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Local
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ALBANY — The Dougherty County School System plans to reduce the dropout rate 20 percent from last year, which would result in keeping 51 more students than last year on track to graduate. Superintendent Sally Whatley said Monday night at the Dougherty County School Board's monthly meeting that the system is caught between finding more ways to keep children in school and not reducing promotion standards. "Our promotion standards are among the highest in the state," Whatley said. She said other systems only require students to pass reading, language arts and social studies and the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests in those same areas in grades 1-8. Dougherty County students also must pass science and social studies and those related state tests in the same grades, as well as meet other standards, to get to move on to the next grade. She said strategies to increase student achievement and reduce retention include continuing summer school, remediation and attendance programs, as well as exploring new credit recovery programs — currently only used in high school — to get children back on track and up to speed so they can handle the increased academic rigors of the next grade level. The system's dropout rate for high school students last year was 5.4 percent, down from 9 percent for the 2004-05 school year and from 6.2 percent in 2003-04. Whatley said that amounts to 251 students last year, 440 students the year before, and 301 students the year before that. The goal this year is to have 200 or fewer students drop out of high school. More attention will also be paid to the middle schools "because the middle school dropout rate affects that (the high school rate)," Whatley said. The 7-12 grade dropout rate last year was only 3.6 percent, she said. But if a student begins to struggle in middle school, it could pave the way for an early departure in high school, Whatley said. The system will also need to keep better track of how certain disciplinary matters are titled. A suspended student not finishing the school year does not count as a dropout, according to state definitions, but an expelled student does. Whatley said some students last year who were kicked out of school for less than a semester were sometimes considered expelled, but the definition of expulsion is being kicked out of school for a semester or more. "That will have an effect," Whatley said. Another method could be enacting a modified school calendar, which resembles a year-round school calendar, with breaks — called intersessions — built in to help students who are behind catch up. Whatley said students who attend summer school are already in a system similar to year-round schooling or a modified calendar. "Is that bad? I don't think so," Whatley said. She said 19 percent of the system's students were slated to be held back last year, but half of those were promoted after successfully completing summer school. At the mid-month board meeting, scheduled for Nov. 29 at International Studies Elementary Magnet School, the board is expected to decide whether to put a new sales tax referendum out to the voters. Finance Director Robert Lloyd said the earliest election date available would be March 20, 2007, when a vacated Dougherty County Commission seat is up for election. Lloyd said in a memo to the board members that sales tax money from 2000-07 is expected to total about $85 million, which has been used to build new schools, buy new technology and otherwise enhance the school system. In the memo, Lloyd said staff members have already begun planning projects for the sales tax to fund, should the voters approve the measure. Lloyd told the board Monday night the decision to ask the voters to approve the sales tax must be made soon, so the system can hire a qualified bond attorney to draw up the necessary paperwork and to give the state Department of Justice ample time to review the proposal before it can be allowed on the ballot. ASU band gets showcase invite
ALBANY — After four years of wishful thinking and disappointment, the Albany State University Marching Rams Show Band was formally invited Monday to be a part of the 2007 Honda Battle of the Bands Invitations Showcase. The event, to be held Jan. 27 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, pits "the top 10" bands from historically black colleges and universities within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). "This is the Super Bowl of black college bands," Battle of the Bands Executive Producer Craig Cason said after making the announcement at Albany Municipal Coliseum. ASU is one of two schools chosen to represent the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Band members — musicians, dancers and flag team — cheered after the invitation was made. "It's our time to shine, and we are shutting it down," said junior Gwendolyn Gunter-Wilson, a 21-year-old clarinet player who could hardly contain her excitement on Monday. There