Newspaper Page Text
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THURSDAY. JANUARY 21.2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Board of Education
Sue Finley, Chair
Tommy Gartrell, Vice-Chair
Tucker Green
Aaron Holland
Steve Smith
Mr. Tony Young
Interim Superintendent
PRESS RELEASE
JANUARY 18, 2021
Tony Young Appointed Interim Superintendent
Ms. Sue Finley, Chair of the Board of Education, provided the following statement after
the executive session of the called meeting this afternoon:
"We hove appointed Tony Young as our interim Superintendent. He is currently serving
as our Assistant Superintendent. We have no plans to conduct any interviews for the office of
Superintendent until some degree of stability and leadership can be brought to the current
situation. Based on our experience with Mr. Young, we believe that he can and will provide this
stability and leadership on an interim basis.
We have directed our attorney to work with Dr. Townsend's attorney to modify the
terms and duties of his current contract. We hope that we can reach a mutual understanding
that is beneficial to all concerned. We intend for this decision to be budget neutral. We will
follow up with you once those details are established.
Some of you have expressed concerns to myself and other Board members that our
actions will somehow lead to the loss of SACS accreditation and the invalidation of degrees from
the Pickens County School District. These concerns are without merit and show how
misinformation can be used to manipulate a rational decision. We have established a process to
evaluate the issues surrounding the leadership of our school district, and fearmongering for
alternative agendas has no place within that discussion.
In dosing, I want to again mention that Mr. Young has reluctantly agreed to perform this
job of Interim Superintendent. We thank him for his continued service to our District, and we
have confidence that teachers, staff, and the rest of our community will support Mr. Young in
this role."
A statement issued by Chair Sue Finley on Jan. 18 addressing
the appointment of Tony Young as Interim Superintendent.
Supt.
When contacted Tuesday,
Townsend, who did not at
tend Monday’s meeting, said
he could not speak publicly
about it at this point. He re
ferred questions to his
lawyer, who did not return
calls before press time.
Following the votes, Sue
Finley read a statement say
ing they had appointed
Young as the interim superin
tendent and “have no plans to
conduct any interviews for
the office of superintendent
until some degree of stability
and leadership can be
brought to the current situa
tion. Based on our experience
with Mr. Young we believe
that he can and will provide
this stability and leadership
on an interim basis.”
The statement said they
had authorized board attor
ney Phil Landrum to work
with Dr. Townsend’s attorney
to modify the terms and du
ties of his current contract.
“We hope we can reach a mu
tual understanding that is
beneficial to all concerned,”
the statement said.
The statement included,
“We intend for this decision
to be budget neutral. We will
follow up with you once
those details are established.”
There was widespread
speculation about how much
the buy-out of Townsend’s
contract may cost, but several
involved said until they com
plete the negotiations, any
figures would be premature.
After the meeting, Lan
drum said although in the
earliest stage possible there is
a real effort to negotiate with
Townsend about taking an
other position in the school
system.
Landrum clarified that the
agenda had to include the
“termination of the superin
tendent’s contract” in case
the board chose that route at
the Monday meeting. He said
termination would not have
been an option if it were not
listed on the agenda.
In regards to voting in op
position, Green said at the
meeting that he did not be
lieve it was necessary to
change superintendents, say
ing the system needed a
steady hand at the helm dur
ing the pandemic.
In a later interview, Green
said he wanted to reiterate
that Townsend had done a
good job during the trying
times. “I’m very disap
pointed in the direction
things appear to be going. We
had a significant investment
in the hiring of Dr.
Townsend. He has only been
on the job for eight months
and in the middle of a pan
demic and removing him
now is reckless.”
Green said he has been
shown no reason that
Townsend should be re
moved and called it “politi
cal.”
When asked about the
similarities to when Dr. Carl
ton Wilson was ousted in De
cember 2019, Green said,
“Well, I went from the three
in a three to two, to the two
now, and while it may appear
to be similar, there are some
differences.” Green said with
negotiations underway be
tween the school attorney
and Townsend’s counsel, he
would not comment further.
Townsend has only been
on the job since April 2020.
He was hired after previous
Superintendent Carlton Wil
son was released in a simi
larly-heated, split board vote.
An interim from outside the
system served between Wil
son’s ousting and
Townsend’s hiring.
Townsend came highly ac
claimed from Brunswick, Ga.
following a statewide search.
Gartrell said at the meet
ing that he had only taken of
fice on January 1st and finds
“this whole situation regret
table.”
In after-meeting com
ments, Gartrell wanted to re
iterate that he holds Tony
Young in the highest regard
and his nay vote for him as
interim is not a reflection on
Young, but in opposition to
the whole scenario. He asked
everyone “to reunite around
Young to move the system
ahead.”
