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PAGE 8A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. OCTOBER 17. 2013
School board recognizes teachers of the year, students for excellence
Parent expresses concerns over perceived lack of communication from school board
Leslie Barnett, with mother Amy Hamby and Harmony Assistant
Principal Beth Simonds, receives the Superintendent Award from
Dr. Perry
By Eileen Steinhauer,
Progress contributor
Numerous students and teach
ers were recognized by the board
of education last week for their
success, but the night was not all
positive as one parent addressed
the board and complained about
the lack of communication
within the Pickens County
school system.
The meeting began with
Leslie Barnett, a pre-k student at
Harmony Elementary School re
ceiving the Superintendent’s
Award. This is the first Superin
tendent’s Award that Dr. Lula
Mae Perry has presented since
coming to Pickens County.
“It is such an honor to give
my first Pickens County Super
intendent’s award to Leslie,”
Perry said.
According to Beth Simonds,
Assistant Principal at Harmony
Elementary, “Leslie is a joy to
have as a student. Her optimism
and enthusiasm for learning is
contagious.” Simonds contin
ued, “Leslie is a good friend to
all, and her teachers believe that
she will one day make an excel
lent teacher.”
Following the Superinten
dent’s Award, several students
were recognized for earning per
fect scores on last year’s reading
or math portion of the fifth grade
CRCT. Sydney Arnold,
Cameron Fowler, Colby James,
Joshua King, and Carter Lindsey
all earned perfect scores on the
reading portion of the CRCT.
Lauren Childers and Zoe Kirk re
ceived perfect scores on the math
CRCT.
“Congratulations to these stu
dents on their hard work and
dedication,” Perry said.
The final students recognized
were those who participated in
the 2013 Georgia School Bus
Safety Poster Contest. Students
in grades kindergarten through
eighth grade were encouraged to
submit original drawings that de
picted school bus safety. The
theme for the contest was “At my
Stop-You Stop!” Both the theme
and at least part of a yellow
school bus had to be included in
the artwork.
Bruce Godfrey, Pickens
County Transportation Director,
presented the awards in four cat
egories: Division 1-Kindergarten
to Second grade, Division 2-
Third to Fifth grade, Division 3-
Sixth to Eighth grade, and
Division 4-Exceptional Students.
Winners were: Division 1-1.
Eric Le (HES), 2. Megan Sto-
baugh (TES), 3. Samantha
Lyman (TES); Division 2-1. An
thony Jones (HES), 2. Lauren
Morgan (TES), 3. Bryson Smith
(TES); Division 3-1. Colby Ed
monson (PCMS), 2. Madison
Whitley (JMS), 3. Luis Soloria
(PCMS); Division 4-1. Faith Pat
terson (PCMS), 2. Aaron Sutton
(PCMS), 3. Riley Lathery
(PCMS).
Following the student awards,
the seven Teacher of the Year re
cipients from each county school
were recognized. The Teachers
of the Year are: Todd Geren
(PHS), Jesse Scott (JMS), Dr.
Rosemary Nelson (PCMS), Kris
tine Elrod (HES), Deanna Ed
wards (HCES), Robyn Pitkins
(JES), and Mallory Childers
(TES). The county winner will
be announced at the Teacher of
the Year banquet on November
4.
For the next several school
board meetings, the principals of
each school will be presenting a
school improvement plan that
fits within the county strategic
plan. Lynda Wallace, principal
of Harmony Elementary School,
and Joeta Youngblood, principal
of Hill City Elementary, pre
sented the first two school im
provement plans.
“The Harmony Elementary
School improvement plan fo
cuses on student achievement,
safety, and stakeholder involve
ment. Our ultimate goal is for our
students to feel safe and enjoy
learning as curriculum is pre
sented at an appropriate level
using technology and research-
based best practices and inter
ventions. Teachers and
paraprofessionals are being pro
vided professional learning in the
areas of math, writing, differen
tiation, and assessment. They are
also integrating a variety of soft
ware and hardware into their les
sons to increase academic rigor
and meet students’ individual
needs,” said Wallace.
“Hill City Elementary has a
rich history of academic excel
lence. During the 2013-2014
school year our goal is to move
from a good school to a great
school. We seek to increase our
student attendance through ini
tiatives such as daily morning
calls to absent students, awards
for weekly perfect attendance,
and quarterly attendance class of
the month. Student achievement
is our primary area of focus with
new programs to increase math,
science, and writing scores
through the use of a STEM class
room, 30 iPad station, daily
focus groups, common writing
rubrics, and hands on perform
ance tasks on a daily basis,” said
Youngblood.
