Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 6, 2008
Commerce Primary School kindergarten
teacher Karen Hill gets her classroom ready for
the arrival of students Thursday.
1,500 Expected When City
Schools Open On Thursday
Like Last Year, Anticipation Of Starting
On New High School Runs High
The start of the 2008-09 school
year looks a lot like the start
of the 2007-08 school year in
Commerce.
That is, there is the expecta
tion that construction will begin
on a new high school.
It didn’t happen last year.
Superintendent of Schools
James E. “Mac” McCoy says it
will this time around.
Bids will be open on the “prac
tice” gym Aug. 21, and work is
expected to start after Labor
Day.
“Depending on how fast
that goes up, we will start the
new school,” McCoy said. “I
anticipate somewhere around
February or March.”
The construction will take
approximately 24 months and
will occur on the current CHS
site. Once the “practice” gym is
occupied, the existing gym will
be demolished and construc
tion on the new 125,600-square-
foot school — which will include
another new gym — will begin.
The projected cost is $18 mil
lion.
Weather, but more likely the
delivery of steel needed for the
gym, could affect that sched
ule.
Meanwhile, officials expect
around 1,500 students when
school opens Thursday, a num
ber McCoy concedes is some
thing of a guess since more
students tend to show up than
are expected.
“Historically, we have 25 to 30
more students than the previous
year,” he added. Last year, the
system wound up with 1,490
students.
AP, Gifted Courses
Added This Year
Two new aspects will be the
addition of two new advance
placement (AP) courses at
CHS, one in history and the
other in art; and the addition
of a full-time “gifted” teacher at
Commerce Middle School.
The system is still trying to
hire a teacher for the gifted
classes, but McCoy says even
without one, the program will be
stepped up.
“I believe we’ve got it worked
out where we’ll be okay even if
we have to do it in-house until
the end of December, when
we’ll get another group of (col
lege) graduates,” he said.
Emphasis On Math
Systemwide, Commerce stu
dents will focus on building
math skills during the year.
“We score well in language
arts and reading. We’re just not
happy with our math scores,”
McCoy reported. “We will con
tinue what we’ve been doing in
language arts and reading and
focus more intently on math.”
That comes on top of the state-
mandated change in the math
curriculum at the high school
level.
The key, McCoy indicates, is
better understanding what con
cepts students have mastered
and which are still causing prob
lems.
Last year, the system imple
mented the Classworks software
program to provide that kind
of data. For all grades but high
school, there is now a year’s
worth of data to help teach
ers find and address the weak
spots.
“It’s amazing how the data
(from Classworks) lined right up
with how our kids performed on
the state assessments,” McCoy
said.
At the high school level,
Classworks is used primarily
for remediation among special
needs students, but the high
school graduation test results
also point to math as an area
where there’s room to improve.
“We performed better than the
schools around us except in
math,” McCoy said. “It’s kind of
like that throughout the school
system. We’re just not scoring
where we want to be scoring.”
New Teachers
The system will have about 17
new teachers and has created
six new positions.
'Spy' Theme To Make CHS
Halftime Shows Entertaining
There won’t be any high-tech
weapons or dramatic chase
scenes, but halftime shows at
Commerce Tiger football games
will feature a spy theme.
New CHS band director Kara
Taylor has developed a show
built around music from “Secret
Agent,” “Mission Impossible”
and “The Pink Panther.”
“Visually, we’re going to be
very impressive,” she promises.
“Our marching is coming along
very well and our flag corps and
dance line are doing very well
with their parts.”
The 2008-09 Marching Tiger
Band comprises 44 members,
including the twirlers, flag
corps, etc.
It will be on into the football
season before the entire half
time show is unveiled.
“We’ll have the first and second
movement on the field for the
Jefferson game (Aug. 29),” the
first-year teacher out of Georgia
State University said.
