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THURSDAY. MAY 20. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
School
FINNEY RECOGNIZED
FOR SCREENPLAY - Rose
Finney, a PHS senior, was
recognized by the board for
her screenplay On Mayview
Bridge, which won the Ga.
High School Dramatic Writ
ing Screenwriting award.
See article on Finney’s
award from our Progress e-
edition archive, May 6th
issue.
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STAR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS WERE RECOGNIZED - This award recognizes top-performing students and is sponsored by the Optimist Club.
STARs at the meeting were (l-r) Angela Quarles, Brooke Bell, Carmel Serban, Heather Vincent, Leslie Zuidema, Rose Finney, Colton Smith, Amberley
Clark, Sara Harbin, Suz.ette Hermann. Q & A interviews with all the STAR students and teachers were published in the May 13th edition of the Progress.
SCHOOL NURSES ARE HEROES — They were recognized by the board for handling 42,409 office visits; helping
700 students in the local system who suffer from chronic problems and administering more than 18,000 medications.
Nurses are (front row) L to R: Gail Smith, Director of Health Services; Pat Lee, PJHS; Lucille Landreneau,
Clinic Sub; Callie Griffin, Harmony; Melissa Faucett, Hill City; Jincy Bufford, Clinic Sub; Board members (back
row) Sue Finley, Tommy Gartrell, Supt. Tony Young, board members Steve Smith, Tucker Green and Aaron Hol
land.
HOSA SAVES LIVES - The PHS health students (HOSA) were
recognized by the Red Cross as the top chapter for their work
with blood drives in the past year. Sponsor Leslie Zuidema said
the students can be credited with helping save 558 lives. She
said the local chapter with 30 members beat another chapter
with more than 600 members. HOSA students shown are (l-r)
Makayla Odum, Grant Hooker and Heather Vincent, shown
with Zuidema.
after text messages uncov
ered from an open records re
quest show a plan to remove
Townsend and bring back
Carlton Wilson, who had
been terminated as superin
tendent in December of 2020
in a similarly contentious se
quence of events.
Addressing the board first
during public comments was
Dr. Townsend, who said that
when he was terminated in a
meeting violating open meet
ing protocols he had worked
out an amicable agreement
and had assumed he would
go quietly. [Townsend was
paid more than $420,000 in a
buyout of his contract.] But
once the texts surfaced be
tween board member Finley
and Assistant Superintendent
Tony Young (who is now su
perintendent), Townsend said
he was so appalled by the
scheming he had to respond.
Townsend said Young’s
later assertion that the texts
with Finley were part of his
duties as “board liaison” is
not accurate. Townsend said
he had never made Young a
board liaison. Fie said the
communications as presented
by the Impact Pickens group
during a town hall meeting
show clear violations of the
chain of command and ef
forts to undermine him as su
perintendent.
During his five minutes of
time allotted to address the
board in the public com
ments, Townsend returned
several times to a refrain of
“read the texts,” which he
said clearly show the “grand
scheme.”
Townsend was followed
by Brian Rittenberry of Im
pact Pickens, who furiously
attacked “the queen and the
frivolous two” referring to
Finley, Flolland, and Smith,
saying they had an “absolute
disregard of the community.”
“What are you hiding?
Y’all make me sick to the
absolute core of my soul,” he
said of the decision to not
him over a rebuttal of the Im
pact Pickens April 24 pres
entation as discussed in an
earlier Progress article.
Rittenberry was followed
by Impact Pickens President
Steve Lowe who ended with
a threat that their group has
“eyes everywhere” and will
be watching those board
members. Fie told the three
board members and Young
they were being warned, if
they don’t step down their
group will not be responsible
for the consequences.
Lowe also appealed to
Supt. Young and board attor
ney Phil Landrum directly as
all three had graduated in the
Pickens High Class of 1985,
saying he is disgusted by his
former classmates and their
behavior which they
wouldn’t tolerate from stu
dents.
