Newspaper Page Text
I2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Hall County seeks input for parks master plan
Hall County is working on a
master plan for its parks system
and is seeking community input.
The survey asks participants
about their experiences with the
county’s parks and what they
want to see moving forward.
“We are strongly encourag
ing citizens to participate in this
process so that the end result
is reflective of Hall County as a
whole,” Parks Director Mike Lit
tle said in a statement.
Five people who take the sur
vey will be randomly selected to
win a prize of their choice. Prizes
include a family membership to
one of Hall County Parks & Lei
sure’s community centers, free
registration for a youth or adult
sport program and a three-night
stay at River Forks Park and
Campground.
The master plan will include an
evaluation of the county’s current
facilities and programs, as well as
identify needs in the community
and potential land acquisition or
funding opportunities.
People can take the survey
online through projectsurveys.
com and at the Hall County
website.
Compiled from Hall County
Government press release
PLANNERS
■ Continued from 1A
submitted to the county that the farm’s lim
ited opening times create a revenue chal
lenge. He moved to Smith Mill Road two
years ago and purchased the farm in August.
Planning staff is recommending approval.
The planning commission’s recommenda
tion will go to the Hall County Board of Com
missioners for a final vote on Dec. 13.
Truck terminal at Clermont
plumbing business
Hulsey Environmental Services on Cleve
land Highway in Clermont wants to add
a truck terminal that would hold up to 10
trucks.
Hulsey is a plumbing and environmental
services business that uses enclosed trucks
to transport waste and byproducts from
other businesses, including poultry plants
and restaurants. According to the appli
cation with the county, the trucks would
be empty when arriving at the Clermont
property.
Residents in Clermont say they have
noticed an odor and believe that Hulsey,
which relocated there in May from Calvary
Church Road in Gainesville, is the source.
Hulsey has received four citations for
having trucks parked at the property, a vio
lation of one of the conditions of the com
pany’s business license. Its business license
had been up for a vote at the Hall County
Board of Commissioners’ Oct. 25 meeting,
but now the business license vote will wait
until after the vote on Hulsey’s truck termi
nal application.
Planning staff has recommended
approval of the truck terminal.
The planning commission’s vote will be
the final action on the terminal, unless there
is an appeal.
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Hulsey Environmental Services may get
its business license revoked after issues
with parking trucks at its Clermont offices,
pictured Tuesday, Oct. 23.
College and Career Ready
Performance Index scores
For more detailed scores and to view
those from other systems, visit ccrpi.
gadoe.org/2018
Hall County Schools
C.W. Davis Middle
71.8
Chestatee High
73.3
Chestatee Middle
78
Chestnut Mountain Elementary
72.3
Chicopee Elementary
65
East Hall High
70.8
East Hall Middle
72.8
Flowery Branch Elementary
77.1
Flowery Branch High
81.4
Friendship Elementary
72.6
Johnson High
75.1
Lanier College & Career Academy
34.6
Lula Elementary
74.2
Lanier Elementary
71.5
Lyman Hall Elementary
65.1
Martin Elementary
71.2
McEver Elementary
64.3
Mount Vernon Elementary
83.8
Myers Elementary
61.7
North Hall High
71
North Hall Middle
70
Oakwood Elementary
81.3
Riverbend Elementary
77.1
Sardis Elementary
81
South Hall Middle
67.7
Spout Springs Elementary
86.3
Sugar Hill Elementary
64.1
Tadmore Elementary
76.1
Wauka Mountain Elementary
73
West Hall High
71.4
West Hall Middle
68.9
White Sulphur Elementary
62.4
World Language Middle
83.3
World Language Elementary
79.1
Gainesville City Schools
Centennial Arts Academy
60.8
Enota Multiple Intelligences Academy 62.7
Fair Street IB World School
56
Gainesville Exploration Academy
67.6
Gainesville High
68.5
Gainesville Middle
54.8
Mundy Mill Academy
70.2
New Holland Knowledge Academy 62.6
Source: Georgia Department of Education
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Students watch each other weld during class Thursday, Oct. 18, at Lanier College & Career Academy.
READY
■ Continued from 1A
become job ready,” LCCA Prin
cipal David Moody said.
That means preparing stu
dents with hands-on skills train
ing and connecting them with
job opportunities.
Moody said the academy,
which is part of the Hall County
School District, partners with
about 20 local businesses at
varying levels, such as Kubota
Manufacturing and Perfor
mance Foodservice, as well as
Lanier Technical College for
dual-enrollment courses.
“It’s an opportunity to plug
in,” Moody said. “From a busi
ness side, we have industry that
needs viable workers.”
