By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Jemison Middle School will likely continue to occupy Jemison Intermediate School for at least one more school year.

The intermediate school was built last year to ease crowding by giving Jemison four schools.

Shortly thereafter, education officials decided the transition would include moving the middle school to the intermediate school, located adjacent to Jemison Elementary, so that renovations could be completed at the old middle school building, which is adjacent to Jemison High School.

But the high cost of the renovations coupled with evaporating state education funding has put the project on hold, at least until the Alabama Legislature passes a budget.

“None of us like the building sitting empty like that, but right now we’re just having to wait,” Chilton County Superintendent of Education Dave Hayden said.

No timeline has been decided on beyond waiting to see what action is taken by the Legislature.

Before students could move back into the old building, the gymnasium—which has been declared unsafe—would have to be demolished, a new gym constructed and the entire facility renovated, Hayden said.

A two-year-old estimate on the project was $1.8 million, a number that could be higher when work actually begins.

Hayden said getting an answer about state funding would be the first step; he would then meet with the Board of Education to discuss whether the renovations would be possible.

If and when the updates were completed, a decision would have to be made about which grades would move back to the old building and which ones would remain at the intermediate. Even grades that are currently at Jemison’s high and elementary schools could be moved.

The elementary school currently houses grades kindergarten through fourth grade, the middle school houses grades 5-7 and the high school houses grades 8-12.

Jemison Middle School Principal Mark Knight said the intermediate school building meets the needs of his teachers, students and administrators.

As for the future, Knight said he plans only to be back in the new building next school year.

“We’re assuming next year will be the same,” Knight said.

From Staff Reports

The Chilton County Board of Education approved employees for the 2010-2011 school year Monday afternoon at its monthly meeting.

The following individuals at North Chilton County schools were approved:

•Jemison Elementary: Counselor and Media Specialist Jared Hood, Elementary Teacher Brandi Bean, Elementary Teacher Samantha McClendon, Elementary Teacher Melissa Short.

•Jemison Intermediate: Cafeteria Assistant Manager Alyson Glass (transfer), Media Specialist Karen Hayes, Special Education Teacher Assistant Rebecca Faucett.

•Jemison High: Cafeteria Assistant Manager JoAnn P. Hall (transfer), Eighth Grade English Teacher Jaime E. Mitchell.

•Thorsby: Assistant Cafeteria Manager Frances Allison (transfer), Science Teacher Timothy K. Williams, Science Teacher Derrick Littleton, Collaborative Education Teacher Holly Deavers (transfer).

By Stephen Dawkins

Heading off a problem before it could arise, school and city officials worked together to develop a traffic plan for the opening of the new Jemison Intermediate School.

Now, they can only wait and see how well the plan works.

The new school, located adjacent to Jemison Elementary School, will bring to the area about 600 more students and employees, many of whom will share entrance and exit routes with more than 900 JES students and about 100 more employees.

“We wanted something in place before school started, and we had a really good conversation,” JES principal Louise Pitts said about a group that included fellow principal Mark Knight, school superintendent Keith Moore, school transportation supervisor Joe Dennis, Jemison city councilman George Brasher and others.

The meeting produced a detailed plan. In the mornings, all parents dropping off students will use the far east entrance, or the road nearest to County Road 51. JES parents will circle around in front of the school, while JIS parents will continue straight down the road, beside JES and behind JIS, before unloading students on the west side of the new school.

The afternoon pick up routes will be the same at JIS, but JES parents will, as they did last year, pick up students on the east side of the school.

Buses will use one route to drop off and pick up students at both schools, driving by the west side of the elementary school and in front of the intermediate school.

Jemison Elementary tested the routes for the last couple of weeks of the last school year, and a letter and traffic map was sent home with students’ final report cards.

“We’re hoping, but we won’t know until we get out there and see how it works,” Knight said about the plan. “It will be trial and error. We hope everybody will be patient with us.”

Any problems would likely be compounded the first few days of school because parents, especially of kindergarteners, are more likely to drive their children to school instead of letting the bus pick them up.

Knight encouraged anyone with questions about traffic or any other issue related to JIS to attend the school’s registration and open house from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 6.

Also, traffic rules will be posted online at www.chilton.k12.al.us/JMS/jms.htm.

