Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, October 4, 2017
ERALD
VOL. 143 NO. 18
32 PACES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549
75c COPY
Rutland director resigns amid investigation
Commerce city student’s needed services reportedly misused
By Alex Pace
Rutland Academy's director recently
resigned following an investigation into
the apparent misuse of support services
offered to a Commerce student.
Najma Hunter resigned in mid-August,
less than two weeks after Northeast Geor
gia RESA executive director Keith Ever
son opened the investigation. Hunter’s
attorney declined to comment for the
story.
Rutland is a program for special needs
students in northeast Georgia located in
Athens.
The Commerce City School System
sent an autistic student to Rutland. His
IEP specified he needed a one-on-one
teacher and paraprofessional for safety
reasons.
Commerce special education director
Elaine Gunter contacted Hunter after
learning the child’s parent was consid
ering transferring the student to another
school system. They planned to keep the
child’s teacher at Rutland until a final
decision was made, but told the parapro
fessional not to come to pre-planning.
Both the teacher’s and paraprofessional’s
salaries were paid for by Commerce.
Commerce school leaders then learned
the paraprofessional hadn’t worked with
the student and didn’t even know him.
She’d been working part-time with high
school students at Rutland.
RUTLAND ACADEMY INTERVIEWS
Rutland leaders, including Hunter and
coordinator Celest Ngeve, both claimed
Commerce granted the school permission
to use the paraprofessional at their dis
cretion.
Hunter said retired Commerce special
education director Denise Swanson and
special education coordinator Linda Mur
ray “had given permission for me to
use (the paraprofessional) where needed,’’
according to the investigation files.
“I remember (Murray) giving permis
sion for the para to be used ‘wherever’
because they did not want the student to
return back to Commerce City due to the
mom loving Rutland and previous experi
ences mom had with the district,” Hunter
wrote.
Ngeve recalled a similar conversation
and said Murray told her “anywhere you
want (the paraprofessional) to go is O.K.
with us.”
“No Najma, he cannot come back to
Commerce — whatever you need to do,
just keep him there.” Ngeve recalled
Swanson saying during a meeting.
She remembers both Murray and Swan
son telling her, “Do whatever it takes.”
SAFETY CONCERNS
The student was initially put into a class
with other students at Rutland. But after
he started “touching other students” inap
propriately, he was transferred to his own
classroom with his own teacher.
The student’s IEP also specified he
needed a one-on-one paraprofessional
from the beginning of his time at Rutland,
according to a teacher who coordinated
his IEP. She said he needed the support
for safety reasons because he would “fre
quently attempt to hurt others and would
also hurt himself, frequently hitting his
head.”
When asked why the paraprofessional
wasn’t assigned despite the child’s IEP,
Ngeve first said “even with us saying he
wasn’t appropriately placed. Commerce
continued on page 2A
Dog attacks
1-year-old
A woman on Highland Way, Maysville. said a dog
attacked a 1-year-old child and bit its face.
The child was taken to the Scottish Rite Children’s
Hospital in Atlanta.
The homeowner said her 12-year-old daughter saw
the dog attack while they were on the front porch of
the house.
The girl said she saw the dog on the child, biting her
in the face. She kicked the dog to get it off the child and
took the infant in the house.
The homeowner said she has been feeding the dog for
more than a year and it had never bitten anyone.
incidents continued on page 8A
Autumn Leaf
Festival set
this weekend
The 50th annual Maysville Autumn Leaf Festival will
be held October 6-8.
The festival will open at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with a
cake walk sponsored by Maysville Elementary School.
There will be a street dance at 8 p.m. featuring Second
Time Around.
On Saturday, there will be a parade at 10 a.m.
Other highlights on Saturday will be a cake walk at 4
p.m. and a street dance featuring Hooch Holler at 8 p.m.
On Sunday, Sonja Thompson from “The Walking
Dead with Zombieland” will be signing autographs.
