Newspaper Page Text
FIRST SECOND THIRD |FOURTH | FIFTH | SIXTH
SIX SIX SIX SIX SIX SIX
WEEKS WEEKS WEEKS | WEEKS | WEEKS | WEEKS
48.7% 68.7% 47.1% 69.2% 57.2% 79.3%
35.7% 53.8% 33.5% 50.0% 42.8% 58.3%
' 29.7% 48.3% 34.5% 51.5% 33.5% 64.6%
46.3% 59.8% 41.9% 63.0% 43.8% 60.8%
64.3% 60.5% 66.3% 65.2% 64.6% 61.9%
56.3% 59.3% 62.0% 59.7% 63.6% 62.9%
54.3% 59.6% 59.0% 65.4% 62.9% 63.5%
53.3% 82.4% 78.8% 68.6% 82.7% 84.6%
66.8% 80.9% 78.3% 65.6% 84.1% 79.2%
75.0% 76.2% | 85.8% 75.8% 75.5% 73.8%
87.8% 84.0% 86.0% 85.7% 84.0% 85.7%
90.3% 78.8% 76.0% 85.7% 84.1% 83.2%
ENROLLMENT:
First Six Weeks .......... 2,814
Second Six Weeks ........ 2,794
Third Six Week 5.......... 2,772
Fourth Six Weeks ....... 2,787
Fifth Six Week 5.......... 2,753
sSixth Six Weeks ......... 2,717
Hair Tells Committee Failure Rates Improving
By RICH JEFFERSON
Staff Writer
A resolution saying that in
seven years 50 percent of the
students entering the Chat
tooga County Sciool system
will graduate from high school
was passed last Thursday
night by the Education Com
mittee of the Chattooga Coun
ty Chamber of Commerce.
“The Chamber’s board of
trustees may not accept that
resolution, but we realg' want
50 percent of those enterin
the system in 1995 to finisfi
high school by then," said Will
B. Hair, chairman of the educa
tion committee.
At a gathering several
months ago of top state educa
tion officials from all 50 states,
a resolution was passed to cut
the dropout rate across the
country to zero, Hair said.
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7 1
Disclosure, Election Law Seminar
Jon Payne (standing), election superinten
dent and probate judge for Chattooga
County, presented a seminar on tfie
state’s financial disclosure and election
laws Monday night at the courthouse. He
noted that the first deadline for submit
ting campaign disclosure reports is Satur
day a]thoug%?candidates have a five-day
“grace period’”’ for meeting the require
PASSED ALL SUBJECTS
‘We Want 50 Percent Graduating By 1995,” Says Education Panel
“That was such a ridiculous
thinfi. That was pie in the sky
for them to say tfiat it could be
eliminated in the next. five
years.”
Hair also reported to the
group that the tgilure rate for
seniors during the final six
week grading period was the
lowest of any grading period
this year. A total of 20.7 per
cent of all seniors flunked one
or more classes, but 79.3 per
cent ’;‘)assed all subjects.
The percentage of seniors
gassing all courses during the
ifth six week grading period
was only 57.2 percent (see
chart). According to Hair’s in
terpretation of the statistics,
there is a ‘“general improve
ment” in the overall lpercentage
of those passing all courses.
“Most of our effort this
year has been from the fourth
grade up,” Hair said. “With
the exception of the eighth
%rade. all grades four through
2 improved over the beginn
ing oF the year. We may be
ment. State law also prohibits candidates
from placing campaign signs on road or
highway rig%ts-of-way, on any public pro
perty or on private property unless per
mission has been granted. Payne also
handed out copies of disclosure forms,
Georgia election laws and the campaign
siign law. A number of candidates attend
ed the program. (Staff Photos).
Six Weeks Grades - Chattooga County School System
beginning to see some effect of
our efforts. Sadly, the first
three grades did not improve."
The stay in school program
“hit more from the fourth
grade on up,”’ Hair said, and
that had an impact of failure
rates. “When the failure rate is
down between 20-25 percent
['m happy. I'm satisfied with
the 20.7 percent rate for the
seniors in the last six-week
period.”
The system has applied for
a $150,000 federal grant for
dropout prevention, Hair said.
When asfled what the chances
are of Chattooga receiving the
%rant Hair said, “‘I don't know.
here are so many factors in
volved. I don’t want to get my
hopes up."
He said notification should
come around the middle of Ju
ly. If the grant is awarded to
the Chattooga schools,
Suyerintendent Don Hayes
will have to start looking for
professional people to execute
the program, Hair said.
GRADE
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
There are now more than
100 students in the summer
school program at Chattooga
High School, Hair said, but he
admitted that may have more
to do with ‘“‘no pass no play”
rules in the school system.
“We have 150 kids right
now, who have not passed
enough credits by the spring
quarter of this year to par
ticipate in sports or extra
curricular activities such as
band,” he said.
““If the Rec Center holds to
its policy then in September
there wil)l’ be no Rec proFrams
for these students until they
are back on track. That means
summer school,”” Hair said.