After these presentations,
Mike Cowart, school board
member, said “it is great seeing
such an attitude of excellence
coming from every part of our
school system.”
“We used to have seven indi
vidual schools; now our school
system works as a unit,” added
school board member Byron
Long.
Parent discusses concerns
Following the awards and
presentations, Nancy Burdge, a
Pickens County parent and ad
ministrator of the Facebook page
Pickens County School Forum
and Information Groups, ad
dressed board members with her
concerns. Her three points of in
terest were the school lists pub
lished, at the request of the
board, in the Progress, the
School’s in, Don’t be out policy,
and the lack of communication
provided regarding the recent
sexual assault allegations at
PCMS.
In keeping with the Pickens
County Board of Education
meeting policies, Burdge was
provided five minutes to present
her concerns.
“We all have a common goal
of providing the best for our chil
dren in the school system. If the
Board of Education can better
partner with parents, we will all
win,” Burdge said.
She said the student class list
ings in the paper, prior to school
starting, were inappropriate and,
in her opinion, in violation of the
Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act. Burdge expressed
concern that publishing the list
put students’ safety in jeopardy.
She also stated that it was her un
derstanding that parents and/or
guardians had to give permission
for a student’s information to be
published. She continued that
the permission form for publish
ing student information is cur
rently too broad and needs to be
refined to include different
modes of media, such as publish
ing in the school yearbook as op
posed to publishing in the local
newspaper.
Burdge ended this point by
saying that she is not the first
parent to address this concern;
however, previous attempts by
other parents appear to be “dis
missed” by the county board of
education.
Burdge’s next area of concern
was the School’s in, Don’t be out
policy, which she believes does
not adequately address student
attendance. From a safety stand
point and for the policy to be ef
fective, schools should contact
parents immediately in the morn
ing to determine why a child is
not in school. According to Bur
dge, a call from the school at
6:00 pm in the evening does
nothing to help a parent if some
thing has happened to that child,
without a parent’s knowledge,
prior to school starting.
Burdge also criticized the
board for what she called a lack
of communication on the part of
PCMS and the board regarding
the alleged sexual assault at
PCMS. Burdge was primarily
concerned that it took five days
between the reported attack and
parents/guardians being notified.
She was also concerned that
there has been “no clear picture
of what has been done to ensure
the safety of our students, and
there has been no further com
munication since the September
24 letter, which has lead to con
fusion and conflicting informa
tion.”
Burdge did not finish at the
five minute mark; however, she
was allowed to continue for a
couple of minutes before a mem
ber of law enforcement asked her
to stop. Her final time was used
to address the negative percep
tion of the board. In her opinion,
the board is “not interested in
opinions presented by parents.
The five minute limitation on
public participation is especially
indicative of this viewpoint.” In
order to fully embrace the com
munity and work together, Bur
dge said the board would do
better to offer other forms of
public participation such as
“town halls or round tables.”
The board, as dictated by pol
icy, did not comment on Bur
dge’s presentation. However,
following the executive session,
Chairperson Wendy Lowe said
that it is frustrating when parents
do not use the proper chain of
command to address concerns.
She stated that “she is always
open to receiving phone calls
from parents; however, parents
also need to go through the
schools first. Talk to your child’s
teacher. Talk to your child’s
principal.”
Perry added “our Board is fol
lowing Georgia School Board
Association guidelines. Instead
of reacting hastily, school board
members need to take time to lis
ten, research, and consider all
sides of an issue before respond
ing.”
In other school board news,
Emily Hanlin, Pickens County
Food Service Director, an
nounced that October is Farm to
School Month. Pickens County
schools will be celebrating by
featuring Georgia grown prod
ucts. In addition, October 14-18
is National School Lunch Week.
Cafeterias will be serving foods
typically seen in the southeast.
Teacher of the Year Recipients (L-R) Mallory Childers (TES), Deanna Edwards (HCES), Kristine
Elrod (HES), Jesse Scott (JMS), Dr. Rosemary Nelson (PCMS), Todd Geren (PHS), Robyn Pitkins
(JES)
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CRCT Award Recipents: From Left to Right: Cameron Fowler, Colby James, Joshua
King, Carter Lindsey, Lauren Childers, Zoe Kirk (Absent: Sydney; Arnold)
School Bus Safety Award Recipients: Front Row (L-R): Samantha Lyman, Megan Sto-
baugh, Eric Le, Bryson Smith, Lauren Morgan Back Row (L-R): Anthony Jones, Madison
Whitley, Aaron Sutton (Absent: Luis Soloria, Colby Edmonson, Riley Lathery, Faith Pat
terson)
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