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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. AUGUST 17. 2023
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School
Board
school boards to reduce how
much Georgia Milestones
End of Course tests count to
wards high schoolers’ final
grades. Boards can lower the
test’s weight from 20 percent
of the final grade down to 10
percent, according to reports
from Capitol Beat News
Service.
The Georgia news service
report states, “supporters said
giving school districts the
ability to lower the weight of
the tests from 20 percent to
10 percent is aimed at in
creasing flexibility for local
systems... Opponents said
lowering the weight of the
tests does students a disserv
ice by watering down the
state’s graduation require
ments.”
Dual Enrollment students
continue to increase
Supt. Thomas reported a
big increase in students en
rollment in the Dual Enroll
ment program, where high
schoolers can earn high
school and college credit for
classes.
For the 2023-2024 fall se
mester there are 170 students
enrolled in the program.
That’s up nearly 27 percent
from the 134 students en
rolled in the spring of the
2022-2023 school year.
Many of the DE classes
are taken at Chattahoochee
Technical College instead of
Pickens Fligh School.
Pickens County Schools
College and Career Coach
Daniel Bell, who oversees
the Dual Enrollment pro
gram, told the Progress there
was good attendance that
same week for a campus tour
at Chattahoochee Tech. Par
ents and students were in
vited to attend.
“We’ve got great relation
ships with our local col
leges,” Supt. Thomas said. “I
do want to give some praise
to Chattahoochee Tech...
That’s really outstanding.”
Fie noted that the classes
are free to students, and
thanked Bell for his hard
work and dedication to the
program.
Pickens school board
member Sue Finley relayed a
story about her personal
physical therapists who men
tioned Bell when she asked
them how they decided to get
into the field.
“They said we just loved
Mr. Bell and he helped us so
much to get on this path,” she
said. “The community is
being impacted with the
work that you’re doing.”
System fully staffed with
teachers
Pickens hired 91 new em
ployees for the 2023-2024
school year, and started the
year with every teaching po
sition filled.
Of those new hires, 53
were new teachers.
Ninety-four employees
left the district in the past
year.
There are a total of 632
people who work in the
school system.
In his report to the board,
Pickens Schools HR Director
Chris Parker said there was
an 85.7 percent retention rate
of employees from last year.
He gave a brief update
about what has been going on
in the HR department, in
cluding salary and benefits
studies, which led to salary
increases and a new benefits
broker coming on board.
Among other objectives
of his department, Parker
said, “We want it to be
known that we want to in
crease the retention rate,” he
said. “We want to increase
the positive climate ratings.
We want to see a better num
ber there next year than that
86 percent. We’re going to
try to get that number over
90.”
Board member Finley
added that she is happy
Parker is conducting exit in
terviews now.
“I think you can get a lot
of good information that can
be used,” she said.
Other news:
•Board member Amy Gib
son said she has received sev
eral calls from parents asking
about school bus discipline,
and asked about system pro
tocol. M&O Director Chris
Wallace said the new trans
portation director is working
to implement a Safe Rider
program “he has seen be
very, very successful in other
places he’s been.”
•Wallace reported addi
tional security measures at
Pickens High School front
office are 95 percent com
plete. Cameras will be in
stalled at the office and also
at the Jasper Middle School
entry.
•Students who have en
rolled for free and reduced
meals have increased “expo
nentially,” according to a re
port submitted by the
nutrition director Beth
Thompson. Increased enroll
ment is in part due to direct
certification through Medi
caid. There are fewer than
160 students who have not
filled out the paperwork but
are still receiving free and re
duced rates during the grace
period that ends Sept. 12.
These students received ben
efits last year, but will need
to reapply to remain enrolled
in the program.
Plants of the Southeast
From the Magic mini garden
By John Nelson
University of
South Carolina
In the magic garden, this
little weed serves as a knee-
high street light, towering
above the crickets and toads
on a late summer night.
Along its branches are dan
gling lanterns, and these
shine down, in a make-be
lieve imaginary way, illumi
nating the ground for the
little critters.
This plant is a member of
the tomato family...which
also includes potato (Irish,
not sweet), nightshades, petu
nia, and garden brugmansias.
This family (known as the
Solanaceae) is a big one, with
many thousands of tropical
and temperate species. The
family is well known as a
source of many other edible
species (eggplant, peppers)
but there also some very poi
sonous members.
I suppose that we could
get into a discussion about to
bacco being pretty poisonous
at this point...but let’s just
say that it, too, is a member
of this plant family.
Our little Mystery herb is
an annual weed, and it pro
duces a smooth, angled stem,
which is hollow. Its leaves
are up to 4 or 5 inches long,
and usually sharply toothed.
Small flowers appear in the
leaf axils. Each flower bears
a non-descript, green calyx,
and above that, five yellow
petals.
The petals commonly
have a brownish blotch near
the base, and there are five
stamens, each tipped with a
blue anther. The flower hangs
downward as it opens and
matures. After pollination,
the ovary undergoes an im
pressive period of growth,
and swells, forming a cherry
sized, spherical, green fruit,
which is invisible. Invisible?
