The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current, December 16, 2015, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    PAGE 2A
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2015
'Christmas Spectacular' coming up
The Commerce School of Dance will hold its annual Christmas Spectacular
Dec. 18-20 at the Commerce Cultural Center. The event features Act II of
The Nutcracker and “Rockettes-style” holiday tap and jazz selections.
Performances are at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 18-19, 2 p.m. on
Saturday, Dec. 19, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 20. Tickets will be available at
the door and in advance at the Commerce School of Dance. Left to right are
(front) Marietta Martin, Megan Suber, (back) Courtney Carroll, Jaylie Mergele,
Kassie Hart, Kaitlyn Prochrow and Raychel Phillips, who will perform “Santa
Claus is Coming to Town.”
Commerce BOE approves
retirement plan for workers
Jackson BOE extends
April Howard's contract
BY ALEX PACE
April Howard has a one-
year contract extension as
superintendent of the Jack-
son County School System.
The Jackson County Board
of Education approved
the extension following a
40-minute superintendent’s
evaluation at its Dec. 14
meeting.
Board chair Michael
Cronic said Howard
received a “satisfactory”
score on the evaluation and
said the board is proud to
have her at JCSS for another
year.
School Calendar
Also at its meeting, the
board approved the 2016-17
school calendar.
The first day of school
for students will be Friday
Aug. 5, with a week break
for Thanksgiving and winter
break Dec. 19-30.
Students will return
Tuesday, Jan. 3. Spring
break will be April 3-7
and the last day of school
will be May 24.
Other student holidays
include Sept. 5-6, Oct. 10-11,
Jan. 2 and 16, Feb. 20-21
and March 13.
Pre-planning days for
teachers will be Aug. 14
and post-planning will be
May 25-26. Teacher work
days are set for Sept. 6, Oct.
11, Jan. 3 and March 13.
Other Items Approved
The board also approved
the following items:
• a $210,000 purchase for
computer replacements out
of Education Local Option
Sales Tax money. The
replacements will be used
to prepare the district for
increased online testing.
•up to $25,000 to be
spent on fencing/concrete
out of ELOST. Fencing/con
crete projects are planned
at North Jackson Elemen
tary School, Benton Ele
mentary School, East Jack-
son Comprehensive High
School, Jackson County
Comprehensive High
School and the board of
education office.
• creating an assistant
superintendent of teaching
and learning position. The
position was later filled by
transferring Todd Nickelsen,
formerly the curriculum
director.
• a revision to the student
attendance policy to be in
compliance with state reg
ulations.
• declaring a Hobart
dishwasher surplus.
Other Business
The board also:
•learned the district’s
flexibility model (Strategic
Waiver School System)
contract was approved by
the Georgia Department
of Education. The model
allows the district to apply
for specific waivers with the
DOE. The board plans to
focus on the SWSS model
in the next few months
before beginning to draft
its budget.
• recognized past Rotary
Club students of the month
including Bailye Hendley,
JCCHS; and Carley Wilson,
EJCHS.
• learned Maysville
Elementary School, East
Jackson Middle School
and Gum Springs Elemen
tary School are the “clean
schools of the month.”
•learned GSES, JCCHS
and West Jackson Middle
School recently completed
the Green Seal Training Pro
gram.
•recognized East Jack-
son Comprehensive High
School fall athletics teams.
Bus drivers and cafeteria workers in the
Commerce School System will have a retire
ment plan, thanks to action taken Monday
night by the Commerce Board of Education.
At the board’s “work session” meeting the
prior Thursday, Mack Poss of Mack Poss and
Associates, made a presentation to the board
for a plan in which the school system would
match up to $25 per pay period for each
employee that opts to enroll in the retirement
plan.
The accounts are considered low-risk,
low-reward and are expected to generate 2.25
percent interest.
Poss noted that four neighboring school
systems (Banks County, Elbert County Frank
lin County and Stephens County) have adopt
ed similar plans in the past 20 years.
New employees will be vested at 20 percent
per year. Five-year employees will be 100 per
cent vested at the beginning of the plan.
The school system will enter into the plan
in January.
“1 like this, because we need to help these
people,” said board member Bill Davis,
“because they’ve certainly helped us out a
lot.”
Other Business
Also on Monday night, the board
• saw a presentation from Commerce Pri
mary School’s school governance team fea
turing the school’s new music class, which is
funded by the school’s charter funds.
•got an update from Jason Anderson of
ABM on that company’s “audit” of the sys
tem’s buildings and energy use. He said the
audit is 75 percent completed and the com
pany will be at the board’s January meeting
with a full report of its findings, with the goal of
making a proposal in February. The company
believes it can find sufficient energy savings
to allow the board to replace its HVAC units at
the primary and elementary schools.
•hired Katherine Bryson, Melissa Martin,
Jennifer McClintock and Mitchell Phillips as
substitute teachers.
• announced the following transfers: Russ
Brown from sixth-grade social studies teacher
to middle school counselor; Brad Puckett
from sixth-grade social studies teacher to
eighth-grade social studies teacher; Reuben
Haynes from ISS to sixth-grade social studies
teacher; Nick Ladd from ISS at the middle
school to ISS in the high school; and Betty
Lane Owensby from middle school book
keeper to system payroll benefits clerk.