are 176 members of the Marching Rams, 141 of whom are instrumentalists, said band director Michael Decuir. The band practices from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, then shows off its hard work on football game day, Saturday. "I was excited because it'll be another opportunity for ASU to be represented in a positive way," said 18-year-old freshman Michael Vicks, a trumpet player. Decuir, in his fifth year as director, said his band "prides (itself) on not being like other groups." Other bands may rely heavily on dancers and flags for a show, he said, while the Marching Rams "emphasize musicianship and various formations ... geometric shapes." The band votes were divided into three categories: Web site voting, band directors and college presidents, Cason said. "One of the true tests is the band directors' peers," he said. Band directors could not vote for their own bands. Cason could not say Monday how many Web votes ASU received, but said the event site got 4 million hits. The recognition comes with monetary awards totaling $13,200, Cason said. Decuir said the funds will go toward music scholarships, equipment and new music. About 70,000 people are expected at the event, which Cason said sells out. The top 10 bands were narrowed from a starting number of 41 schools. Johnson: Brinson confessed to murder
ALBANY — One of the two defendants accused of murder in the slaying of a man at a Dawson Road restaurant in 2005 testified Monday that he cleaned the suspected murder weapon and its ammunition the day after the killing took place. Temyrance Deyale Johnson testified Monday in Dougherty Superior Court that Nevarro Brinson, the defendant who prosecutors contend was the trigger man in the Nov. 27, 2005, shooting death of Damarcus Waddell at Pizza Hut, told Johnson shortly after the killing that he had shot Waddell. Johnson, who contends he was at home with his girlfriend the night of the shooting, said he was worried that the gun he co-owned with Brinson might have been the one used to kill Waddell and might link him to the death. Johnson testified that he and Brinson co-owned a .40-caliber pistol that prosecutors say was used in the slaying. "He (Brinson) just said he shot Damarcus," Johnson testified. Johnson said that after he learned Waddell had been killed, he told Brinson, " 'You know the first person they're going to come pointing at is me.' " Johnson testified that Brinson told him, " 'I got ol' boy away from you; you don't have to worry about that anymore.' " Investigators in the case have said Waddell and Johnson were romantically involved with the same woman. Johnson said he cleaned the gun and all its ammunition the day after the shooting, but said he did so because he cleaned the gun regularly. Johnson also testified that he had made a threat against Waddell before Waddell's death, but said that didn't mean he wanted to kill him. " 'I'm going to get you' and 'I'm going to kill you' are two different things," he testified. Johnson said that he was with his girlfriend at his home the night of Waddell's slaying, and had nothing to do with his death. "She had this great idea to have a slumber party," Johnson testified. "We watched movies most of the evening." Johnson testified that he was engaged with the woman whom Waddell was allegedly seeing, but said that she only characterized her relationship with Waddell as friends. The trial resumes today in Dougherty Superior Court.
ATLANTA — State House Republicans voted Monday to stick with their leadership team, no surprise following elections last week that saw the GOP increase its majority in the lower legislative chamber. At their post-election reorganizational meeting, GOP lawmakers renominated House Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, and Speaker Pro Tempore Mark Burkhalter, R-Alpharetta, to continue in those posts for the next two years. With the GOP now holding 106 of 180 seats in the House, both are certain to win re-election when the General Assembly convenes in January. The rest of the Republican team was elected outright to party leadership positions that only required a vote of the GOP caucus. Rep. Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, was returned as majority leader, and Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, was re-elected majority whip. With Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, stepping down as chairman of the House Republican Caucus, Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, was chosen to step up from the vice chairmanship. Rep. Donna Sheldon, R-Dacula, was selected vice chairman, defeating Rep. Calvin Hill, R-Canton, in the only contested race. Rep. Jeff May, R-Monroe, was elected secretary-treasurer of the caucus, succeeding Rep. Sue Burmeister, R-Augusta, who did not seek re-election. Commission to apply for vehicle lights