By Stephen Dawkins

Though Jemison Middle School will occupy the new Jemison Intermediate School next school year, Superintendent Keith Moore said the Chilton County Board of Education still plans for a four-school system in the city.
JMS is moving so that repairs can be made to the school’s 70-plus-year-old gymnasium.
Education officials have been waiting for the state to conduct a final inspection and officially turn over JIS, which is adjacent to Jemison Elementary School and across town from Jemison middle and high schools.
Moore said the board should take control of the new school soon and that Jemison Middle’s move will likely take place over the summer, which would require contributions from 12-month employees, such as administrators and maintenance workers.
“We want to do it when it would cause the least amount of confusion,” Moore said. “I’m sure we’ll have some teachers that will volunteer their time—and their families’.”
Jemison Middle’s move will be temporary.
“Once the repairs have been made, we’re going to go to the four-school system like we planned,” Moore said.
The board decided at its Tuesday meeting that grades 4, 5, and 6 will occupy the intermediate school. The middle school currently houses grades 5-8. Eighth grade, whose wing is actually connected to the high school, will stay at its current location while the other middle school grades move to the intermediate school.
Once the gym has been repaired, seventh grade will move back to the middle school, ninth grade will become part of the middle school, and fourth grade will move from the elementary school next door to the new school.
Moore said he did not have an estimate for the cost of repairs to the JMS gym—and said the repairs would take longer than the three months available during the summer.
Moore said the board decided it would be unsafe for middle school students to be in their current facility while repairs were being made to the gym.
“I think we’re doing the right thing,” JMS principal Mark Knight said. “This building needs a lot of attention.”

By Ben Flanagan

The Chilton County Board of Education decided Tuesday that grades five, six and seven would occupy the halls of the new Jemison Intermediate School beginning next fall.

Jemison Middle School will be temporarily closed for repairs.

Superintendent Keith Moore said the JMS gymnasium is currently in too poor of condition to house students, so the grades listed above will attend JIS until the facility and other areas of the school are fixed.

Moore estimated the repairs would take at least a year to complete.

Eighth grade students will attend Jemison High School.

For more information on the changes, check back with clantonadvertiser.com on Wednesday and see Thursday’s paper.

Maplesville High School teacher and reading coach Gina Riley visited the board to seek approval to continue working on loan to the Alabama Department of Education’s reading initiative program. The board approved Riley another year to work as a reading coach by granting a waiver on the current leave policy.

By participating in the reading initiative, Riley said she gains knowledge as an educator that would benefit the Chilton County school system.

“I want Chilton County to be on top,” she said. “I want to represent it as well as I can.”

The board approved leave requests for Faye Collins, Beth Meank, Nancy Powell and Tracey Roberts.

The board passed a resolution to approve several school requests, including granting Chilton County High School permission to pay $1,225 from the junior class fund to Donnie Hand and Ray Sosa for making the school’s prom DVD.

The board gave Clanton Elementary School permission to transfer Tracey Brown to a contact substitute position and hire Rachel Morris as a contract worker to complete Brown’s assignments for the remainder of the 2009-2010 school year.

The board gave Clanton Intermediate School permission to pay Courtney Burke as a contract substitute. It also gave Isabella High School permission for its teachers to take third grade students on a field trip to Atlanta on May 14.

Jemison Elementary School was given permission to pay Dana Price as a contract substitute. JHS was given permission to take students to Math/Science Day at Six Flags in Georgia on April 23.

The board approved the hiring of Tracey Edwards as its new federal programs secretary and bookkeeper.

The board also passed a resolution to approve summer office hours for county school offices and the central office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.

The board accepted the resignations from the following county school employees: JES teacher Anne Chandler, Verbena High School teacher Marilyn Coe, CIS and bus shop teacher aide and bus aide Sharon Cost, JMS librarian Teresa Davis, VHS counselor and media specialist Jacqueline Fike, VHS band director William Hodges, VHS and bus shop teacher and bus driver Thomas Husley, Thorsby High School assistant lunchroom manager Annette Jones, THS and bus shop teacher and bus driver Jerald Jones, bus driver Otha Lee Little, CCHS teacher Richard McKee, Clanton Middle School teacher Sandra Mitchell, bus driver Betty Moore, VHS teacher Josh Robinson and CMS cafeteria manager Kay Lucas.

The board approved posting a vacancy for Isabella High School physical education teacher and football coach for 14 days. The board will hold a special meeting on May 6 to determine the hire.

The board approved changing its June meeting from June 15 to June 14 due to a conflict with a superintendent’s conference.

It also passed a resolution to approve an ELL summer camp proposal funded through Title III.

Principal contracts were approved for Greg DeJarnett, Rebecca Threlkeld, Dennis Cobb, Ricky Porter, Louise Pitts, Mark Knight, Alan Thompson, Maggie Hicks, Russ Bryan and Tommy Glasscock.

The board also approved a resolution to allow First Methodist Preschool to use a school bus on May 5 to tour kindergarten rooms at Clanton Elementary School.

The board passed a resolution to approve an extending computer maintenance contract with J&W Communications and Electronics for one year at $23,995 as per bid option.

The board passed a resolution to allow homebound services for two Chilton County students.

The next board meeting will take place on May 6 at 8:30 a.m.