Newspaper Page Text
10A
THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2004
Gordon joins county schools as math coordinator
By Teresa D. Southern
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Reading, writing
and ’rithmetic have always
been the basis of school cur
riculum.
For Houston County pub
lic schools, Gail Gordon is
responsible for the ’rith
metic - more commonly
known as math.
Gordon, Houston’s math
coordinator, has been a
math teacher for over 21
years. She said she has
taught grades six through
12 “all over the place,”
including England and
Germany. She previously
served as assistant principal
at Dooly County Middle and
Elementary School.
Gordon is responsible for
making sure all schools have
their needs met for math
instructional supplies, mak
ing sure Georgia curriculum
is being followed, and vali
dations which is determin
ing how much course credit
is given to students coming
from other states and coun
tries.
Gordon also visits class
rooms and suggests new
strategies for math staff
development. This is train
ing for math teachers on
how to implement the cur
riculum and different strate
gies to teach math.
This year, the system is
preparing for Georgia
Performance Standards
(GPS). GPS is one of the
W. Va. woman accidentally sticks hen foot to floor with liquid bandage
The Associated Press
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -
Joyce Stewart likely won’t
attempt first aid on herself
again.
Monday morning, Stewart
used 3M’s liquid bandage to
treat a crack on her heel and
within minutes her foot was
glued to the floor. It took
three paramedics over an
hour and a bottle of baby oil
BOARD
From page 1A
elementary schools, Tabor
Middle School and
Northside High School.
Hill said he would like to
thank his wife for her hard
work on his behalf. He also
expressed gratitude to his
“incredible group of friends
in Warner Robins and
Perry.”
McMICHAEL
From page 1A
Thomson, both unchal
lenged in the primary as
well as the November elec
tion, will also begin new
terms.
McMichael, a straight
talking retired banker who
has occasionally come under
fire from mid-county citi
zens for his votes on rezon
ing issues, was at the Board
of Elections office Tuesday
night, checking votes as
precinct reports were post-
ROUNDUP
From page 1A
and 908 votes or 27.06 per
cent for Berlon.
For Georgia Senate
District 26, Dale Washburn
got the Republican nod over
primary opponent Greg
Williams, with Washburn
getting 74.9 percent of the
votes across the district to
Williams’ 25.1 percent. In
Houston County, Washburn
picked up 151 votes or 54.32
percent of the balloting, and
Williams got 127 votes or
45.68 percent.
Washburn will face incum
bent Democrat Rep. Robert
Brown in November.
For Georgia Senate
District 18, Cecil Staton
earned the Republican nom
ination over Meg Nichols,
with 54.5 percent of the dis
trict vote to Nichols’ 45.5
percent. In Houston County,
Staton got 2,631 votes or
55.67 percent of the GOP
vote, and Nichols garnered
changes in the school system
since President Bush’s No
Child Left Behind initiative
went into effect. This will
start with sixth-grade teach
ers. This implementation,
which is designing lesson
plans and teaching around
the performance of previous
students, will hopefully
boost test scores. The state
has a timeline to adhere to
these standards. Gordon
said plans are to also start
instruction with fourth- and
fifth-grade teachers to give
the system a head start.
The new curriculum is
more performance-based
than memorization-based
than the previous one. Now
there will be more problem
solving and applications
during testing and teaching.
Gordon gave the example
that a student wouldn’t con
tinue working in one area
such as fractions, once
they’ve mastered it.
“This means students will
be accountable for learning
and teachers will be even
more accountable,” Gordon
said.
Gordon says the school
system is moving toward
Data Driven Teaching. This
is using teacher made tests
and book tests to guide
instruction and using data
from previous years for test
ing. Gordon says math is the
focus because it’s one of the
many areas students are
responsible for in testing in
to free her.
The 59-year-old woman
had positioned her left foot
so that her heel was off the
floor and applied the liquid
to the back of her foot.
Without realizing, the liquid
had run from the back to the
ball of her foot before she
placed her foot flat on the
floor again.
“I ran on my qualifica
tions, and not on any certain
issue,” he said.
He feels he will add bal
ance to the board.
“It’s a real privilege to join
those working (on the
board) and I am looking for
ward to working with
Danny Carpenter,” he said.
Walmer also thanked sup-
ed.
He said that the campaign
had been stressful and that
he was happy with the victo
ry-
“ The biggest challenge
ahead is the infrastructure,”
McMichael said, noting that
with the population growth,
the county has more roads
to build as well as expanding
the water system.
Mertens, who sought the
commission post while serv-
2,095 votes or 44.33 percent.
Staton will face Democrat
candidate Ben H. Taylor in
November.
For Georgia Supreme
Court Justice, incumbent
Leah Sears defeated Grant
Brantley with 62.3 percent
of the state vote to
Brantley’s 37.7 percent.
Sears got 6,858 votes in
Houston County or 55.92
percent, as opposed to
Brantley’s 5,394 votes or
43.99 percent.
U.S. Senate
Johnny Isakson defeated
two Republican opponents
for the U.S. Senate seat
being vacated by Zell Miller.
Isakson earned the GOP
nomination with 52.8 per
cent of the vote statewide.