Band officers include Carly
Reid, drum captain; Jessica
Smith, drum major; Caleb Lang,
band captain; Jessica Millwood,
woodwinds section leader;
Chris Lewis, low brass sec
tion leader; Melissa Pond, high
brass section leader; Douglas
Chambers, equipment manag
er; and Chelsey Swain, music
librarian.
Band camp ended last
Thursday. Rehearsals will begin
Monday after school.
Also on the agenda for the
band this year is a trip Oct. 18
to the Lake Hartwell Marching
Festival at Hart County High
School.
As a student, Taylor special
ized in the bassoon and viola.
She will teach one course of
band, one of chorus and a
new course — music apprecia
tion. That course, she said, will
expose students to professions
in music, the history of western
music, “a little bit” about reading
music, and the development of
heavy metal, rock and roll and
rap music that she thinks stu
dents will find “very intriguing.”
Inflation
Pushes School
Meal Costs Up
The higher cost of groceries
is showing up in the schools.
Meals will cost 15 cents more
this year for students and
staff members in the four
Commerce city schools.
Primary and elementary
school students will pay $1.15
for breakfasts, while middle
and high school students will
pay $1.25.
The cost for student lunches
will be $1.45 in the elemen
tary and primary schools and
$1.75 in the middle and high
schools.
Adults will pay $1.60 for
breakfast and $2.75 for lunch
at all schools.
The increases are the first
since the 2004-05 school year,
officials say.
Substitute
Teacher
Workshop Set
The Commerce City Schools
will hold a substitute teacher
training worship Monday, Aug.
11, in the Commerce High
School media center from 8:30
a.m. to 12:30.
There is no charge, but those
planning to attend should
contact Nadine Waters at
706-335-5500 between 7:30
a.m. and 4:00 p.m. so materials
can be prepared.
READ THEN RECYCLE
Banks-Jackson Risk Reduction
DUI SCHOOL
706-336-6777
DEFENSIVE DRIVING
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Next DUI Class begins on August 16, 2008
Next Defensive Driving Class will be held on August 9,2008
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We are now located at our new office at
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Commerce, Georgia 30529
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706-335-9411
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OUR MUFFLER DEPARTMENT
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Commerce Hires
21 New Teachers
The four schools of the Commerce City School System will
offer 21 new teachers when school opens Thursday.
They are as follows:
Commerce Primary School: Penny Nelson, Early Intervention
Program; Corrie Bessinger, pre-kindergarten; Megan Hix, kin
dergarten; April Peden, first grade; Laura Anderson, Brynn
Brinkman and Trudy Smith, all second grade; Lamar Bowles and
David Stephenson, special education; and Don Tyre, physical
education.
Commerce Elementary School: Carole McFadden, special
education; Lisa Langston, Early Intervention Program; and Jamie
Spivey, third grade.
Commerce Middle School: David Flint, seventh grade social
studies; Chessa Knight, gifted and pre-advancement placement;
and Kim McCarty, special education math.
Commerce High School: Don Watkins, math; Kara Taylor,
music; Peter Reitz, English; Joe Costyn, science; and Barry Cook,
social studies.
Information About Our Newspapers
About the newspapers: The five MainStreet Newspapers publica
tions, The Commerce News, The Madison County Journal, The Jackson
Herald, The Braselton News and The Banks County News, are printed
and delivered once a week.
•About delivery: The newspapers are delivered to the post office
and, from there, to subscribers’ post office boxes or mailboxes.
•About subscriptions: Subscribers are sent a renewal notice
before their subscription runs out. A quick way to check to see
when a subscription ends is to look for the expiration date on the
mailing label.
Online: Each of the newspapers has its own website
(CommerceNewsTODAY.com, MadisonJournalTODAY.com,
JacksonHeraldTODAY.com, BraseltonNewsTODAY.com, and
BanksNewsTODAY.com) in addition to a common website for sports
(MainStreetNewsSports.com), obituaries (MainStreetNewsObits.
com) and a combined site, MainstreetNews.com.
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