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