Following public com
ments, the board did manage
to conduct some business,
but the meeting ended with
the controversy again at the
forefront, when board mem
ber Tucker Green addressed
it in board comments. Green,
who served as board chair
when Supt. Wilson was
ousted, has been in opposi
tion (along with board mem
ber Tommy Gartrell) to the
three who voted for the most
recent termination.
Green said he was encour
aged by all the recognitions,
but “the elephant in the
room” must be addressed. Fie
said the ongoing controversy
“had cast a dark cloud over
the district.”
Green said the texts that
have been made public is not
how any professional, mature
adult acts and certainly not
someone in a leadership role.
The texts show school lead
ers talking about colleagues,
about supervisors, and about
employees below them and
“I certainly hope this is not
the example we set,” he said.
Green did not offer any
solution, but said the board
has been together twice since
the trove of texts were made
public and the saddest part is
the issue hasn’t been ac
knowledged, with the board
trying to operate like busi
ness as normal.
Actual business:
• Schools set for more
than $11.7 million in
COVID funds - CFO Amy
Smith announced that the dis
trict has been “allotted” 12
grants from federal funds, to
taling $11,675,601 in federal
COVID funds that will apply
to almost every part of their
operation. In after-meeting
comments, she explained that
among the items covered are
bonuses already given to
staff, help with school nurs
ing, and many other smaller
items like air filters for
F1VAC. More than $7 million
is directed to address “learn
ing loss” covering tutors,
more teachers and para-pros
to help students re-adjust to
classroom learning next year
and to catch up on what was
missed this year.
•Highest SPLOST check
yet - In additional bullish fi
nancial news, it was reported
the system got the largest
monthly sales tax check in
their history this month. In
after-meeting comments,
Smith said the $617,550 is
well above the average of
$558,000 for monthly sales
tax (SPLOST) funds. Techni
cally in September 2020 the
check was larger but it in
cluded back funds from the
TEACHERS OF THE YEAR (front row) - Stephanie Grisham of Harmony Elementary; Abby Tippens of Hill City El
ementary; Jessica Bryan of Tate Elementary; Eileen Steinhauer of Jasper Middle School; Laurie Guelcher Pickens Jr.
High and Carrie Stephens of Pickens High School. Stephens was the district teacher of the year.
The teachers were profiled in the March 25th edition of the Progress.
state so it was an exception.
Smith will check to see if
the state had any reason this
check was so much larger,
but her best guess is fine
spring weather has led more
people to tackle jobs around
the house and spend more on
supplies. In general the local
sales tax is tied closely to car
sales, but dealerships have
reported inventory problems
so that may not be the source
of the big increase, she said.
• All set for graduation
Chief of Operations Stacy
Gilleland reported that every
thing will be ready for a re
turn to graduation under the
lights of Pickens High sta
dium this Friday. He said the
maintenance crews have
done everything from paint
ing and cleaning to spraying
for mosquitoes.
It was also decided by the
board to make Friday, (the
last day of school) only a half
day for all students so staff
would have additional time
to prepare for the evening
ceremony.
• Buses rolling smoothly
Gilleland reported that all the
district buses were judged by
state inspectors to be in “tip
top shape.”
• Less advanced notice to
address board It was an
nounced that beginning July
1, the local school board will
only require 24-hours ad
vanced request to address
them in public comments.
They had previously required
several days. This is follow
ing a protocol set by the state
school board.
• Students teacher use
approved - The board signed
agreements with the Univer
sity of Phoenix and Univer
sity of Alabama to use
students teachers. This could
be a good recruitment tool for
top young teachers.
NUTRITION PROGRAM
NAMED 2020 VISION DIS
TRICT - Director of Nutri
tion Beth Thompson holds
the award. Among the high
lights Thompson said at least
20 percent of all meals are
certified Georgia Grown.
LONG HONORED FOR FFA LEGACY - Emma Long,
who has served as the state president of Future Farmers of
America, was recognized at the meeting. Her FFA jacket
will be displayed forever in the halls of Pickens High. She
was praised by Principal Chris Wallace for her “extraordi
nary career” including being the top state officer as well as
numerous other accomplishments in FFA as a model stu
dent.
She is shown with FFA teachers Cassidy Byess and
Jason Cantrell.
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