By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Last Friday a gunman killed 20 students as well as six teachers and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Dr. Ralph Bennett, superintendent of Morgan County Charter School System, said via e-mail that “our School Resource Officers (SROs) were making even more of a presence in each of the schools than ever before.”
He added that “our administrators, teachers and staff were helping our students to continue to feel safe and secure at school.”
In the wake of that tragedy, parents visited local schools asking about safety procedures, according to Sarah Burbach, assistant superintendent for Student Support and Community Relations with the system.
She noted that state law has a zero-tolerance policy regarding weapons on school campuses. “Zero tolerance,” she said, means neither students nor faculty and staff may have weapons on school grounds. She added that “weapons” include firearms, knives and anything else that can be construed as a weapon.
Students at CrossRoads are checked daily with a wand as a precautionary measure, she said. Also, they have to empty their pockets and bookbags.
Burbach said that all of the schools in the system have safety plans reviewed on a consistent basis.
In fact, their more recent review occurred last Wednesday during a principals’ meeting. The recent carbon monoxide scare in Atlanta schools prompted that review.
“Each principal went over their safety plans and were told to review them with faculty and staff,” she said.
One advantage to the discussion: each principal was able to hear – and learn from – the other principals and their plans.
Burbach added that the schools practice lockdown, tornado, and fire drills.

By Kathryn Schiliro
Managing Editor

The push for a tax exemption from the school board for county seniors has been called off.
Johnny Youngblood, a representative of the local group JOLT (Job Opportunities and Lower Taxes), approached the Morgan County Board of Education (BOE) in the spring with a request to implement a measure, in phases, that would exempt local seniors from paying school taxes. He followed up that request Monday, Dec. 10 at the BOE’s meeting after doing more research on the BOE's budget and speaking to BOE members over the past months.

“I know everything’s tight...and it’s going to be tighter next year,” Youngblood said. “I know y’all are not going to vote for it (the senior tax exemption).”

In the spring, Youngblood also called for an external audit of the school system to ensure “you have the right people in the right place money-wise.”

“We try to be extremely careful and cognizant with funds,” BOE Chairman Nelson Hale said. “We don't feel like we have any excess [to pay for an external audit].”

Hale added that the system is audited by the state each year and that the BOE has taken steps to reduce spending where possible, like not filling about 30 positions when teachers have retired or left the system.

He continued to say that at last month's meeting, several county seniors spoke to the board opposing senior tax exemptions.

BOE member Keith Howard added that there are two bankers on the board – both are on financially related committees – and that the board did hire a former state auditor, Libby Whitaker, as internal auditor.

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Madison Councilman Michael Naples said Mayor Bruce Gilbert should have intervened during the council’s last meeting in which a member of the public offered a “personal attack” on Naples.
At that meeting Kathy Whiteside, who gives tours of her home on Dixie Avenue, addressed Naples at one point and accused him of bullying and being ungentlemanly.
She said that Naples should have gone to her with any concerns about her business license.
Naples had responded that he followed protocol by taking his concerns to the city manager.
“For any one of us to be attacked, it should have been cut off,” he said. “I do not appreciate the attack.”
Councilman Whitey Hunt said he agreed.
“He could have apprised her that was not appropriate,” he said.
Naples added that he was trying to do the right thing by the ordinances.
Naples said he would speak with Gilbert, who was absent from the work session Friday.

Printed in the December 20, 2012 edition

By Kathryn Schiliro
Managing Editor

School system administration received word from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) on Tuesday, Dec. 11, that the system would not be receiving the much-anticipated Race to the Top-District grant.

Morgan County’s grant, submitted to the DOE in October, requested more than $9.7 million – Race to the Top stipulates funding amounts based on system size; Morgan could request between $5 and $10 million – to personalize learning by providing each student with their own individual laptop or iPad. The funding would’ve also gone to training and support for these technologies.
Applications, each reviewed by three independent evaluators, were scored on a scale of up to 210 points; Morgan County’s three scores ranged from 172 out of 210 points to 182 out of 210. Those scores were averaged and then ranked by the DOE.

Across the three reviews, evaluators pointed out the need for additional budget details in regard to personnel salaries and non-personnel expenditures, as well as funding sustainability; an increase in “access and exposure to diverse cultures, contexts, and perspectives that motivate and deepen individual student learning;” and the need for more teacher participation in the grant.

“Even though the applicant received support from 70 [percent] of the educators, it appears that the applicant did not involve the educators in the initial design discussions or revisions. It appears that the educators were only brought in at the end and asked to approve the plan rather than to help design the plan,” one review states.

The inclusion of optional postsecondary data, like college enrollment, might have increased scores as well.

Madison ChopHouse Grille hosted a “Breakfast with Santa” event last Saturday morning. The Big Man himself made an appearance, speaking with all the children as they were dining. Here, Weston and Ashlee Peters get their chance to speak to Santa. photo by jesse walker

Printed in the December 20, 2012 edition

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

An agenda item pertaining to tourism in residential zones prompted locals to speak out at the Madison City Council meeting on Monday.

During a November meeting of the council, Councilman Michael Naples asked why the city had not stopped a homeowner from providing tours of their historic residence. Kathy Whiteside, owner of Thurleston house on Dixie Avenue, was discussed during that meeting.

Naples said the current ordinance just covers tour management. He added that many people do not want tourism in residential districts.

“This ordinance has to be expanded,” he said. He added that tourism is the number one industry in this town, but ordinances must be respected. “If you leave it the way it is, you’re not addressing the problem.”

Whiteside was present at Monday night’s meeting. She said she has lived in Madison and given tours here for 30 years.

“I didn’t want a business,” she said, adding that her husband’s work building in Florida “just stopped.”
She decided to start the business so that she could maintain her property.

Whiteside said when she received her business license, she asked for no favors but was granted the license on precedence. She noted that Hattie Mina Hicky had given tours.

“We need more people like me,” she said. Some in the audience laughed and clapped at this. “All of us working together is what our town needs.”

She addressed Naples at one point and accused him of bullying.

“You could’ve come to me and said I have a problem with your license,” she said. “It hurt me terribly and it hurt me personally.”