Mitch Davis, the program
instructor, said it gives students
whose career paths do not
include attending traditional
liberal arts colleges a chance
to find their passion in the
trades and develop a real-world
connection with what they’re
learning.
And it can prove to local
employers that these students
are career-ready.
“They’re not going to come
back to us if we do a terrible
job,” Davis said.
This mission matches nicely
with the needs of Mike Quisen-
berry, owner of Lanier Carts &
Outdoor.
Students in LCCA’s agricul
ture mechanics program are
partnering with Quisenberry to
build custom E-Z-Go golf carts
for the community and Hall
County Schools resource officers
and security employees.
Lanier Carts has provided
a cart to Cherokee Bluff High
School, and LCCA has just com
pleted a custom build for North
Hall Middle School.
Quisenberry said there is a lot
of upside for him, from the “day-
to-day to the big picture.”
They are “students that
showed a lot of interest in the
activity here at the school,”
Quisenberry said. “For me, it’s a
good way for us to find someone
who’s interested in what we’re
doing.”
In addition to receiving assis
tance with repairs and manu
facturing, he also employs two
students from the program,
including Matthew Simmons.
Simmons, 17, was attending
East Hall High before transfer
ring to LCCA.
Now, he’s been working
at Lanier Carts for about six
months, earning a paycheck as
he prepares to graduate next
spring.
I’ve always been interested in
working with my hands,” Sim
mons said, adding that he plans
to enroll in a mechanics pro
gram at a university in northern
Ohio after graduation.
“When I get the chance to go
into a classroom and not just sit
at a desk ... I have more focus,
it’s more interactive, and then
I can give back to community,”
Simmons said.
That’s a feeling Grace said he
shared, and when he graduates
next year he’s confident he’ll be
primed for any challenge.
“I’ll be prepared for anything
that’s thrown at me,” he said.
Above: Lanier Carts & Outdoor golf carts sit ouside of Lanier
College & Career Academy on Thursday, Oct. 18. A new agricultural
mechanics program at the Hall County school has started with a
business partnership with Lanier Carts & Outdoor to build custom
E-Z-Go golf carts for the community and Hall County Schools.
Below: Joel Grace, an 11th-grader at Lanier College & Career
Academy, works on a piece of metal during a welding class.
INDEX
■ Continued from 1A
performed similarly to
previous years.”
In Gainesville, which
has an enrollment of
about 8,400 students, 100
percent are considered
economically disadvan
taged; 39.1 percent are
English learners and 9.5
percent of students have
disabilities.
The CCRPI average
for all schools is 61.5; for
elementary schools is
60.6; for middle schools is
54.8; and for high schools
is 68.5.
“Our students continue
to grow academically
and we continue to stay
above the state average
on the graduation rate,”
Williams said. “Our ini
tiatives with the (Liter
acy for Learning, Living
and Leading in Georgia)
grant and improved
wraparound services will
better support our stu
dent population in years
to come.”
In Hall County, the
average CCRPI score dis
trictwide this year is 71.6.
The score for elementary
schools was 72; for mid
dle schools was 71.6 and
for high schools was 71.2.
Bales said Hall school
officials were happy
with the tight range of
scores among the county
schools. For example,
with the exception of the
World Language Acad
emy, each of the district’s
middle schools scored
within 10 points of each
other. And each of the
zoned high schools also
scored within 10
points of each
other.
The index is
not necessarily
a good evalua
tion of the Lanier
College & Career
Academy, a non-
traditional Hall
County school
that graduates students
year-round and prepares
them for the workforce
with trade skills, Bales
said.
“We didn’t have any
school way away from
where it should be,” he
added.
And so CCRPI results
become one of many
measures Hall school
officials use to gauge how
students and schools are
performing. Graduation
rates, and SAT
and ACT scores,
are also impor
tant components,
Bales said.
“We’re not
too proud to say
there are places
where we need
to see some
improvement,”
he added.
The CCRPI calcula
tions could continue to
change in the years to
come, as well. For exam
ple, state law requires the
use of a 100-point scale.
State School Superin
tendent Richard Woods
has said he wants to have
the Georgia legislature
remove that requirement
and reduce the weight of
test scores in the CCRPI.
“We were able to
preserve indicators
that reflect the oppor
tunities schools offer
to their students, from
advanced coursework
to career education to
fine arts and physical
education,” Woods said
in a press release. “But
we can’t stop there. I
believe strongly that the
current 100-point scale
vastly oversimplifies the
complicated factors that
influence school quality.
The public — students,
parents, and communi
ties — deserve a wider
and deeper measure
ment of performance
that reflects our true mis
sion: preparing students
for life, not a test.”
Woods
