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PAGE 4A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 26. 2007
Back to School
School bells
will ring
August 3
Report to the Principal’s Office: A look at Pickens County’s school principals
Tate Elementary
ready to ring bells
Harmony Elementary
begins 2nd year
Jasper Elementary
looks to future
At Tate Elementary, the pre
vailing atmosphere is one of
family, according to Principal
Deb Longshore who this year
will mark her second year head
ing up the county’s oldest and
currently smallest school.
“The size of our school
enables us to have such a fami
ly feel,” Dr. Longshore said.
“When people transfer in from
other schools they almost
immediately feel it and that
feeling extends itself to the chil
dren. People here take time to
care.”
Before Harmony Elementary
School opened in 2006, Tate
was home to over 450 students.
That number has dropped to 320
students where the family
atmosphere shines.
“As our numbers continue to
grow again we are now looking
at around 320 students when
school opens this year,” she
said. “We could grow even
more as new neighborhoods
open up. We’ve typically had a
small student - teacher ratio and
that is a plus here at Tate.”
In all there are 51 teachers,
support staff and administrators
at Tate and 17 homerooms.
Dr. Longshore is proud of the
school where she serves as prin
cipal, saying teachers, staff and
the plethora of volunteers who
help out make it a wonderful
place to be.
“We have over 65 students
who receive the benefits of our
mentors. The mentors are
invaluable to our school and we
have a great parent volunteer
base. They are very supportive
of all our efforts as well as par
ticipate in many events at our
school,” she said.
Dr. Deb Longshore
Teachers, administrators and
PTO volunteers are gearing up
for their second annual “First
Day of School Celebration”.
The now annual event was
introduced to encourage fami
lies to be involved in the educa
tion of their children starting
with day one. Parents are invit
ed to visit classrooms, meet
other parents, enjoy entertain
ment, sign-up for various activ
ities throughout the school year
and share in the first day of
school experience with their
child.
According to Longshore,
approximately 70 percent of the
families who have children at
TES attended the celebration
last year.
Longshore said Tate, like
some other local elementary
schools, will expand club
opportunities to their students
this year. From chess and sci
ence clubs to an environmental
club and possibly a fitness club,
Longshore said teacher advisors
are geared up to host the new
programs.
Continued on Page 6A
As the county’s newest and
largest elementary school gets
set to begin its second year,
Principal Sherry Mullins said
she attributes much of the
school’s success to the family
atmosphere that surrounds the
teachers, staff and students.
With a student body of
around 650, Harmony
Elementary School ranks as the
county’s largest elementary and
second largest school behind the
high school. Mullins said the
school’s teachers and students
have a real sense of belonging
and that transferred into good
scores on state-mandated tests.
“I was very pleased with stu
dent achievement last year,”
Mullins said. “With students
being pulled in from three dif
ferent (elementary) schools you
never know how the scores will
be but ours were very good. A
lot of times you can have a dip
in scores that first year a school
is open.”
Mullins said her staff pulled
together to make students feel
like Harmony was a second
home.
“I always attribute that to the
hard work of the staff,” she said.
“I think my staff is awesome.
We worked together to grow our
Harmony family. We’re just
really pulling together with our
theme of unity. We’re growing
as a community school. We’ve
got a lot of parent involvement
and hope to get even more par
ent involvement during the
upcoming year. I just couldn’t
have asked for anything to be
better. Everything last year with
the opening of this school just
really fell
into place. The support from
Sherry Mullins
everyone was just fantastic.”
According to Mullins, the
school will likely open this year
with seven kindergarten and
first grade classes, six second
and third grade classes and four
classes each in fourth and fifth
grade.
Mullins said, like other ele
mentary schools, Harmony will
implement new math standards
system-wide in the third, fourth
and fifth grades. Likewise,
kindergarten, first and second
grade will have new science
standards. The new curriculum
is part of the state’s revamped
Georgia Professional Standards.
Mullins said much will stay
the same for Harmony this year
but parents are asked to be
patient the first couple of days
of school as traffic will likely be
worse than other days through
out the year.
“Be sure to come to open
house, especially kindergarten
ers,” she said.
Continued on Page 6A
Jasper Elementary has seen
lots of changes over the past
few years as administrators
have come and gone. With the
addition last year of Dr. Nonnie
Weeks as principal, the school is
now looking to the future and
focusing on providing its stu
dents with nothing short of a top
notch, well-rounded education.
From curriculum changes to
focusing on both the overall
academic and character devel
opment of its children, the
expectations at Jasper
Elementary School are high.
“Here at Jasper Elementary
we want to provide a great foun
dation for our students,” said
Dr. Nonnie Weeks. “I want our
children to be internally pre
pared for everything they face.”
Administrators and teachers
last year began working on a
vision for the school as well as a
school improvement plan. Since
that time several changes have
been implemented, including
curriculum changes, that will
help the school achieve the
goals set forth in the plan.