EPD Meet With Powell To
Discuss County Landfill
State Says Project Behind Schedule
Officials of the En
vironmental Protection Divi
sion of the Georgia Depart
ment of Natural Resources
plan to meet with Chattooga
County Commissioner Harry
Powell within the next week to
discuss the status of the coun
ty's landfill situation.
The county is behind
schedule on submitting a plan
to the EPD for closing the ex
isting landfill on Penn Bridge
Road, said Clark Reynoldgs.
North Georgia regional
manager for the EPD. And it
appears that additional delays
have cropped up in plans to
open a new langfill or to use
soil from another location to
cover garbage at the current
facility, Reynolds indicated.
DELAY
Reynolds said Tuesday that
he received a letter Monda
from Commissioner Powefi
sa{'ing that there had been a
“slight delay’’ on developing a
new landfill because the owner
of the property was based out
of state.
The EPD official reported
on May 26 that Powell had told
Jennifer Daniels of the EPD
staff that Inland Container
Corp. had signed a contract
with the county for some 50
acres of land near Perennial
Springs for use as a landfill.
However, Inland soon denied
the report and Powell said on
June 3 that he didn't know
where Reynolds had received
information about the contract
having been signed.
The commissioner was still
confident at that time that the
tract would become available
for a new landfill. It is in an
isolated area bounded b
Perennial Springs Roady,
Highway 48, Il)’ea‘ci Orchard
Road and County Roads 82
and 102.
Jim Dunbar, program
manager for the EBD, said
Wednesday that his office has
received an apglication from
Commissioner Powell seeking
approval of the new 50-acre
landfill site near Menlo. The ap
plication, which was received
on May 26, has been sent to the
EPD's geologic survey division
for a preliminary assessment,
Dunbar said.
Powell said the property
was in the northeast corner of
FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH | FIFTH SIXTH
SIX SIX SIX SIX SIX SIX
WEEKS WEEKS WEEKS WEEKS | WEEKS | WEEKS
51.3% 31.7% 52.3% 30.8% 42.8% 20.7%
64.3% 46.2% 66.5% 50.0% 57.2% 41.7%
70.3% 51.7% 65.5% 48.5% 66.5% 35.4%
53.7% 40.2% 58.1% 37.0% 56.2% 39.2%
35.7% 39.5% 33.7% 34.8% 35.4% 38.1%
43.7% 40.7% 38.0% 40.3% 36.4% 37.1%
45.7% 40.4% 41.0% 34.6% 37.1% 36.5%
46.7% 17.6% 21.2% 31.4% 17.3% 15.4%
33.2% 19.1% 21.7% 34.4% 15.9% 20.8%
25.0% 23.8% 14.2% 24.2% 24.5% 26.2%
12.2% 16.0% 14.0% 14.3% 16.0% 14.3%
9.7% 21.2% 24.0% 14.3% 15.9% 16.8%
SYSTEM FAILURES:*
First Six Week 5.......... 41.0%
Second Six Week 5........ 31.8%
Third Six Week 5......... 37.5%
*One Or More Fourth’Six Weeks ...... 32.0%
Subjects Fifth Six Week 5......... 33.4%
Sixth Six Week 5......... 28.5%
The Summerville Recreation
Department adopted a no pass,
no Ylay policy at its last
regular meeting similar to the
one used in the public schools.
Students must be ‘“‘on
track’” to participate in
athletics or extra-curricular ac
tivities, Hair said. ‘‘What they
do not realize is that once
they're off track, it's hard to
get back on. It's a state law. A
student must pass five courses
each quarter.”
A student can take as man
as six courses every 12-weefi
Eeriod or quarter, Hair said,
ut the student must pass an
average of five courses per
quarter to be on track. ““So if
the Garvin Peach Orchard
Road adjoining the Knox pro
perty on the east side, accor
ding to the application. It is
also bounded by Fortune Road
and County Road 82.
PURCHASE?
Powell also indicated that
the Kr(?;erty would be bought
by the City of Summerville and
operated by the county —
much the same arrangement as
now exists at the current land
fill on Penn Bridge Road.
Grady McCalmon, city
manager, has said that the
Summerville City Council
directed him to seek an ar
rangement whereby each
municipality in the county
would share in the gurchase of
property for a landfill.
Eeynolds said Tuesday that
the existing landfill hadn't
been inspected recently due to
an increased workloag and a
manpower shortage in his of
fice. However, he said he or a
member of his staff would meet
with Powell face-to-face in
Summerville sometime during
the next week to review the
status of J)lans to close the cur
rent landfill and to obtain a
new facility. ‘“We need to get
something in concrete,”’ he
said.
MORE SOIL
Commissioner Powell had
indicated on June 3 that a con
tract had been signed for the
county to obtain soil near the
current landfill to be used to
cover garbage at the facility.
The present site is almost out
of dirt.
However, Reynolds said
Powell's letter told him that
there had been ‘‘slight delay”
in obtaining soil for the Penn
Bridge Road landfill.
Powell also reported that
the city and county aEparent
ly were trying to work out an
arrangement whereby the
Georgia Department of
Transportation would conduct
test borings on the 50 acres
owned b %nland Container in
the near ¥uture, Reynolds said.
