Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
BARROW JOURNAL • BARROW COUNTY NEWS
PAGE 3A
County nixes SPLOST renewal vote
A back-and-forth conflict between
county officials and officials with the City
of Winder has resulted in the cancelling of
a vote on the renewal of a Special Local
Option Sales Tax - at least for this year.
The Barrow County Board of Commis
sioners. in a called meeting Friday after
noon, voted unanimously (with District
2 commissioner Kenny Shook absent) to
accept the recommendation of chairman
Pat Graham to reject placing the referen
dum on the November ballot. Graham said
putting forth the referendum in its current
form would mean a tax increase for Bar-
row County property owners.
“I can't in good faith say this is in the
best interests of the citizens of Barrow
County.” Graham said.
County leaders were hoping to extend
the current SPLOST, which was initially
approved in 2011. this year. There is still
time to get a referendum on a future bal
lot before the current SPLOST expires,
however.
Barrow officials could not get on the
same page with City of Winder officials in
reaching an intergovernmental agreement
(IGA) which would have brought in an
estimated $66 million in new SPLOST
revenue.
At issue was the $27 million which
county officials wanted to use toward debt
on SPLOST 2005 Level 1 projects, includ
ing the building of a new detention center
and courthouse facility and renovations to
the historic structure in downtown Winder.
Winder officials, in turn, said they
would not support an IGA that would
have allowed that big of a percentage of
SPLOST funds to go toward that debt.
Winder mayor David Maynard and Gra
ham exchanged letters during the week
debating the issue. Winder attorney John
Stell was at Friday's called BOC meeting
and presented another letter to those in
attendance from Maynard who once again
disputed the county's claim that a tax
increase would be necessary.
"It appears the County has adequate
projected SPLOST funds to cover the GO
bonds, but has opted to not use SPLOST
funds to pay the bonds so that other proj
ects can be funded,” Maynard’s July 29
letter said.
Graham continued to disagree with
Winder officials’ take on the SPLOST
numbers.
“If the voters in 2005 were told 13 years
later this general obligation bond would
go on your property tax bill, they would
not have voted for it.” the chairman said.
“It doesn’t matter how you slice or dice
this. This proposal will absolutely, if the
voters approve it. raise their property
taxes, and I will not support it.”
The chairman said she would like for
county and other municipality officials to
work during the next months to discuss
capital needs and put together a referen
dum.
Graham said she would like for a com
mittee to be formed including representa
tives from the Chamber of Commerce, the
school system and other citizens, to work
together to insure property taxes would
not increase.
Barrow elementary, middle
schools exceed state scores
By Al ex Pace
Journal Reporter
Barrow County’s elementary and middle schools have exceeded the state average in
most categories on a standardized test. Georgia Milestones results were released last
week.
The assessment tests students in several subjects, scoring them on levels 1-4 (with 4
being the highest). The district’s high schools had more students score in the bottom
category in most subjects, but the district’s elementary and middle schools fared better.
The Barrow Journal reported last week that BCSS elementary and middle school stu
dents had less students score in the bottom category than the state in most subjects on
End of Grade assessments. These assessments are given to students in third-eighth grades
in language arts, math, science and social studies.
District-wide, scores for the third-eighth grade End of Course test improved in all
subjects.
The district's elementary schools had fewer students score in the bottom category than
the state in every subject. But the middle schools were below the state in sixth and eighth
grade language arts and sixth grade social studies.