“It is unfortunate we got
to this point,” he said. “I feel
like I have walked into a for
est fire, but it is what it is.”
Gartrell, the newest mem
ber of the board, said
he still has confidence
that the board can re
group and work to
gether and there are a
lot of exciting things
the school system has
in the works once the
COVID pandemic
ends.
The meeting was
filled with quite a few
yelled comments from
the floor, starting with
those who could not
get seats in the social-
distance-spaced meet
ing room, calling for a
larger venue.
Many of the com
ments were directed at
Chair Finley, who had
trouble with some of
the meeting protocol
and was corrected by
past-chair Tucker
Green on a couple of
points of order and also
with the wrong agenda
showing up on the
board’s video screen.
Once the board went
into executive session a dis
cussion broke out among the
crowd about whether she was
nervous and should be cut
some slack or not, with one
person yelling “she ought to
be nervous.” Cheryl Sams, a
Talking Rock City Council
member and former mayor,
and Chris Tucker, who ran
for sheriff last year, were
among those leading the pub
lic back-and-forth while the
board was in executive ses
sion.
There were numerous
calls to vote out the three
board members voting for the
change with one person stat
ing directly that they were
coming for Aaron Holland’s
seat.
Finley’s statement at the
meeting addressed some of
the comments made over the
weekend. It stated, “Some of
you have expressed concerns
to myself and other board
members that our actions will
somehow lead to the loss of
SACS accreditation and the
invalidation of degrees from
the Pickens County School
District. These concerns are
without merit and show how
misinformation can be used
to manipulate a rational deci
sion. We have established a
process to evaluate the issues
surrounding the leadership of
our school district, and fear
mongering for the alternative
agendas has no place within
that discussion.”
Continued From 1A
100
nursing degree at Atlanta
Piedmont Hospital. Lucile
and three of her friends from
the nursing program decided
to join the Army.
Continued From 1A
“Joining the military was
just something everyone was
doing. My father was in
WWI and my brother had al
ready joined the Air Force.”
She has a memory and wit
that would put people
decades younger than her to
shame.
After the war, Lucile spent
20 years serving veterans in
the Bay Pines VA Hospital in
St. Petersburg, Fla. It was
there she met a young med
ical corpsman who had seen
combat duty during the war.
She was married to Pierce
McMullen for 29 years.
When Pierce died from can
cer, Lucile moved back to
Jasper.
So, back to the original
problem. How do we cele
brate Lucile’s 100 years of
life in a COVID world? First,
one puts on a mask. Then one
sets up a table outside of her
apartment. Then you cover it
with a quilt made by DAR
members, cards, posters, a
cake and of course, flags.
Then you ask Lucile to come
outside and play “Happy
Birthday” over a loud
speaker (sorry neighbors).
The final score: Lucile,
veterans and DAR 1; COVID
0.
Vaccines
keep going until we vaccinate
everyone on that list who
wants one or make sure they
have found one elsewhere.”
The North Georgia Health
District, which experienced
technical issues last week
with overloaded phone lines
and a crashed website, has re
opened its online booking in
Whitfield County. NGHD
Public Information Officer
Jennifer King said their IT
department has worked out
kinks with the website so
traffic from vaccine registra
tion won’t shut it down. Still,
they are receiving about
38,000 calls an hour through
the call center and she en
courages people to be patient.
“We are making hundreds
of appointments a day just in
Pickens,” she said. “As more
people are making and get
ting appointments things will
gradually calm down - and
we are getting more positive
feedback now from people
who say the process goes
smoothly once they get in the
building.”
When asked if the health
district was caught off-guard
with the high volume of calls
and online bookings, King
said, “We were not expecting
the sudden influx of calls so
immediately from the public,
and we are not unique in this
situation compared to other
health districts and other
areas of the country. With this
being new territory for all of
us, we couldn’t know how
eager people would be for the
vaccine so immediately until
they became eligible for it
and began requesting ap
pointments to receive.”
She said there is even
more of a demand for
COVID-19 vaccines than
there was for testing, “which
is heartening, because vacci
nation is the best key to pre
venting the spread of
COVID-19.”
Last week, the local health
department administered 130
vaccines on Monday, 200 on
Tuesday, 200 on Wednesday,
120 on Thursday, and 80 on
Friday. The number of vac
cines varies because the de
partment has different hours
each day. As of press time
Tuesday, they were booked
through mid-February.
During the first week of
expanded eligibility, 8,700
people were vaccinated in the
NGHD’s six counties, includ
ing 730 in Pickens.
“Our capability in Pickens
is between about 130 and 200
a day,” King said. “We
deeply apologize for any
one’s inconvenience when
trying to reach the call center,
but we want to assure that
everyone who is eligible and
is calling to be vaccinated at
the Pickens County Health
Department will receive an
appointment as quickly as
possible.”
