School officials want architecture input
Columbia County school officials will seek community input on where to move the six pillars and one arch on the soon-to-be razed Evans Middle School site.
At a Tuesday school board meeting, the board said they want to preserve the pillars and arch left over from the Evans Consolidated School, but they are unsure of what to do with them.
The monuments, built with the Evans Consolidated School in 1926, are all that survived a fire that claimed the school in 1955.
The Evans Middle site, at the corner of Washington and Belair roads, was sold to Blanchard and Calhoun Commercial Corp. and Abernathy and Lake Investment LLC earlier this year. The developers plan to build an upscale retail center on the 21-acre plot.
Some school officials had hoped the developers would incorporate the pillars and arch into the design of the shopping center, but School Superintendent Tommy Price told the board Tuesday that is unlikely.
"They don't really see that as a feasible thing for them to do," Price said. "It's not going to blend in well anywhere."
Other options could be moving the relics to Evans High School or to the new Evans Middle School campus, scheduled to be completed in 2006 on Hereford Farm Road.
Trustees said they would like to consult the general public on what they would like to see done with the pillars and arch.
"I can tell you, there are certainly a lot of folks out there with an opinion," Price said.
The board also gave tentative approval to a revised code of an ethics policy that prevents educators from copying or teaching items on standardized tests to their students.
The revision parallels an update to the ethics policy of the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, a state agency that licenses educators, Price said.
The updated policy states that teachers cannot copy or identify test items, publish or distribute test items or answers, or discuss test items with pupils.
A possible violation of that policy occurred at Riverside Elementary School in April when a first-grade teacher was accused of giving practice questions too similar to actual questions on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test.
School administrators exposed the incident during the administration of the test and reported the teacher to the PSC.
The teacher is still under investigation, Price said.
Also at the meeting:
The school board gave tentative approval to another policy update that prevents advanced middle school pupils from receiving half-credits.
A middle school pupil taking an advanced placement class must pass the entire course in order for that class to count as a high-school credit, the board decided.
"You get full credit or you don't get credit at all," Price said. "If they're not doing well, they probably ought to start over."
School board Chairwoman Roxanne Whitaker announced Price was named one of the top 10 superintendents in the state by the Georgia State Superintendents Association.
The board awarded a $1,379,000 bid to Alabama-based Lathan Construction Inc. to re-roof Evans High School. The company also conducted re-roofing work on Harlem High School in 2003.