Vol. 140
No. 8
28 Pages
2 Sections
Wednesday
APRIL13,2016
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Fire dept,
chickenque
is April 23
Commerce government
Manager search suspended
The Commerce Fire
Department will hold its 40th
annual chickenque Saturday,
April 23, from 11 a.m. to 2
p.m. at the J. Nolan Spear
Jr. Public Safety Complex on
South Elm Street.
Tickets are $7 per plate and
are available from any fire
man. Plates can be picked up
in two drive-through lanes at
the public safety complex.
'Coffee With
a Cop' set
for April 27
The Commerce Police
Department is participating in
the national Coffee With a Cop
program on Wednesday April
27, from 8 to 10 a.m. at Faith
and Flour Bakery North Elm
Street.
“This is an opportunity for
members of the community
to sit with officers and discuss
issues they might have or sim
ply to get to know their officers
better,” explains Lt. Ken Har
mon, who will host the event.
All Commerce residents are
invited.
Farmers'
market event
set Thursday
Local gardeners, farmers,
crafters and others interested
in selling their wares at the
Commerce Farmers’ Market
this year are asked to attend a
meeting Thursday April 14, at
5:30 p.m. The meeting will be
held at the Commerce Busi
ness Information Center at 12
Pine Street.
Information on the 2016 mar
ket will be distributed, along
with information about new
plans for the market — includ
ing potential opening dates.
Paper registration forms will be
available.
For more information, con
tact the Main Street office at
706-335-2954 or visit the Com
merce Farmers’ Market Face-
book page
INDEX
Church News 7B
Classified Ads 8-9B
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 6B
Opinion 4A
School 9-11A
Sports 1-4B
Social News. 12-14A
MAILING LABEL BELOW
Interim city manager James Wascher has rest of year to prove himself
“In talking to Tom and kind of looking
at what James has done in the last month
and a half, we felt we were better off to
continue what we’re doing. We’ve been
very pleased with his work so far.”
— Mayor Clark Hill
Commerce may have
found its city manager with
out even looking for him.
The Commerce City
Council has called off its city
manager search — at least
for the time being — and
will continue with finance
director James Wascher as
interim manager “through
the end of the year, and then
re-evaluate the situation and
go from there,” Mayor Clark
Hill reports.
Wascher, 38, has been the
city’s finance director since
2012. When Pete Pyrzenski
resigned as city manager, the
council made Wascher inter
im city manager and called in
Tom Berry of Underwood &
Company to lead the search
for a permanent manager.
James Wascher
The council’s action sug
gests that the position now is
Wascher’s to lose.
Berry attended the city
council’s April 4 “work ses
sion” meeting and sat in with
the council on an “executive
session” to discuss filling the
position.
As it turns out, the city
never formally started a
search.
“In talking to Tom and
kind of looking at what
James has done in the last
month and a half, we felt
we were better off to contin
ue what we’re doing,” Hill
explained. “We’ve been very
pleased with his work so far.”
The city never got far
enough in the search pro
cess to post the job.
Hill said the city council
advised Wascher to add an
accounting position to help
with day-to-day financial mat
ters.
The mayor said the city
will finalize Wascher’s salary
and benefits package for the
interim position within the
next few days.
“I imagine it will be a sala
ry something less than what
Pete was making, with sim
ilar benefits as far as a car
allowance, but we’ll be hash
ing that out,” he said.
Hill also said Berry “will
remain engaged and avail
able to James as a consul
tant, and he’ll be back up
again working with James
some later in the month.”
Wascher, a native of Wash
ington State, got his account
ing degree from North Geor
gia College and State Univer
sity. He worked two years
in the finance department
of Jackson County before
coming to Commerce as an
accounting manager, from
which he was promoted to
finance director.
He and his wife, Tabitha,
have two sons, Thomas, 7,
and William, 4. They live in
Commerce.
Library's memorial gardens to be dedicated
The Commerce Public Library will dedicate
its memorial garden (above), featuring benches
highlighting Georgia books and authors, and
its relocated Wallace Nelson Memorial Garden
on Saturday, April 16, at 11 a.m. The event will
feature a presentation on the history of the
gardens, recognition of those responsible for
its creation, and readings by local writers Lee
Ellis, Richard Hoard and Terry Kay. See pages
4A and 12A.
