| Panel OKs land purchase for elementary
Also, board of education says new middle schools will start at same time as others By Lara Moore Staff Writer The Forsyth County Board of Education approved land purchases, new school start times, school mergers and more at its Thursday meeting. Chief Facilities Officer Robert Sewell announced the land purchase for a future elementary school, currently called "No. 12." The board voted to buy 22.4 acres for the new elementary school at the intersection of Chamblee Gap Road and Kelly Mill Road for $2,970,655. Jennifer Caracciolo, Forsyth County Schools spokesperson, suggested to the board a committee be formed to determine the name for "No. 12." The school currently is scheduled to open in 2011. Additionally, Sewell told board members the school system was still searching for land in south Forsyth for elementary school "No. 11." They need to purchase it and have the facility built, by his calculations on enrollment growth, by 2009, Sewell said. "We're still looking for areas on the south side of the county," he said. "I had no idea we needed it that fast," said board Chairwoman Nancy Roche, after the meeting. "I still can't believe there's any land left around Big Creek to develop," said the board's vice chairwoman, Ann Crow. In other action at the meeting, Associate Superintendent of Educational Leadership Joey Pirkle announced that start times for the two new middle schools opening this fall, Little Mill and Piney Grove, will be the same as the other middle schools, currently 9 a.m. Johns Creek Elementary, also opening this fall, will be in the group of elementary schools that start at 8:20 a.m. Pirkle said the reasoning for this is because the county can best utilize the school buses to run the route for Sharon Elementary, which opens at the early start time, 7:40 a.m., and then run the route for Johns Creek, too. He also said that the movement to get all the high schools back onto a more traditional schedule, rather than a block schedule, would cause the end time to be pushed back by 10 minutes, to 3:40 p.m. The board also approved Eileen Nix's proposal to merge Sawnee Primary and Sawnee Elementary schools. Nix, the principal at Sawnee Elementary, said the school already houses four second-grade classes in trailers. If the growth rate continues, by their calculations, the entire second grade will be in trailers next year, Nix said. "We can't have all these students in trailers," she said. However, the trailers would still be used for certain classes such as Horizon and English for Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL. "But we do want to get the [kindergarten through grade 5] perspective back again," Nix said. Additional changes include an opening for a new assistant principal at the merged school this fall and the merging of the two PTAs. "Whichever school houses the student is where they will eat; the playgrounds will remain the same; transportation will remain the same; the phone number will remain the same," Nix said. Both schools will also have school nurses. "The bottom line is that this will be better for the stakeholders and the students," Nix said. Also at Thursday's meeting, Crow told the board about her recent trip to lobby federal lawmakers in Washington, D.C. "The two main ideas were to discuss federal funding from Title I and IDEA funding," she said. IDEA is federal funding for students with disabilities and it is a part of the No Child Left Behind law, as well as Title I. Title I is federal funding for low-income students. Both funding programs have been decreasing nationally in recent years, Crow said. Overall, she felt that the effort was noticed. "I think it went well and it was worthwhile to get out of Forsyth County and see that other schools have the same problem," she said. Crow also is working with a Legislative Committee composed of parents, business owners, lawyers and former teachers. "(At the last meeting) we explained how funding is such a crucial issue to all schools," she said. "We discussed the voucher issue and the charter [school system bill]." Crow has also spoken with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to "discuss the charter and find out what exactly he plans to accomplish with the bill." "I think parents want to be more knowledgeable," she said. "Which is good because bills are never that black and white," said board member Mike Dudgeon. "In theory, some bills sound so wonderful but when you get into the logistics, they just don't work out," Crow said. Lissa Pijanowski, director of School Improvement, Accountability and Assess-ment, also addressed the board before an accreditation team visits Forsyth County by the end of this month. "I am pleased to present to you the guided self-study we've been working on for two years ... it is a requirement for district accreditation," she said, "and we have actually created a Web site just for the accreditation." Other events during the meeting included recognitions of: # Andrew Hollar of South Forsyth High School being one of two students from Georgia to be admitted into the U.S. Senate Youth Program. # John Mashburn, Forsyth Central High School band director, being recognized in the School & Band Magazine "Top 50 Award." # Sharon Elementary ranked third in the nation for most money raised for Jump Rope for Heart. # Daves Creek school nutrition employees Charlotte Dietrich and Susie Hubbard named REACH employees of the month. # Seven teachers receiving their national board certifications: Phyllis Palazzo, Donna Price, Sandra Phillips, Eileen Bayanati, Leigh Hummel, Karen Pierce and Lola Larson. # Tod Keys from the Georgia Emergency Manage-ment Agency presenting an award to Bruce Wagar, director of school safety and discipline, for the system having an approved safety plan for all schools. # Jennifer Caracciolo, George Pirkle and Janet Walker all receiving multiple gold, silver and bronze awards from the Georgia Public Relations Association. |