While not initially the
case, the NGHD is now mak
ing appointments for the sec
ond dose of the vaccine when
patients receive their first
dose. For patients who have
already received their first
dose and did not get an ap
pointment for the second
they should call the Pickens
County Health Department
directly at 706-253-2821 to
set one up.
King said supplies are
steady and they anticipate
being able to schedule and
vaccinate everyone as they
become eligible. She was not
certain when the next phase
of vaccinations would open
to other populations, but did
note that the next phase will
be for essential non-health-
care workers who “perform
job tasks across critical infra
structure sectors ensuring
continuity of functions criti
cal to public health, safety,
economic and national secu
rity.” After that, people be
tween the ages of 16 and 64
who have medical conditions
that would cause them to be
more susceptible to COVID-
19 complications will be eli
gible.
Call the NGHD hotline at
1-888-881-1474 Monday
through Friday from 8:15
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to make an
appointment.
Ingles in Jasper, as well as
other Ingles stores, are allow
ing people to register for an
appointment online - but this
is only to be put on their
waiting list. When appoint
ments become available
someone will contact regis
trants to schedule.
Jasper Ingles Manager
Jaime Bearden said his phar
macy staff stays busy with
vaccinations, and while he
was unable to provide infor
mation about the number of
doses administered or length
of waiting list, he said they
have enough doses to forge
ahead. There is a station set
up near the pharmacy where
vaccines are administered.
“There has definitely been
a huge interest in appoint
ments,” he said.
When you call Piedmont
Mountainside Hospital, an
outgoing voice message tells
callers they have reached
their capacity for appoint
ments due to limited supply
and high demand, but that
they will begin contacting el
igible patients once they have
Jasper school in the early Twenties
Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Grades -Mr. L. U. Martin, teacher
From Left to Right, First Row: Eugene Holland, George Hayes (deceased), Viola Collins, Nena Lindsey, Lousie How
ell, Mattie Whitfield, Clara Watkins (deceased), Stella Davis, Emma Boyd, Alma Boyd, Mollie Henson, Gertrude Medlin;
Second Row: Radford Grant, Stella Drennon, Lucille Allred, Evelyn Perry (deceased), Wallace Whitfield, Charles Stegall
(deceased), Louis Tabor (deceased), Rembert Bennett, Dixie Stegall, Vera Golden, Mr. L. U. Martin (deceased); Third
Row: Beulah Whitfield, Edmond Sims (deceased), Charles Bryant, Lloyd Garrett, Joe Moss, Thomas Pettit, Ralph Owen,
Bernard Howell, Frank Howell (deceased), Leo Turner, Thelma Payne, Ernestine Poole and Orett Lambert.
more supply.
Statewide, Georgia Gov.
Brian Kemp recently an
nounced Tuesday, Jan. 19
that vaccinations have dou
bled for the second straight
week. From Monday, Jan. 11,
to Monday, Jan. 18, the Geor
gia Department of Public
Health reported an increase
from 206,900 to 423,011 vac
cines administered.
"While supply for the
Pfizer and Modema COVID-
19 remains extremely lim
ited, these numbers show
encouraging progress in our
efforts to work through back
logs in provider reporting and
get Georgians vaccinated
quickly and safely," said Gov.
Kemp. "Thanks to the hard
work of public health offi
cials and the support of pri
vate sector partners like
Publix, Kroger, Ingles, Wal-
mart, CVS, and Walgreens,
we are making strides to vac
cinate our expanded la pop
ulations. We still have a long
way to go, but we will con
tinue working tirelessly to get
shots in arms and win the
fight against COVID-19."
Currently, people 65 and
older, their caregivers, law
enforcement and fire person
nel, healthcare providers and
first responders, and people
who live and work in long
term care facilities are eligi
ble to receive a vaccine.
The Pickens County
Health Department is no
longer offering COVID test
ing and has transitioned to
vaccinations. Fannin, Gilmer,
and Murray counties are also
no longer offering testing in
the North Georgia Health
District, only Cherokee and
Whitfield counties. Residents
may go to the Georgia De
partment of Public Health
website to find all locations
for testing in Georgia at
dph.georgia.gov/covidtest-
ing.
Thrift Store closed
through Jan.26
The Community Thrift Store, Samaritan Drive,
will be closed due to COVID until January 26.
Any found leaving items by their gates could
be subject to illegal dumping charges.
Longarm Quilting Services
for all Quilts
Computer guided edge to edge quilting
Amelia Broussard
Phone: 706-692-5663
or e-mail: broussardcol@msn.com
Help Wanted
Full time/ part time experienced person
Pay is good, depending on experience.
Tate Four Way Citgo/Jasper Chevron
770-374-5179