raised at the booth went to the
Jackson County Habitat for Humanity. See pages 12A and 16C for more photos from
Jefferson Freedom Festival. Photo by Erin Rossiter