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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016
Commerce School System
Veteran educators retiring
from Commerce schools
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
The Commerce City
School system will lose a
lot of years of experience
when the 2015-16 school year
comes to an end.
The board of education
approved several resigna
tions of veteran employees
at its Monday night meeting.
They include Pam Canup,
Commerce High School
English as a Second Lan
guage teacher and girls’
softball coach; her hus
band, Terry Canup, CHS
assistant principal and sys
tem transportation director;
Susan Harvin, school nutri
tion director; and Audrey
Andrews, a second-grade
teacher at Commerce Prima
ry School.
“That’s a lot of experience
walking out the door,” said
superintendent Joy Tolbert.
Other Business
In other business Monday
night, the board:
•approved the hiring of
Jeffery Pearce as a substi
tute teacher; the resigna
tion of John Norris, a bus
driver, and Julia Gamble, a
CHS science teacher; and
a maternity leave for Abby
Rogers.
•heard Commerce Mid
dle School’s governance
team report on its activities
for the school year, partic
ularly its effort to acquire
Chromebook laptop com
puters for each grade level
with the new school charter
funds and one-on-one time
with struggling students. Prin
cipal Bill Ruma made a brief
presentation. Governance
team members Forrest Gar
ner, Tricia Massey, Dorine
Hill and Jerbundy Mullis also
attended.
• approved a raffle to ben
efit the CMS and Commerce
High School golf teams
•learned that the system
received an education local
option sales tax (ELOST)
check of $113,944 in January.
After depositing it and mak
ing two interest payments,
the ELOST account has a
balance of $842,712.
•approved the 2016-17
school calendar
Update On City
Library Services
At its work session, the
board listened to a presen
tation from Angel Tuggle,
director of the Commerce
Public Library, on its pro
grams and services that
would be of benefit to stu
dents or teachers. Tuggle
urged the board to think of
ways that the library can
be utilized to support the
school system, including
access to practice tests
(including the SAT), lan
guage instruction, literature
and its Summer Reading
Program. She asked for con
sideration to have library
personnel at PTO meetings,
teacher meetings and at
school events, and suggest
ed that the library could
“piggyback” on system
newsletters to spread its
outreach. Tolbert suggested
that Tuggle consider adding
school media personnel to
her advisory committee.
Report from the Georgia House
STEM courses would be
weighted for HOPE eligibility
Rep. Tommy Benton did not
return a weekly phone call
soliciting his views on what
is taking place in the Geor
gia House of Representatives,
his opinions on bills being
discussed and the status of
high-profile bills. Instead, he
sent the following document
prepared by the House Media
Services Office. An edited ver
sion follows:
BY REP. TOMMY
BENTON
The House reconvened
on Monday, Feb. 1, to start
the fourth week of the 2016
legislative session. With a
month of session behind
us, we are at work in the
General Assembly passing
legislation that will have an
impact on all Georgians.
Numerous bills have been
approved and passed out
of their respective commit
tees and many made their
way to the House floor this
week for a vote before the
entire House of Represen
tatives.
Education is one of the
General Assembly’s top leg
islative priorities; therefore,
we unanimously passed
House Bill 801 this week to
encourage students to take
college courses in certain
areas. HB 801 would change
the GPA weighting system
for HOPE Scholarship
recipients who take certain
science, technology, engi
neering, and math (STEM)
courses. HB 801 would
direct the Board of Regents
of the University System of
Georgia to select bache
lor-level STEM courses to
receive extra weight when
calculating the HOPE schol
arship GPA while a student
attends college. Under HB
801, a student completing
a class selected for extra
weight would receive .5
added to his or her grade
when calculating the HOPE
scholarship GPA. To qual
ify for additional grade
weighting, identified core
and major courses must be
determined to be academ
ically rigorous and lead to
jobs in high-demand STEM
fields. During his State of the
State address, Gov. Nathan
Deal targeted 11 areas, all in
STEM-related fields, under
the Strategic Industries
Workforce Development
Grants as part of his contin
ued plan to strengthen Geor
gia’s workforce and address
the job skills gap. By provid
ing additional GPA weight
to courses where our state
sees the most need, we are
making strides to bridge the
skills gap in Georgia without
risking the scholastic fulfill
ment of our students.
A vital workforce is essen
tial to a thriving economy;
therefore, enacting legisla
tion that will reinforce our
state’s business climate
and arm citizens with the
tools they need to succeed
in Georgia’s job market is
crucial. Much like HB 801,
we also passed House Bill
402 this week, another mea
sure that seeks to close the
skills gap in Georgia. HB
402 passed our body unan
imously and is an effort to
increase business partner
ships and participation with
local public school systems
for K-12 work-based learn
ing programs. Work-based
learning programs allows
students 16 and older to
participate in a structured
learning environment at an
employer’s job site for a por
tion of the school day, while
also receiving academic
credit. Modeled after Geor
gia’s drug-free workplace
program, HB 402 would offer
businesses that participate
in the program a discount
of up to five percent on their
worker’s compensation
insurance premiums as an
incentive to encourage par
ticipation. By encouraging
these partnerships through
the passage of HB 402, we
are not only proving busi
nesses with greater program
incentive, but we are also
providing students with the
invaluable, hands-on expe
rience in the workplace at a
young age.