Well, it's invisible, since it
can't be seen from the out
side. While the maturing
ovary has been swelling, the
green calyx has turned on an
even more amazing spurt of
growth, to the point that a
thin, papery, green husk is
formed around the young
fruit, almost like a balloon.
Botanists say that the calyx is
"inflated."
Look closely at one of
these, and you will see a
small hole at the bottom of
the balloon. As it ripens, the
fruit changes from green to
yellow or orange. The plants
bloom from late summer up
to the first frost, when they
will be killed. The dangling
lanterns, though, will remain
attached through much of the
photo/Linda Lee
This common weed in the
southeast is part of the same
family as the tomato and
potato.
winter. The fruits are said to
be edible, and are likely to be
chewed up by animals, thus
dispersing the seeds within.
This species is a native
American, widespread in
South America, and com
monly seen as far north as
Ohio. It is something of a
weed, and likes to grow on
open roadsides and disturbed
places... old gardens and
compost piles are favorite
areas, as are sand bars along
rivers. Plants on particularly
"nice," fertile spots can attain
a height of up to two or three
feet, but it can bloom and set
fruit in poorer places, too,
where it usually ends up
shorter.
Next time you are at your
local mercado looking for in
gredients for some salsa, be
sure to check out the tomatil-
los. They are the fruits of an
herb which is closely related
to our Mystery Plant.
©JohnNelson2022
[John Nelson is the retired
curator of the A. C. Moore
Herbarium at the University
of South Carolina, in the De
partment of Biological Sci
ences, Columbia SC 29208.
As a public service, the
Herbarium offers free plant
identifications. For more in
formation, visit www.herbar-
ium.org or email
johnbnelson@sc. rr. com.]
[Answer: “Chinese
lantern," "Smooth ground
cherry," Physalis angulata]
Waste-
water
tor David Hall explained that
the EPD and permitting had
stalled the project essentially
since 2016.
The expansion weathered
another setback more re
cently when initial bids came
in more than $10 million
over the anticipated amount.
The city was forced to re
quest additional funding
from the U.S.D.A. for the
project.
Jasper has been awarded
$2,977 million in grant fund
ing from the U.S.D.A, and is
financing $15,627 million.
Payments will not begin until
the project is complete.
The expansion will in
crease treatment capacity
from 800,000 gallons a day
to 1.56 million gallons a day.
Reeves Young began con
struction in March 2023. The
expansion is expected to be
completed in October 2024.
A post on plant expansion
contractor Reeves Young’s
Linkedln page describes the
scope of the work — “The
project involves various up
grades and modifications to
different wastewater treat
ment plant components, in
cluding the grit structure,
aeration basin, final clari
fiers, filters, chlorine contact
chamber, chemical feed sys
tem, sludge holding tank,
pump stations, and control
building.”
Jasper Assistant City
Manager Kim Goldener said
the expansion will add an
aeration basin, two additional
clarifiers and a second chlo
rine contact chamber to allow
for the additional treatment
capacity of the plant.
After the expansion is
complete there will be a sig
nificant change to what hap
pens to the treated
wastewater, called “effluent,”
when it leaves the facility.
“Instead of discharging
into Polecat Creek, the efflu
ent will travel though the new
16-inch force main and dis
charge through our new out
fall into Long Swamp Creek,
just south of the bridge [on
Cove Road],” Goldener said.
The treatment process will
not change after construction
is complete.
“Flow enters the plant
through the headworks where
it goes through a screen and
grit removal structure then
goes into the aeration basin
where good microbes feed on
organic materials and bind
together to allow solids to
settle out from the liquid,”
Goldener said. “The clarifiers
help to continue the cleaning
process until flow is ready to
enter the filters and the chlo
rine contact chamber prior to
being discharged into Polecat
Creek.”
For the month of June
2023 the facility treated
596,000 gallons per day av
erage flow.
The six-month rolling av
erage is 663,000 gallons per
day using January 2023
through June 2023 figures.
Interestingly, this is down
from last year’s flow around
the same time. In June of
2022 the Progress reported a
six-month rolling average of
710,000 gallons a day.
Goldener believes some
of the flow reduction can be
attributed to extended periods
of wet weather followed by
extended periods of ex
tremely dry, hot weather.
“All collection systems
have opportunities for inflow
and infiltration.. .to enter the
system through cracks in the
pipe, missing cleanout cov
ers, etc., which results in ad
ditional flow coming to the
plant for treatment,” she said.
“This drives the number up
during wet months. Some of
our very lowest flow months
were September through No
vember of 2022 and this was
because it was extremely dry
and hot with only periodic
rainfall.
Reeves Young is the con
tractor for the plant expan
sion. T. Stanco is contractor
for the force main/pipe exten
sion project. Those pipes
have been staged in a lot on
East Church Street since fall
of last year.
The Town Council
of the Town of Talk
ing Rock is set to
consider an in
crease in compen
sation for its Mayor
and Council Mem
bers.
The meeting is
set for Thursday,
August 17th at
7p.m.
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