WJ parents ask Jackson BOE
to close Benton Elementary School
BY MIKE BUFFINGTON
Saying more resourc
es need to be focused on
alleviating overcrowding
in West Jackson schools,
three parents demanded
Monday night that Ben
ton Elementary School be
closed and consolidated
with East Jackson Elemen
tary School to save money.
Libby Christiansen,
Cyndi Smith and Heather
Meadows, all parents of
children at Gum Springs
Elementary School, asked
the Jackson County Board
of Education to take the
action to help free funds for
more classroom space in
the West Jackson Area.
“Close Benton and free
up some precious resourc
es for our children,” said
Smith.
It is the first time that par
ents from the West Jackson
Area have so forcefully in
public confronted the BOE
about overcrowding in the
area’s fast-growing schools.
And their effort may have
gotten some traction as
BOE chairman Michael
Cronic indicated that he
might be willing to again
hold a board discussion
about merging Benton with
EJES.
In an effort to cut over
head and maintenance
costs, the BOE last year dis
cussed an administrative
recommendation to close
the older Benton facility
and consolidate it with the
newer EJES facility nearby.
Several million dollars in
maintenance needs to be
done to Benton, money that
would make it more difficult
to fund new classrooms on
the west side of the coun
ty. In addition, there would
be some savings by con
solidating administrative,
lunchroom and other over
head costs.
But Benton alumni and
parents revolted last year,
slamming the BOE for even
discussing the possible clo-
See “Benton” on 15A
City BOE raises teacher supplements
Commerce City School
staff members will see a
little more money on their
paychecks next school
year.
The Commerce Board
of Education voted unan
imously Monday night to
increase the local supple
mental pay for certified
personnel to three percent
of their salaries. The cur
rent supplement schedule,
which currently is not per
centage-based, has been
frozen since 2008.
The system current
ly pays $122,100 in local
supplements. The change
will take that cost up to
$194,582.
Superintendent Joy Tol
bert said she first consid
ered just updating the cur
rent schedule — unfreezing
the supplements — then
looked at the cost for flat-
rate two-percent, three-per
cent, four-percent and
five-percent supplements.
She pointed out that the
Jackson County School
System pays a six-percent
supplement, Jefferson is
at 5.5 percent and Banks
County is at four percent.
That difference puts the
city school system at a
competitive disadvantage
to surrounding school sys
tems.
“We’re not there, but I
think we’re comparable,”
she told the board. “We’ve
got to start somewhere.”
“Are you comfortable
with four percent?” asked
Kyle Moore.
“No,” Tolbert replied.
Tolbert reminded the
board that the cost will
go up each year as teach
ers gain seniority or get
advanced degrees. She
also pointed out that
increasing the supplement
will add another $15,000
to the system’s costs for
the teacher retirement and
Social Security benefits.
Finances Stable
The board is able to
increase teacher pay
in large part because its
financial condition has
stabilized. As of the end
of March, the system had
a fund balance of almost
$2.5 million, according
to finance director Ann
Stokey.
Stokey said she has not
amended the budget to
account for the mid-term
See “Raises” on 15A
Schools
gear up
for new
state tests
Commerce students in
grades 3-12 are preparing for
the second round of Geor
gia Milestones, the new
state standardized tests that
replace the CRCT and the
end-of-course tests.
Elementary middle and
high school students will take
the test over the two weeks
of April 18-29, and unlike last
year’s trial period, results this
year will affect some students’
promotion to the next grade
or retention.
The Georgia Department
of Education introduced the
assessment last year, which
replaced the CRCT in lower
grades and the end-of-course
tests in high school. The
Georgia Milestones is given
to students in third-eighth
grades in language arts, math,
science and social studies,
and to high school students
in specific subjects.
Results from the 2014-15
Georgia Milestones were not
used in determining whether
a student passed or failed a
grade, but this year’s results
will. Georgia Milestones
results will determine promo
tion/retention in third, fifth
and eighth grade reading and
in fifth and eighth grade math.
“The biggest change for us
is the written part on math
and language arts, “which
requires a different mindset
for the kids” than a simple
multiple-choice response,
said superintendent Joy Tol
bert. “Now they’re having
to write and explain their
answers, so that’s a little bit
different.
The test has open-ended
questions in language arts
and math, a writing com
ponent in all language arts
assessments and norm-refer
enced items in all subjects.
There are four achieve
ment levels for each assess
ment. They are, from low
est to highest, Beginning
Learner, Developing Learner,
Proficient Learner and Distin
guished Learner.
Commerce high school
and middle school students
will take the test online. Some
See “Milestone” on 15A
