Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current, December 27, 2023, Image 1

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Jackson herald., December 27, 2023, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS The Commerce News JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY Elections Two qualify for District 5 BOC seat Two people have qualified to ran for the District 5 seat on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners. Cole Elrod and Joshua Sheppard have qualified to ran for the seat in the March 12 election. The special election will coincide with the Presidential Preference Primary. The District 5 seat was recently vacated by Marty Clark. Clark has announced plans to ran for the BOC chairman’s position in 2024. Jackson, Barrow Atlanta to Charlotte HSR plan to get further study A proposed rail project from Atlanta to Charlotte might get a boost from a recent funding plan coming out of the White House. The White House announced Dec. 8 that $8.2 billion is being allocated for various high speed rail projects around the country. One of the projects to get further study is an Atlanta-Charlotte HSR proposal. The idea isn’t new. In 2019, an environmental study of that project was undertaken with one of the routes go ing through Jackson County and another proposed route through Barrow County. The Jackson County route plan ran parallel to 1-85 and had a proposed rail station at Commerce. The Barrow County route would go along the Hwy. 316 corridor through Barrow County to Athens, then through the edge of Madison County into South Caro lina. A third route would have the rail go further north through Gainesville and Toccoa before entering South Carolina. The project from Charlotte to Atlanta is an extension of a 1992 rail project for a system from Charlotte to Washington D.C. That link has not yet been completed. Jackson BOE Johnson named Barrow interim superintendent Jackson County Board of Education member Rob Johnson now has an other major role in educa tion in the area. Johnson was recently sworn in as interim super intendent for the Barrow County School System. He will serve in that ca pacity until a new super intendent is named. Johnson had formerly worked as both a principal and assistant superinten dent in Barrow County. He was also superinten dent of the Laurens Coun ty School System until he retired in 2016. Johnson represents District 1 on the Jackson County BOE. Credit: BOSS Interim superintendent Rob Johnson sworn in on Thursday, Dec. 21. MAILING LABEL Tree drop off See locations to drop off your live Christmas tree in the story on page 2 A or on the ad on page 3A. Maysville Santa comes to town The Maysville Public Library hosted its annual Christmas party on Dec. 14. Santa joined the crowd and played his mandolin to entertain kids and adults. There was food, crafts and prizes for all the children. Santa plays the mandolin at the Maysville Public Addie Rae Brown is all smiles with Santa Claus. Library. See more photos on page 8A. Commerce schools Commerce Primary teacher resigns following photo allegations A Commerce Primary School kindergarten teach er has resigned following accusations she made sex- ually-suggestive photos of herself while on a school campus. The teacher resigned Dec. 15 after emails circu lated that purport to show photos of the teacher in various states of undress at a school. The emails also allegedly show a former Commerce Primary para- professional had also taken sexually-suggestive photos at the school. No children were reportedly involved in the photos. It’s not clear ex actly when the photos were taken. The teacher had been employed with the system since 2011. The photos had allegedly been posted to two popu lar websites, one of which trades in salacious photos. Some of the photos were reportedly promoted on the sites as being from “verified teachers.” Commerce school super intendent Joy Tolbert said that she has filed an ethics complaint with the Georgia Professional Standards Com mission related to the teacher. “Their investigators will review the complaint, and take it before the Commis sion for a decision to be made regarding her certifi cation,” she said. The paraprofessional al legedly involved was em ployed with the Commerce school system last year, but has not been employed with the system this year, Tolbert said.