In Houston County, Isakson
got 4,888 votes or 53.28 per
cent of the primary vote.
His closest opponent was
Herman Cain, who received
- 2
I vk iM
1
fifth and eighth grades.
Teachers will use the data
to individualize instruction
and find weak areas and tar
get them.
Dr. Ron Busbee, assistant
superintendent for Human
Resources, said the position
of math coordinator has
been around for a very long
time.
“We all know reading and
math are the key elements
Soon after, her grandson
came in from and asked for
pancakes. When Stewart
tried to get up and move to
the kitchen, she couldn’t.
“I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m
stuck,”’ Stewart said.
Stewart said that her rela
tives first thought she was
joking. With a knife, she
tried to loosen the
linoleum’s grasp on her foot.
porters and those who voted
for him.
“I have confidence in what
I’ve done so far and look for
ward to working with the
board for the next four
years,” Walmer said.
Both Walmer and Hill will
begin their new terms in
January 2005.
ing on the Board of
Education, will be out of
public office at the end of
this year. This was her sec
ond failed race for the
County Commission. In
September 2002, she ran for
and won election to the at
large Post 7 on the Board of
Education, filling the unex
pired term of the late Pat
Summers. That position will
now be filled by Dr. Charles
M. “Toby” Hill.
26.5 percent of the state
vote, and 2,957 votes or
32.23 percent in Houston
County. Mac Collins trailed
with 20.7 percent of the
Georgia vote, and 1,330
votes or 14.5 percent in the
county.
Isakson will go on to face
the winner of a statewide
Aug. 10 run-off between the
two top Democratic vote
getters for the seat, Denise
Majette and Cliff Oxford.
Majette picked up 41.3
percent of the vote across
the state, and 1,221 votes or
33.32 percent in Houston
County Democratic primary
balloting.
Oxford, her nearest oppo
nent in Georgia with 20.5
percent, garnered 1,054
votes or 28.77 percent in
Houston County.
All of the ballot figures are
unofficial until certified by
the county and the Georgia
Secretary of State’s office.
LOCAL
GAIL GORDON
in learning,” Busbee said.
“It’s extremely important to
implement math skills.”
Busbee said math is the
most changed of all in the
new Georgia curriculum.
“The old system was a
mile wide and an inch deep,
the new one has fewer con
cepts but is deep,” he said.
“There is now a value-added
approach and not as much
re-teaching of concepts.”
But after skin began to pull
away and her foot started to
bleed, Stewart said she real
ized it was no laughing mat
ter.
She sought help from her
daughter, who lives next
door. When family members
failed to solve the problem,
they called 911.
The package states that
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Group says it may have
found missing H-bomb
off Georgia's coast
The Associated Press
WASSAW ISLAND - A
group says it might have dis
covered a missing hydrogen
bomb that the Air Force
accidentally dropped off the
Georgia coast more than 45
years ago.
Derek Duke, a retired Air
Force colonel, and others
used equipment that detects
radiation and large metal
objects Tuesday to scour an
area the size of a football
field in Wassau Sound, a
shallow area near Tybee
Beach.
Duke said that radiation
levels were seven to 10
times greater than normal
at one spot. The group then
detected a massive under
water object, he said.
“It might be nothing,”
Duke said. “Our big ques
tion now is, ‘What do we do
next?”’
Billy Mullins, associate
director of Air Force
Nuclear Weapons and
Counterproliferation
Agency, said that the bomb
is best left alone.
The bomb is probably
entombed in 20 feet of mud,
he said.
“If you want to determine
for sure that it was the
(nuclear bomb), you would
the product runs easily and
sets quickly, and warns
against getting the product
on furniture, counters or
clothes. Stewart says it
should also include a warn
ing about the gluing of body
parts. “They should have
that on there,” she said.
A 3M spokeswoman did
not have an immediate com
CaMAboutFßEEPr^<|
Leverette Rd. at Houston lake*922-6627
Moodv Rd. at Feagin Mill-922-7572
Corder Rd. at Watson*922-9918
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
have to dig it up with a big
dredging type of operation,”
Mullins said.
He said that presents two
risks: The dredge could hit
the bomb and detonate the
high explosives, threatening
the salvage crew, and an
explosion might blow a hole
in a clay layer protecting an
aquifer that supplies drink
ing water to Savannah.
“We really don’t think it’s
in the best interest in the
safety of Savannah to be
digging around there when
it’s perfectly safe where it
is,” Mullins said.
The bomb contains urani
um and 400 pounds of explo
sives, but doesn’t have a
plutonium capsule, Mullins
said. With no capsule, the
bomb is incapable of creat
ing a nuclear explosion.
Duke and others remain
concerned that the plutoni
um capsule is in the bomb.
“If this is indeed the spot
where the bomb is, the Air
Force needs to come in and
come clean,” Duke said.
The crew of a B-47 acci
dentally dropped the 7,600-
pound H-bomb in 1958 after
it collided with another jet
fighter. The military
searched for the bomb for
three months.
ment Wednesday.
Stewart said representa
tives of the company have
offered to pay her medical
expenses. She is expected to
make a full recovery, but it
may take her pride a bit
longer to heal.
“I was embarrassed,” she
said. “I was still in my robe.”