Newspaper Page Text
The
Commerce News
JANUARY 14, 2009
PAGE 12A
School News
Adult Spelling
Bee Planned
For Feb. 12
The ninth annual Leap
Into Literacy Adult
Spelling Bee will be held
at Jackson EMC Thursday
Feb. 12, at 7 p.m.
Teams are invited to
register online at the
Jackson County Chamber
of Commerce website or
call Sandra Fite at 706-
367-8574.
This annual event offers
audience members a
chance to come and root
for their team, participate
in an audience spelling
contest and a silent auc
tion and win a wide selec
tion of door prizes.
Blood Drive Set
LifeSouth will hold a
blood drive Thursday, Jan.
22, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
at the Commerce Lanier
Tech campus, South Elm
Street.
Each donor will receive
a LifeSouth T-shirt and
reusable grocery bag, a
complimentary choles
terol screening and blood
typing, and 12 months
coverage in the LifeSouth
Blood Donor Benefit
Program.
Food For Thought
From Nov. 14 through Dec 3 the Commerce Middle School Family and
Consumer Sciences program held a food drive to collect donations for the
Northeast Georgia Food Bank. The drive was a contest between all the grade
levels at CMS, with the sixth graders coming out on top. The winning class
was rewarded with an ice cream party. In total CMS Family and Consumer
Sciences students collected 255 cans that went out to needy families this
past holiday season.
Benton, South Jackson Elementary Schools
Program Seeks More Latino Involvement
South Jackson Elementary School teachers Stephen Lush and Linda
Chapman work with a Latino parent in the LIFE program, which also involves
Benton Elementary School.
Benton Elementary
School in Nicholson and
South Jackson Elementary
School are working to
increase the involvement
of Latino parents in the
schools.
Latino Involvement for
Family Education (LIFE)
is a group of families and
staff from the two schools
that works to improve the
home-school relationship.
Meetings are conducted
mostly in Spanish, but
English is also spoken, so
families using either lan
guage are welcome.
The next meeting is Friday,
Jan. 23, at South Jackson
Elementary School, locat
ed on U.S. 129 in South
Jackson. Dinner is at 6 p.m.
The entree is provided by
the school; participants are
welcome to bring a side
dish or dessert. Children
are also invited for the
meal, and child care will be
provided.
The meeting will include
a dance and celebration.
The Feb. 13 meeting, which
will be held at Benton, will
feature a Valentine’s Day
gathering.
Meeting topics have
included barriers to
becoming more involved
with the school, thoughts
about what kind of par
ent-school relationships
are desired, what is or is
not working for individual
families, homework tips,
explanations of expecta
tion, bus safety, discipline
and ESOL classes for
adults.
SPLOST Project
Put On Hold
Due To Economy
County School Board Takes Wait-Anmd-See
View On $600,000 In Technology Upgrades
By Sharon Hogan
Economic concerns
caused the Jackson County
Board of Education to
delay more than $600,000
in SPLOST-funded pur
chases.
The board will reconsid
er at its February meeting
whether to spend $630,000
for instructional technol
ogy upgrades at the ele
mentary schools. The
money is being proposed
to purchase smart boards
for seven of the county’s
elementary schools. The
boards are needed for
approximately 190 class
rooms.
Chairman Kathy
Wilbanks expressed con
cern at Monday’s board
meeting with the expen
diture, given worries that
there could be a further
drop in the sales tax rev
enue.
Dr. Keith Everson, assis
tant superintendent for
human resources, said, “We
could dig into the revenue
set aside for construction
projects.’’
This item will come back
before the board at the
February meeting.
Other Business
In other business, the
BOE:
•The school board
unanimously approved
its school calendar for
the 2009-10 school year
Monday. Students are set
to return for class from
summer break Thursday,
Aug. 6, 2009, and classes
will end Wednesday, May
26, 2010.
• approved the retire
ments of Denny Turner,
principal, West Jackson
Primary School; and Doris
Lester, recruitment/reten
tion specialist.
• approved the follow
ing list of substitute teach
ers for January: Stephen
Seagraves, John Wiley
Ellis, Jennifer Baird, Joanna
Futch, Camilla Moore,
Madeline Sexton, Annette
Watson, Patricia Melnick,
William Dodd and Ashley
Shumake.