• approved a fundraiser for the Commerce
Middle School media center featuring the
sale of subscriptions to magazines and other
publications. Profits will go toward new books
for the media center.
• approved a fundraiser for the Commerce
Middle School cheerleaders. They will sell
t-shirts during January to cover the costs of
pom-poms, pep tags, and other cheerleading
expenses.
Thursday Night
Also at its work session, the board:
• announced an updated policy on com
petitive foods. The updates include a reduc
tion in foods containing high levels of sodium,
sugars and fats.
• recognized Commerce High School’s
2015 competitive cheerleading squad at Thurs
day’s work session. The Cheer Tigers won
their ninth state championship in November.
• reviewed Commerce City Schools’ end
of course test scores from the 2014 fall and
2015 spring semesters.
• announced Oct. 16-19, 2016, as dates for
the five-year Advanced External Review.
Commerce schools recognized
for utilizing 'best practices'
The Commerce City School System has
received the Georgia School Boards Asso
ciation’s (GSBA) 2015 Quality School Board
recognition.
The recognition program was designed
to showcase best practices in school gov
ernance and leadership. GSBA recogniz
es good school board governance to foster
educational community cultures in order to
advance student learning and achievement.
The Commerce City School Board met and
or exceeded the criteria set forth by GSBA to
earn this honor of a 2015 Quality Board.
Maysville to approve 2016
budget early Thursday morning
BY ANGELA GARY
The City of Maysville is
considering a $1.38 million
budget for 2016 that is up
slightly over the current
budget of $1.31 million. The
council held a public hear
ing on the budget Thursday
night but no citizens attend
ed. The council will vote
on the budget at a called
meeting at 7 a.m. Thursday,
Dec. 17.
The proposed budget
includes $642,730 for gener
al government and $737,600
for water and sewer.
The water and sewer
budget includes a proposed
fee increase of approxi
mately $5 per month for
water and $2 for sewer. The
city has not increased the
rates since 2009.
The budget also includes
an increase for engineering
services. The engineering
fee has been $3,050 since
2008. The proposal is to
have this figure as the base
fee each month with an esti
mated $410 added for test
fees. The test fees would be
added as they are needed.
During earlier budget dis
cussions, Catherine Daniel
requested additional funds
for the downtown develop
ment authority. The amount
listed in the proposed bud
get had been $750 but it was
increased to $2,000.
Raises $1,500 for Boys & Girls Club
Tanger Outlets recently presented a $1,500 check to the Boys & Girls
Clubs of Jackson County, proceeds of its fall Kid’s Day event. Tanger
partnered with the club, utilizing over 25 members as models, singers and
dancers. The event included inflatable games, rock walls, clowns, face
painting, a photo booth, a safety exhibit and kids fashion shows. Funds
were raised through the sale of admission tickets and corporate sponsor
ships. Left to right are Stacey Ramsey, Boys & Girls Club unit director; Nick
King, Tanger office administrator; Elizabeth Evans, Tanger office admin
istrator; Mark Valentine, Tanger general manager; and Michael Williams,
executive director and chief professional officer of the Boys & Girls Club.
Projects
Year
Approved
Original
Estimated Cost
Current
Estimated Cost
Year 1
Year 2
City of Commerce
SPLOST # 4
Annual Project Reporting
Year Ending 2015
Amount Expended Amount Expended
Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Subsequent Years
Total Expended
To Date
Project
Complete
Project
Budget
Estimated
Completion Date
Excess
Proceeds
Library
2005
S 205,061
$
322,809
166,164
21,219
41,415
20,289
17,039
30,655
26,028
322,809
Yes
S 322,809
Recreation
2005
$ 205,061
$
223,541
4
18,841
19,295
60,613
15,793
9,868
92,859
217,274
No
$ 223,154
6/30/2015
-
Roads & Bridges
2005
$ 1,127,838
5
1,436,357
73
■
■
209,552
1,226,732
1,436,357
Yes
$ 1,436,357
6/30/2016
-
Water & Sewer
2005
$ 3,588,576
5
3,907,131
62
499,689
540,772
107,081
234,009
255,320
2,026,593
3,663,526
No
$ 3,907,131
6/30/2016
-
City of Commerce
SPLOST # 5
Annual Project Reporting
Year Ending 2015
Year
Original
Current
Amount Expended
Amount Expended
Total Expended
Project
Project
Estimated
Excess
Projects
Approved
Estimated Cost
Estimated Cost
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6 Current Year
To Date
Complete
Budget
Completion Date
Proceeds
Recreation
2011
$ 1,118,530
5
1,118,530
114,707
149,330
18,280
249,275
-
531,592
No
$ 1,118,530.00
6/30/2018
Roads & Bridges
2011
$ 1,118,530
5
1,118,530
2,220
211,332
213,552
No
$ 1,118,530.00
6/30/2018
Water & Sewer
2011
$ 1,830,320
$
1,830,320
10,207
10,207
No
S 1,830,320.00
6/30/2018