The county is also ai)-
?arently seeking proposals
rom prospective engineers to
draw a closure plan for the cur
rent landfill, Reynolds said he
gathered from lgowell's letter
FAILED ONE OR MORE
you fail two courses in the fall
you can't play basketball. If
you fail two in the winter
quarter you can't play
baseball,”” Hair said.
With an average of four
passing courses per quarter
during one year, a student
becomes ineligible for all extra
curricular activities for the en
tire next year because they are
now off track, Hair said. “You
can be off for the rest of your
high school career, and that's
why we have so many in sum
mer school.”
Hair said the dropout
prevention grant would cover
and from contacts by the
engineers themselves.
DEADLINES
The EPD had given Powell
until June 1 to submit a closure
plan to the state. It has also set
a target date of Sept. 30 for
closing the current landfill and
Oct. 1 for opening the new
facility, Reynolds said.
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o o N e T 7
John Lipscomb, left, special assistant to
the president of Berry College, was the
speaker at Monday's meeting of the
Summerville-Trion Rotary Clu%). He is
shown being welcomed by Harold Peek,
incoming president of the club. Lipscomb
gave a humorous talk and also discussed
the Georgia Rotary Student Program
started 40 vears ago. Since that time,
other needed programs such as
in-school suspension. Now, a
student is not allowed to miss
more than 10 days of school per
quarter at the high school. Ipfea
student misses seven days
because ‘of illness, then is
suspended five days for
fighting, the entire quarter is
ruined for him, Hair said.
“Then you get into the fifth
year of high school for those
students. And you know what
happens then,” Hair said, refer
ring to the count{'s dropout
crisis. He said in-school suspen
sion would solve that by keep
ing students in school even
while they are suspended.
Reynolds said in late May
that it was unlikely that the
county would meet the June 1
deadline.
The landfill has been a con
troversial issue in the county
for more than a year. It has
created political squabbles and
charges and countercharges
between Commissioner Powell
and Summerville officials.
Speaks To Rotary Club
The Summerville News,
Thursday, June 23, 1988
from front page '
local news covulr‘(x class were
the Decatur De News/Era,
and The Blade of Swainsboro.
The Leader-Tribune, Fort
Valley, won first in communi:
g.ly service, followed second by
heNEI ffot: t hroughou
ewsmen t t
the nation judfied the papers,
ranging from New Jesey and
Louisiana to Kansas and
Michigan.
PLEASED
& “We are pleased that ’l‘hei
ews was reco]gnized as one o
the best .(rfir weekly
newspapers in gia,”’ the
Espy brothers said. “It was
gsgeciall{v noteworthy that the
judges felt that our style of
reportir(nig was ‘light and fac
tual’ and that we cover all local
news thorous&lzcand accurate
ly. We are icated to that
task and it's pleasing to find
that our newspaper peers in
other states recognize that we
succeed.
The award for community
service was presented to The
News for its reports in 1987
that the county school system
had the worst school dropout
rate in Georgia.
CLEAR
“We have attempted to
make the problem clear to
everyone in Chattooga Coun
ty,” the publisher and general
manager said. ‘‘We didn't look
on the reports as ‘bad news' as
did some local educators. We
looked on it as a story that
needed reportinfi so ap
pro&riat.e action could be taken
to Ein correcting the situa
tion. Frankly, if we had never
reported the problem and had
not kept it be[(’)re the public, we
doubt whether any action
would ever have been taken. It
was interesting to note that the
judges felt the news reports in
Jl‘he News ‘led to measurable
results.” We plan to continue
our leadership role in making
sure that education in our com
munity offers the best oppor
tunities to our {oung people
now and in the future.’
FIRST
The News had already
received first place awards
from the Georgia Association
of Educators for its coverage of
the dropout problem in the
county schools.
Also representing The
News at the convention late
last week were Tommy Toles,
editor, and Tracy Espy.
Two of the newspapers
owned by Toles’ sister an(F her
hzsband were t? award win
ners in the GPA convention
newspaper contest. The Com
merce News and the Jackson
Herald, Jefferson, both won
top awards. They are owned by
Mr. and Mrs. Herman Buff
ington, Jefferson, both former
employees of The News in
Summerville. The Commerce
News won at least eight
awards and David Bohanan,
Sfiorts editor and feature
photographer for The Herald,
won first iplace for his feature
picture of a cow ‘‘kissing’” a
woman who was milking
another cow.
Mike Buffington, son of the
Buffingtons, was honored for
his role during the past fiscal
year as chairman of the GPA’s
public affairs committee chair
man. He was heavily involved
in efforts to improve the state’s
open meetings and open
records laws.
1,600 foreign students have been hosted
by the Rotarians, he said. Many are now
leaders of their respective countries and
will always have ‘‘a warm spot in their
hearts for the United States, georg'ia, the
communities where they stayed and the
Rotary Club,” Lipscomb said. He is a
trustee of the program. (Staff Photo).
11-A
HONORED