“We have been working on
the curriculum and determining
what we need to do here at this
school to make it the best for
our kids,” Dr. Weeks said. “One
thing we looked at was teacher
strengths and we’ve moved
some teachers around to differ
ent grade levels where they can
bring those strengths into play
and be fully utilized. We are for
tunate to have a lot of really
good, strong teachers at Jasper
Elementary.”
JES boasts some 500 stu
dents in the county’s second
oldest school. Last year all of
the school’s first graders met or
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Dr. Nonnie Weeks
exceeded expectations on the
state’s CRCT in reading, a feat
only accomplished at that
school.
“It was wonderful that stu
dents in the EIP (Early
Intervention Program) could
attain that because some of
those students had English as a
second language,” she said.
“Our fourth graders showed
gains in almost all of the
(CRCT) grading levels. We
were incredibly pleased with
their performance.”
Dr. Weeks said the number
of students at JES dropped a lit
tle at the end of the 06-07
school year, leaving smaller
numbers in the fourth and fifth
grade levels.
Administrators are project
ing around 96 children to enroll
in kindergarten by the time
doors open next week for the
07-08 academic year. In first
grade Dr. Weeks expects around
98 students, followed by around
Continued on Page 6A
Pickens High School
welcomes new principal
Jasper Middle School
welcomes new prinicipal
Pickens County Middle School
adds 5-year technology plan
Williams takes the helm at
PHS Students returning to
Pickens High School should
recognize Chris Williams, the
new principal. He has worked at
the school for nine years
already; first as a football and
wrestling coach, then a history
teacher for a few years, and the
assistant principal for the last
three years. Former principal
Tommy Qualls moved to the
Central Office, leaving
Williams to rise to the position.
“That’s going to be some big
shoes to fill,” Williams said.
“Tve always aspired to be a
head principal. Hopefully it’s
going to be successful.”
PHS will have an entering
class of close to 350 freshmen
this year, the largest the school
has seen, Williams said. With
last year’s senior class totaling
only 246, the school will grow
by 100 students this year. “The
community is growing, and that
is good,” he said.
There are a few changes stu
dents can expect, Williams said,
including the new system-wide
dress code, emphasizing that he
will enforce it. The high school
will have a great amount of con
struction going on for the next
year and a half, adding to a list
of already completed construc
tion projects including the new
gym, new performing arts cen
ter, and 20 new classrooms.
The school lost about 50
parking spaces to construction,
so Williams suggested that stu
dents be patient when arriving,
and to allow enough time to
arrive for class at 7:50. Students
should enter through the main
entrance or the career tech
entrance in the back, he said.
Although losing a few veter
an teachers, the school has hired
13 new ones. The criteria he fol
lowed in choosing the new
Chris Williams
teachers, he said, was deciding
whether or not he would want
that person teaching his own
child.
“I want to treat every kid as
if they’re my own, and try to
show them I’ve got their best
interest in heart,” Williams said.
“School is for the students, not
for the principal or administra
tion or teachers.”
Williams also said that the
bar would be raised across all
the subjects, meaning he
expects more from the students
academically this year.
“There’s a lot of changes
going on real quickly, but
there’s still going to be school,”
he said. “I believe that once we
get settled in, everything will be
fine.”
Williams grew up in Blue
Ridge, then attended the
University of North Alabama on
a football scholarship for his
undergraduate degree and went
on to get his graduate degree
there as well. Before coming to
Pickens, he taught in Fannin
County for three years and
Forsyth for two. Married to a
Jasper native and with a 15-
month-old son, he said he feels
like he has found a home in
Pickens. “It has just worked out
to be a good fit,” he said.
Bruce Godfrey, Jasper
Middle School’s new principal,
passed up several positions
offered to him at elementary
schools, waiting for just such an
opportunity as this. After all, his
place is in middle schools or
high schools, he said.
For four years, he was the
Assistant Principal at Pickens
County Middle School under
Dr. Chris LeMieux, and
“I’m not here to make any
major changes to start with,”
Godfrey said. “Different
schools have somewhat of a dif
ferent personality. My role here
the first year is to learn my per
sonnel, and for them to learn
me, to build that relationship
that will foster the best learning
environment.”
Regardless, there will be
some changes this year. The
new dress code, Godfrey said,
will be enforced. He said the
biggest differences would be no
holes at all in clothing and no
writing on T-shirts except for a
small company logo.
There will also be six new
faces, including his own, work
ing at JMS. There is a new 6th
grade science teacher in place,
and the band director from
PCMS has come over to JMS.
An 8th grade math and science
teacher position and the new
Special Education teacher posi
tion have not been filled yet.
There is also an entirely new
position this year called the
Graduation Coach, who will
identify at-risk students that are
not on track for graduation and
work with them. The position is
to make sure that those students
know that “they’ve got someone
that’s there for them specifical
ly,” Godfrey said. “Hopefully
we will reduce our dropout
rates.”
“I was a principal in
Bruce Godfrey
Alabama for six years,”
Godfrey said. “It can be a very
difficult position because the
buck stops with you. You’re the
one that has to make the deci
sions in that school, but also you
feel like hopefully you can
make a difference.”