•unanimously approved
the supervisory and admin
istrative employees for the
2009-10 school year. They
are the same as the current
school year.
• approved a change
to the school admissions
policy and a change to
the nonresident students
policy.
• approved three sur
plus items to be sold: one
Yamaha Piano from East
Jackson Middle School and
two classroom tables from
the Gordon Street Center
vocational department.
• tabled until next month
any action on a Special
Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax (SPLOST) expen
diture totaling $630,000
• heard from Dr. Shannon
Adams, superintendent,
that all of the county’s Title I
schools have received Title
I Distinguished School
awards. The schools have
three consecutive years of
AYP.
•heard from Dr. April
Howard, assistant superin
tendent for teaching and
learning, that the focus of
the school improvement
plan for 2009 is to increase
the graduation rate to 75
percent. Howard said the
Hispanic population at the
county high schools has
the highest graduation rate
currently.
• heard from Adams that
the school system’s gener
al fund budget is at 41 per
cent in both revenue and
expenses with 50 percent
of the year complete.
• heard from Adams
that $462,266 in SPLOST
revenue was collected for
October 2008.
• recognized Rachel
Glenfield, Jackson County
Comprehensive High
School sophomore, for
placing sixth in the nation
in reciting the five-para-
graph Future Farmers of
America creed.
• recognized the sys
tem’s bus shop mechan
ics. In early December,
the Department of Public
Safety performed the
yearly inspections on
105 buses and only two
were taken out of service.
Dennis Patrick, director
of administrative services,
presented each mechanic
with a certificate of merit
for their performance.
Local Students Win Honors At UGA
The University of Georgia
has named several local stu
dents as either presidential
scholars or dean’s list stu
dents for fall semester.
The presidential scholar
designation recognizes
undergraduate students
who have earned a perfect
4.0 grade point average dur
ing the semester. Students
named to the dean’s list
have earned a 3.5 GPA or
higher out of a possible 4.0.
Both designations require
that students take at least
14 credit hours and receive
no unsatisfactory or incom
plete grades.
Among those named pres
idential scholars are Kevin
James Wiley, Commerce,
a junior in business; Kelly
Beth Cain, Commerce, a
professional in pharmacy;
Stephanie Louise Markov,
Commerce, a professional
in pharmacy; Laura Jean
Clark, Commerce, a profes
sional in social work; and
Jason Gordon Williamson,
South Jackson, a senior in
arts and sciences.
Those named to the
dean’s list include Michelle
Renee Cornelison,
Commerce, a freshman in
arts and sciences; Adrienne
Adele Cloud, Maysville,
a junior in education;
Whitney Nicole Wilbanks,
Nicholson, a senior in
arts and sciences; Katrina
Suzanne Brain, Nicholson,
a senior in public health;
Amber Charlotte Cantrell,
Nicholson, a profession
al in social work; Jamie
Ann Sam, South Jackson,
a senior in education;
Naveed Nizar Tharwani,
South Jackson, a profes
sional in pharmacy; and
Leah Michelle Gautreaux,
South Jackson, a sopho
more in family and con
sumer sciences.
3 Jackson Students Make ABAC Dean's list
Abraham Baldwin
Agricultural College
(ABAC), Tifton, has named
three local students to the
dean’s list for the just com
pleted fall term.
O
Students named to the
dean’s list must earn a mini
mum grade point average
of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale and
carry at least 12 hours of
academic work.
Named to the dean’s list
were Andrew M. Shirley,
Commerce; Chessie M.
Hacker, Jefferson; and
Daniel L. Simmons,
Pendergrass.
-.1 ; “
Geography Bee Winners
These Commerce Middle School students were the finalists in the
Geography Bee held Friday, Jan. 9. Participants competed by grade level
to be part of the school-wide competition. The winner, Samuel Hill, will take
a written exam, which will be sent to the National Geographic Bee head
quarters in Washington, DC. The top one hundred scorers in the state will
participate in the state geography bee for the opportunity to advance to the
national bee. Left to right are (front) Hayden McRee, third place; Samuel Hill,
first place; Allison Roe, second place; (middle row) Steven McKown, Jacob
Bailey, Ashlynn Harbin, Dalton Dean, (back row) Courtney Campbell, Clay
Pritchett, Jonathan Book and Daniel Streetman.