Results for the individual schools in third, fifth and eighth grade includes:
2016 EOC Third Grade
Scores in the Bottom Category
School
ELA
Math
Science
Social Studies
Auburn
38.4%
16.1%
21.4%
33%
Bethlehem
24.3
15.4
12.5
16.9
Bramlett
21.2
14.3
15.1
21.2
County Line
21.5
16
16
21.5
Holsenbeck
27.3
11.9
18.2
23.1
Kennedy
21
5.7
13
16.1
Statham
29
15.5
25.2
27.9
Yargo
27.5
16
13.2
19.7
District
26.1
14
16.9
22.4
State
33
21
24
25
2016 EOC Fifth Grade
Scores in the Bottom Category
School
ELA
Math
Science
Social Studies
Auburn
27.6%
22.9%
21.9%
21%
Bethlehem
19.9
16.2
18.4
16.9
Bramlett
23.2
20.4
17.7
19.6
County Line
25.5
17.8
27.9
23.2
Holsenbeck
21.8
22.9
38.9
33.3
Kennedy
16.5
16.5
24.8
16.5
Statham
12.4
17.2
17.2
10.7
Yargo
25
22.6
35
20.6
District
21.5
19.5
25.9
20.7
State
25
26
30
25
School
2016 EOC Eighth Grade
Scores in the Bottom Category
ELA Math Science Social Studies
Bear Creek
19.4%
24.2%
25%
18.8%
HMMS
21.1
12.4
22.4
14.5
Russell
17.5
17.1
30.2
17.5
Westside
32.6
33.3
40.7
27.6
District
22.3
21.2
29.1
19.3
State
20
24
40
25
Milestones clarification:
A story on Georgia Milestones high school results in the July 27 issue of the Barrow
Journal needs clarification.
A chart included with the story listed the school-level results, along with district and
state levels results. The school-level results only included the spring tests, while the dis
trict and state levels included both winter and spring.
The Barrow County School System is on a block schedule and high school students
take the Georgia Milestones during both semesters.
A more appropriate chart, which includes school, district and state results for spring
and winter includes:
2016 End of Course Results
Percentage Scoring in Bottom Category
Subiect
AHS
WBHS
District
State
9th grade lit
18%
30%
24%
23%
American lit
23
30
27
25
Algebra I
38
37
32*
30
Analy. Geom.
23
32
28
27
Biology
28
19
23
32
Phys. Science
46
43
44
34
U.S. history
26
23
24
25
Economics
25
29
27
28
Statham police to host ‘meet and greet'
The City of Statham will host a “meet and greet” on Friday, Aug. 26, at 6:30 p.m. in
the Statham Community Center.
The event will allow citizens to meet local police officers with the Statham Police
Department.
There will also be demonstrations by Statham K9 officers Basco and Bella.
Saunders posts $25K bail
Ron Saunders, former executive director of Adult Literacy Barrow, has posted a
$25,000 bail after he was arrested for stealing over $100,000 from the group.
Saunders, who was superintendent of the Barrow County School System from
1998-2010, is facing charges of felony theft and forgery after he reportedly admitted
to forging signatures on some of the organization’s checks. He was arrested by the
Barrow County Sheriff’s Office on July 21 at his Winder residence.
Adult Literacy Barrow’s board of directors was notified July 18 of suspicious activ
ity in its finances. The board suspected Saunders had forged signatures on checks and
had those checks cashed.
Saunders reportedly admitted to the BCSO that he did forge signatures on the
checks in question and to other bank transactions the board was unaware of.
The arrest report indicates the incidents occurred from July 2013-July 2016.
Strike up the bands...
DRUMMING WILDCATS
Members of the Apalachee High School band practice earlier this sum
mer as work continues for the new football season and school year.
Photos by Jessica Brown
SOUND OF THE BULLDOGGS
The Winder-Barrow High School band recently completed camp and is
looking to a new school year.
Hwy. 211 bridge reopened
The SR 211 bridge over Beech Creek reopened to traffic last week after 60 days
of road closure.
This is the first project in the state to use preformed concrete panels for construc
tion. This cutting edge technique accelerated the schedule and reduced the time the
road was closed.
“This was a very aggressive schedule to replace a bridge. Conventional bridge
construction methods can mean road closures last 180 days or more for complete
bridge replacement,” said Georgia Department of Transportation district engineer
Brent Cook.
Georgia has used the prefabricated panels previously in maintenance projects but
this is the first time this technology has been used in the construction of a bridge.
The roadway, which is a major artery in the area for school traffic, is back open in
time for school to start next week.
E.R. Snell of Snellville was the contractor on the project, with construction invest
ment of $2.7 million.
