Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 26. 2007
GOP 9th District Picnic August 4
By: Larry Toney, Chair
Pickens County
Republican Party
The picnic that serves as the
rallying event each year for the
GOP 9th District is to be held at
the Pickens County Chamber of
Commerce community room
and in Lee Newton Park on
Saturday, August 4. Republicans
from the 14 counties of NW
Georgia that comprises the 9th
District will converge on
Pickens County. They will enjoy
bar-be-que from Bubba’s along
with music from local musi
cians.
Elected officials from around
the state and the district will
attend. Republicans will have a
chance to ask questions of the
officials, as well as share their
opinion with those who make
the laws or administer the poli
cies.
The 9th District is the con
gressional district represented
by the Hon. Nathan Deal in
Washington. Congressman Deal
has indicated he will attend.
Others attending include State
Senator Chip Pearson,
Representative Tom Graves,
Chair of the Board for Georgia
Department of Transportation
Mike Evans, Public Service
Commission member Angela
Speir and most of the locally
elected officials. The State
Republican Chair Sue Everhart
will also be present.
The cost of the picnic is $10
and will begin at 11:30 a.m. and
conclude around 2 p.m. Time
will be available to meet with
the office holders during the
periods before and after lunch.
In case of rain, festivities will
move inside to the community
room.
All Republicans are invited
to attend and be a part of the
events.
Lt. Governor
to visit Jasper
On Thursday, August 2,
Lieutenant Governor Casey
Cagle will visit Pickens County,
according to local Republican
Party chairman Larry Toney.
Cagle’s helicopter will touch
down at the LCI plant in Jasper
between the hours of 8 and 9
a.m.
The purpose of his visit is to
“meet and greet” the employees
of LCI and the citizens of
Pickens County.
Continued from page 4A
Jasper Elementary
Continued from page 4A
Hill City Elementary
80 - 90 in second grade, 70 in
third grade, 74 in fourth and just
66 children in fifth grade.
“The future is what we’re
looking at. We are working on
ways to make our students more
successful and to make this
school a community school
where people are excited about
sending their kids,” Dr. Weeks
said. “It's going to be a great
year at Jasper Elementary. We
have lots of fun activities
planned and it’s going to be a
good year for learning.”
Dr. Weeks received her bach
elors degree from Asbury
College in Kentucky and a mas
ters degree in school counseling
from West Georgia College. She
Mullins began her career in
education as a substitute teacher
and was then hired as a parapro-
fessional at Jasper Elementary
School where she worked for
six years. Once she acquired her
teaching degree, Mullins taught
fourth grade at JES before mov
ing on to the school’s assistant
principal position. In 2000
Mullins moved to Tate
Elementary where she served as
assistant principal and eventual
ly moved into the principal
position. In January of 2006 she
worked toward her doctorate
degree at Nova Southeastern in
Florida.
Dr. Weeks taught fourth and
fifth grade at Ball Ground
Elementary for four years
before becoming a counselor at
Sixes Elementary in 1992.
Locally, Weeks served as an
assistant principal at Pickens
Middle School for a year and a
half then moved to Hill City
Elementary where she served
for two years as assistant princi
pal. She was selected as princi
pal of Spring Place Elementary
in Chatsworth, working there
for two years prior to being
named Jasper Elementary’s
principal in 2006.
was selected as Harmony’s first
principal.
“I started in 1988 in the edu
cation business,” she said. “I
worked as a parapro while I got
my teaching degree and eventu
ally got two educational special
ist degrees in curriculum and
instruction and also in educa
tional administration and super
vision.”
“We go to camp classes by
houses which helps us to mix up
our kids,” Wilson said. “With
large grade levels there are kids
in their grade level they've
never had classes with so this
helps bring those children
together.”
The idea helps promote char
acter education, Wilson said,
because students can earn points
for their house by showing good
behavior in the halls, lunch
room or on the playground or
simply by helping another child.
“We’re just trying to develop
great citizens. The students are
modeling great citizenship and
developing strong character.
Our teachers award points to
individuals and to the houses
themselves and at the end of
each nine-week grading period
we do something special for
them like having an ice cream
party.”
Wilson said the program
went over so well last year the
school will do more with it this
coming year. Something is
working for Hill City. When the
school opened, 32 percent of its
students were below grade
level. Now that figure has been
cut in half to under 16 percent.
Dr. Wilson credits much of the
decrease to the early interven
tion program or self-contained
classroom system which identi
fies students with special aca
demic needs and places them in
small classrooms.
“I try to get some of my best
teachers teaching the low stu
dents,” Wilson said. “We have a
lot of good veteran teachers
who want to teach those chil
dren and they really put an
emphasis on helping them.”
“Our emphasis this year will
be working together to take us
to that next level. I think we’re a
very, very good school but we
want to go to that next level and
that’s going to be our focus this
year.”
Before going into education,
Wilson spent 10 years in law
enforcement and worked in per
sonnel for Federated
Department Stores. He also
served as Director of Security
for the Omni Hotel and helped
open Cobb Galleria Center.
“Then I decided that I want
ed to get into education so I
went back and got certified for
middle grades. I wanted to teach
and coach and I came to Pickens
in 1996 and taught at Pickens
County Middle School. I
coached everything and started
the Washington trip.”
Wilson then acquired his
master’s degree in education
from West Georgia. He moved
to Jasper Primary School as
assistant principal while finish
ing work on his doctorate in
educational leadership from the
University of Georgia. He
opened Hill City Elementary as
its first ssprincipal in 2002.
Dr. Wilson also teaches mas
ters and specialist classes for
Piedmont
College.
Continued from page 4A
Harmony Elementary
Continued from page 4A
Tate Elementary School
“We’ve talked about using
the last hour of the day once a
month to hold these clubs so
everyone can be included and
not just those students who can
make after school arrangements
for them,” Longshore said.
Longshore said she is also
proud of the school’s history of
honors assemblies following
each nine-week grading period.
“We try to have different
types of honors - some for atten
dance, citizenship as well as
academics so as many students
are recognized as possible. At
the end of the year last year we
recognized children with ‘Super
Perfect Attendance’ and they
each received a bicycle.”
Longshore said volunteers
worked to have the bicycles
donated for the special end of
year award.
Longshore received both her
bachelors and masters degrees
from North Georgia College
and a specialist degree from
Georgia College and State
University. Her doctorate in
education was awarded from the
University of Georgia. She
worked as assistant principal at
Tate for four years before being
named principal in January
2006. Longshore came to the
position with 20 years class
room experience in grades rang
ing from first to fourth and fifth.
She taught in five differenct
counties in 10 different schools.
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