We also passed two mea
sures this week intended to
ease the burden on public
safety officers who spend
their entire careers work
ing to protect the wellbeing
of all Georgians. The first
was House Bill 421, legisla
tion to provide enhanced
disability benefits to com
munity supervision officers
employed by the Depart
ment of Community Super
vision who become perma
nently disabled due to an
act of external violence or
injury incurred in the line of
duty. Under HB 421, deputy
conservation rangers with
the Department of Natural
Resources, parole officers
with the State Board of Par
dons and Paroles, probation
officers with the Depart
ment of Corrections, and
any community supervision
officer with the Department
of Community Supervi
sion would be eligible for
a monthly disability com
pensation of $5 per month
for each year of creditable
service. The bill further calls
for a minimum monthly dis
ability retirement benefit
equal to two percent of their
monthly earnings beginning
the month their permanent
disability occurred until
mandatory retirement age.
House Bill 690 passed
in the House this week ad
acknowledges the service
and sacrifices our public
safety officials make. This
bill allows any individual
who is a member of the
Uniform Division of the
Department of Public Safety,
a conservation ranger with
the Department of Natural
Resources, an officer or
agent of the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation, a district
attorney investigator paid
from state funds, or an alco
hol and tobacco officer or
agent of the Department of
Revenue to claim creditable
service towards retirement if
he or she previously worked
for a local law enforcement
agency for up to five years.
To claim those retirement
years, officers must be vest
ed in the state’s Employee
Retirement System (ERS)
for at least 10 years and inel
igible for a defined contribu
tion retirement or pension
plan while employed at the
local law enforcement agen
cy. HB 690 will allow pub
lic safety officers to recoup
their years of service, but
will have a zero dollar cost
to the state.
As we continue through
the legislative session, I
hope that you will contact
me if you have questions or
concerns about these bills,
or any other legislation that
may come before us. It is
my job to represent your
thoughts and opinions in
Atlanta, and I would like to
hear from you before the
session adjourns on March
24. Please stop by and visit if
you are in Atlanta during the
legislative session, or call
my office at the State Cap
itol and let me know what
I can do for you and your
family. My office number is
404-463-3793, and my email
is tommy.benton@house.
ga.gov.
Phone (7C6) 652-26CC
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Jackson schools
lower requirements
for graduation
BY ALEX PACE
The Jackson County School System has changed its
high school graduation requirements. The Jackson County
Board of Education approved the policy change at its Feb.
8 meeting.
Students will now be required to earn a minimum of 23
high school credits to graduate. The BOE voted to lower
the number of credits to align with the state requirements.
The 23-credit route will be one option for students at
the system’s two high schools. Director of curriculum and
improvement Amity Hardegree said counselors will still
work individually with students to determine the number of
credits they need for their future plans.
Grade placement for the 23-credit route includes: Five
credits, 10th grade; 11 credits, 11th grade; and 17 credits,
12th grade.
The BOE also approved a change to its health/physical
education requirements. Students enrolled in weight train
ing or JROTC can use the course as a substitute for the
physical education course requirement.
Other Business
Theschool board also:
• approved a service agreement with Arista Consulting
Group for tax reporting for a minimum annual fee of $2,500.
•heard about recent activities and “highlights” from
South Jackson Elementary School.
• recognized recent Rotary Club students of the month
including Dakota Stockton, Jackson County Comprehen
sive High School; and Anneka Cozzens and Jesse Norton,
East Jackson Comprehensive High School.
• introduced Christian Hunnicutt, the new head football
coach at EJCHS. Hunnicutt said he is currently working to
fill coaching staff positions.
• recognized its teachers of the year including: Denise
Wilbanks, JCCHS and Jackson County School System
Teacher of the Year; Terri Tyner, Benton Elementary School;
Martha Hill, East Jackson Elementary School; Tracy Kofke,
Gum Springs Elementary School; Lyn Hughes, Maysville
Elementary School; Joyce Cook, North Jackson Elementa
ry School; Lindsey Lush, SJES; Cynthia Williams, West Jack-
son Elementary School; Susan Minkiewicz, East Jackson
Middle School; Kelli Jenkins, West Jackson Middle School;
and Darrel Presley, EJCHS.
• recognized clean schools of the month including MES,
EJMS, WJES and GSES.
• gave Sherry Hall, a JCSS bus driver, the transportation
recognition of the month.
Security upgrades
planned for schools
BY ALEX PACE
New security systems are paying off in the Jackson
County School System. Superintendent April Howard spoke
about the district’s security entrances at the Jackson County
Board of Education’s Feb. 4 work session.
JCSS installed security entrances at all the schools this
year and Howard said they have been effective.
“We’ve already benefited a few times from those front
entrance cameras,” said Howard.
Several board members discussed plans to add more
security if the Education Local Option Sales Tax is renewed.
This could include the installation of several security cam
eras at each school.
The district is currently working with several compa
nies and the school resource officers to determine each
school’s needs and the costs.
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