But he doesn’t think it’s all
about him. “It’s about those
people I’m working with,” he
said. “It’s a team effort. It starts
with the principal and goes all
the way down to the custodi
ans.”
Godfrey got his undergradu
ate degree from La Grange
College, his master’s degree
from University of West
Georgia, and his Education
Specialist degree at Troy State
University. He taught and
coached in schools for 12 years
before entering administration
positions.
“I do have a lot of years in
education,” he said, “and I have
strong religious convictions that
I follow. I certainly don’t preach
it, but I try to walk it.”
Dr. Chris LeMieux starts his
seventh year as Pickens County
Middle School principal in the
fall, and his daughter Olivia
starts her first as a student there.
After 20 years in education,
LeMieux says, “
“To be honest with you, the
middle school isn’t changing
much,” LeMieux said. The
biggest change is the new dress
code, which there has been both
support for and disapproval of.
But LeMieux said he thinks
those battles have already been
faught, even if some will still
not agree.
“I think we’ll have a few par
ents and a few kids that will try
the new dress code policy,”
LeMieux said, “and we’re going
to work with them and we’re
going to follow through on the
school board decision. I think
most parents understand that
I’m going to do the best I can to
enforce the new dress code pol
icy, because that’s who hires
and that’s who fires.”
Aside from the dress code
change, 7th graders may notice
a little more technology buzzing
in their rooms, because each of
their classrooms has five com
puters added as part of a five-
year technology plan. Later in
the year, the 7th-grade class
rooms will be fitted with LCD
projectors as well, LeMieux
said. Over the next few years,
every classroom will get the
technology boost.
PCMS until last year played
all of their football and soccer
games at JMS or Pickens High
School, and will for the second
year play on their own field,
which has now been fenced in.
PCMS will have some new
staff, including Nathan Buhl of
Cherokee County as assistant
principal, replacing the spot left
Dr. Chris LeMieux
open when Bruce Godfrey
moved to Jasper Middle School
to be its principal.
Two new teachers are nation
ally board certified, the highest
certified teachers PCMS has
ever had, LeMieux said. The
Parent-Teacher Organization
president, Courtney Smith, will
also be the new technology
teacher.
The school is losing four
teachers this year as well; two to
retirement and two to other
school systems, but LeMieux is
happy to have a little friendly
competition with Godfrey.
“Bruce and I are very competi
tive,” LeMieux said. “We both
grew up playing sports. He was
more athletic than I was, he
went on to college and played
sports. When I got to college I
had to focus on studying, that
was enough for me. But we’re
good friends. I think if I called
him up and told him I needed
something, he’d say, ‘O.K., I’ll
see what I can do for you,’ and
vice versa.”
Hill City Elementary continues history of excellence
After Hill City Elementary
School received the state’s pres-
tigous Platinum award for great
est gains in test scores for the
past two years - the only ele
mentary school in the state to
boast that credential in that cate
gory - Principal Dr. Carlton
Wilson said his school will con
tinue to make sure kids get a
rock solid education.
When Hill City opened in the
fall of 2002, there were over 800
children in its halls. Today, with
the opening of Harmony
Elementary last year, those
numbers dropped to a little over
600 students. This year will
mark the first year where “grad
uating” fifth graders attended all
six years at the school.
Hill City Elementary, its
leaders and teachers, are becom
ing accustomed to awards. This
year Dr. Wilson was presented
with the 2007 Outstanding
Educator of the Year Award by
the Georgia Association of
Educational Leaders. The state
wide award critiques potential
candidates based on leadership,
increasing and improving the
profession
of education and helping to
develop educational leaders.
Dr. Willson will soon attend
the Association of Direct
Instruction’s national confer
ence in Eugene, Oregon where
he will accept the 2007
Excellent School Award on
behalf of Hill City Elementary.
In addition, Wilson also said
Standard and Poors out of New
York, through their education
commission, named Hill City
Elementary one of 718 schools
in the United States who suc
cessfully closed the achieve
ment gap in socioeconomic
advantaged and disadvantaged c
hildren while at the same time
raising all test scores in reading
and math.
If that doesn’t tell you
enough about the quality of edu
cation at Hill City, there are also
the awards still to come.
In September, Wilson said he
will be accepting the statewide
School Bell Award on behalf of
his school from the Georgia
Association of Elementary
School Principals. This award
recognizes unique programs
having a positive impact on the
school. Wilson said Hill City is
being recognized for its “house”
system, a concept which grew
out of the Harry Potter phenom
enon.
“Although the concept is
derived from Harry Potter I
want to make it clear we are not
teaching wizardy,” Dr. Wilson
said.
The school has five “houses”
and every student belongs to a
certain house. For example, one
second grade student may
belong to the ‘unicorn’ house
and another to the ‘kraken’
house. The two students may
be in the same homeroom but
will go to different camps, also
called exploratory classes such
as art, physical education, music
and computer, and mix with stu
dents from other rooms.
Continued on Page 6A
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Dr. Carlton Wilson