ALBANY — The Dougherty County Commission agreed Monday to apply for a permit to put an emergency light in the coroner's county-issued vehicle. Coroner Emma Quimbley asked commissioners at their last meeting in October for permission to use blue lights. She has had blue lights in both vehicles for two years, she said, but quit using them in August when County Administrator Richard Crowdis and County Attorney Spencer Lee told her that using them without a state permit violated state law. After a discussion that several commissioners described as too long, the commission agreed to apply for a red-light permit for Quimbley's county vehicle. She previously applied for blue lights for her personal vehicle, but was issued a red-light permit. Lee told commissioners that the vehicle would need to be an authorized emergency vehicle and that the lights could be used for going through stop lights only in an emergency situation. Lee said that because the vehicle is owned by the county, the county will have to submit the application, which he said requires an explanation of "the circumstances under which she needs to use red lights" and "why she needs (the vehicle) to be designated as an authorized emergency vehicle." The state Department of Public Safety "will determine if the reason we have given them ... fits in the category of why they issue a permit," Lee said. He said that, according to Georgia Code, the red light is to be used "in conjunction with a siren and only for emergency purposes." Quimbley said she needs the lights to rush to scenes and said that sometimes Emergency Medical Services personnel have to wait at scenes until she arrives. EMS Director Bobby Tripp said that the coroner's office has had good response times, but Quimbley said that some trips still take her more than 30 minutes. Crowdis told commissioners that, for insurance reasons, Quimbley and any deputy coroners who might use the county's vehicle would need to take a safety course for emergency vehicles. According to a survey of 12 Georgia counties Crowdis presented to the commission, six coroner offices do not use emergency lights and at least four use lights only for traffic control at a scene.
Elliott Minor BUTLER — A group of activists protested on Monday — just after the Veterans Day weekend —against racially segregated lists of local veterans that have been displayed for more than 60 years at the Taylor County Courthouse. The protesters, including state leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, vowed to continue returning to Taylor County until local officials remove two large framed documents put up in 1944 to honor 800 of the county's World War II veterans. On one "honor roll" is a list of white veterans. On the other is a list of "colored" veterans, including Maceo Snipes, a soldier who served in the Pacific, returned home and was shot to death in 1946 after he became the first black to vote in Taylor County. Led by the NAACP and by the Americus-based Prison & Jail Project, an inmate advocacy and civil rights groups, the 40 protesters marched through the courthouse carrying signs that read "Jim Crow Must Go, and singing the well-known civil rights hymn, "We Shall Overcome." County commissioners decided earlier this year to create a third integrated plaque with all of the names, plus some that weren't in the original displays, which were created before the war ended. Commissioners say they cannot remove the displays because it would violate a state law that makes it illegal to "mutilate, deface, defile, or abuse" public monuments honoring service members. Patty James, one of two black members of the commission, said she would have preferred to have the plaques removed, but said the law prevented it and so now it's time to move on to other issues. "We're about promoting peace and unity in the county," she said. "We've got a lot of good folks, white and black." But NAACP officials said the group will not rest until the plaques are removed. State President Edward DuBose, a military retiree, told the crowd outside the courthouse that the plaques were an affront to the soldiers fighting in Iraq, "where the blood ain't black or white, it's red." "We will not leave until those plaques come down," DuBose vowed. About a dozen of the demonstrators were aging relatives of Snipes. They told of being whisked away at night for safety after he was killed, cowering beneath a tarpaulin in the rear of a pickup truck while mourning his death. They said Snipes was buried in an unmarked grave at night and they don't even know its location. "It was a scary time," said Snipes' niece, Lula Montfort, 70, of Griffin. "To this day, I tell myself I have to vote because he gave his life." John Cole Vodicka, head of the Prison & Jail Project, called Snipes a true hero and said his name should be listed first on whatever revised list the county puts up. "Taylor County's white leaders know that these plaques should have and could have been removed ... in 1965, when this nation finally decided that segregation was illegal," he said. "... They took down the "colored" bathroom sign and dismantled the "colored" water fountain. But for some reason, these plaques remained." |
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© 2006 The Albany Herald/Triple Crown Media