The Maysville Community Improvement Club spon
sors the festival, which includes arts and crafts, food
vendors, kid games, inflatables, petting zoo and train
rides.
continued on page 2A
BUILDS STRUCTURE WITH CAN DONATIONS
Children in Natasha Gravitt’s second grade class at Jefferson Elementary School built structures from
canned goods on Friday which the class will donate to a local food shelter. Here, students topped off
their structure with a bag of macaroni. This was an activity for their S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology,
engineering, art and mathematics) class. Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
Thomas seeks to oust Rep. Benton
Sam Thomas announced this week that
he plans to seek the Georgia State House
District 31 seat currently held by Rep.
Tommy Benton in next year’s elections.
In his announcement, Thomas said he is
pro-life, that he wants to see state level tax
reform and that his campaign will endorse
legal protection for religious liberty in the
state.
“Jackson County deserves bold, new
leadership that will fight for the values of
its citizens at the state level.” Thomas said.
The primary elections will be held July
24, 2018 and the General Election will be
Nov. 6, 2018.
Sam grew up on the Thomas family
farm in Brockton, just outside of Jeffer
son. Thomas is an honor graduate from
Piedmont College where he studied envi
ronmental science and served two terms as
the President of the Student Government
Association.
He is the youth director at Jackson
County Baptist Church in Jefferson. As
coach of the Clark Atlanta University
debate team, he became the youngest ever
Georgia Parliamentary Debate Coach of
the Year during the 2016-2017 school year.
Thomas is a contributing writer for The
Resurgent, a conservative website. He is
also avid about fly fishing and is a writer
for Southern Trout Magazine.
SAM THOMAS
Commerce to host
Bicycle, Brews and BBQ
The second annual
Bicycle, Brews & BBQ
festival with Cruisin
Commerce will be held
Saturday, Oct. 7.
The festival begins at
noon and BBQers will
compete for the People’s
Choice and competition
judging. BBQ competi
tion will be in the city
lot adjacent to Trademark
Medical Transport and
across the street from the
post office.
Winners will be
announced at 6:30
p.m. Judging of chicken
will be at 3 p.m.; rib judg
ing will be at 3:30: and
Peoples’ Choice will be
from 4 to 6 p.m.
The beer garden will be
in the same area from 1 to
8 p.m. Beer and wine will
be available at downtown
restaurants - Commerce
Sports Bar, El Parian and
Sliced on Elm.
Special event cups will
be provided.
State Street Bicycles
will host a bike ride/race
with registration starting
at 7 a.m. The third annual
Nightmare on Elm Street
Metric Century Charity
Ride will start at 9 a.m.
Routes will have rest
stops every 10 to 15 miles.
The riders will cycle 62,
30 or 15 miles. Proceeds
will benefit the Boys and
Girls Club of Jackson
County.
Inflatables and face
continued on page 2A
Code enforcement now
job for police department
By Ron Bridgeman
Code enforcement is something every
one wants until it affects them.
That is a “truism” that gets repeated
regularly in Commerce these days.
Code enforcement has a new “life” in
Commerce now - it is under the jurisdic
tion of the police department.
However, Police Chief Zach Ardis said
last week it will be operated separately.
He said police officers will not be used
in the day-to-day operations for code
enforcement.
“We don’t want (code enforcement
staffers) to get into a conflict with any
body,” Ardis said.
He added the city will not “use (uni
formed officers) to scout (overgrown)
grass or anything like that.”
Full-time code enforcement has not
been done for at least eight years. City
Manager James Wascher said. The job
had been a part of the building inspec
tor’s responsibility.
A full-time code enforcement employ
ee has been hired. Kathy Anderson, who
lives in Commerce, will take on that
responsibility. Lt. Chris Richey will take
over the administrative part of the work,
Ardis said, in about a year.
Anderson is dividing her time now,
Ardis said. She continues to work with
police department evidence, where she
has been a part-time employee.
Ardis emphasized she will not wear a
police uniform and will not have the par
aphernalia that goes with an officer. She
will not carry a gun, for example.
“We’ve been talking about how to
enhance code enforcement for a couple
of years,” Wascher said.
“We’ve started very slowly,” Ardis
continued on page 2A