Wednesday, April 23, 2003
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Wednesday, April 23, 2003 |
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School board says no to election break By J. FRANK
LYNCH
Fayette County students will not get Election Day 2004 off from class, since the Board of Education did not embrace a suggestion by the county elections board to make Tuesday, Nov. 4, next year a holiday. Three Fayette County schools are used as polling places, Superintendent John DeCotis told board members Monday night, and elections officials felt that past voting days have proven hectic and intrusive on those campuses. LaFayette Educational Center, Braelinn Elementary and Kedron Elementary are the three schools that will be used in the next general election, DeCotis said. Fayette County has 36 precincts. Board members suggested that closing the entire school system because of inconvenience at three schools seemed extreme, and DeCotis agreed that administrators felt like they could handle the situation at the schools. The request came as part of the consideration of the 2004-05 school calendar, which is almost identical to the schedule for 2003-04 already approved. A vote to give students a holiday on election day would have eliminated a staff development day already scheduled for earlier in October. "That would be 41 days of no relief at all," said board member Janet Smola, to the delight of teachers and administrators in the audience who appreciated her sympathy. Added Board Chairman Terri Smith, "I just don't like having a holiday in the middle of the week. It needs to be attached to a weekend." The board approved the earlier proposed version of the calendar. The biggest changes remain a full week of vacation the week of Thanksgiving, and a "winter break" the last week of February. Students would start class Aug. 10 in 2004, and graduation and final day of classes would be Friday, May 27, which is Memorial Day Weekend. In other business: DeCotis read from a letter written by Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, praising the school district for being named a "Blue Ribbon" school district, among the top 33 percent nationwide as ranked by Expansion Magazine. "This isn't something we applied for, so it was a real surprise," he said. The board agreed to leave the employee benefits package as is for another year while it studies alternative programs. The board approved a hefty list of employee transfers, along with resignations, retirements and new hires as the school year nears an end and plans are set in place for next school year. Seven employees retired, 53 have resigned for various reasons, 34 new hires were approved and 10 "reelections," or nontenured contracts were approved. A whopping 113 transfers were also okayed, representing the shuffling of personnel as two new schools go online next fall with budget constraints limiting the number of new outside hires.
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