Longtime board member honored by school officials

Columbia County school officials honored one of their own Tuesday by passing a resolution to name it Mildred Blackburn Day.

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The resolution commemorated the final official meeting of the longtime board member.

The retired middle school teacher and 12-year board member announced in February that she would not seek re-election to her District 2 seat.

Although she is no longer serving on the school board, Blackburn pledged to help whenever needed.

"I'll still be in Columbia County if I can do anything," she said.

Kristi Baker defeated Carl Schluter in November to replace Blackburn. She will be sworn in on Jan. 11.

Also during the meeting, school officials gave final approval to the zone for a new elementary school on Baker Place Road. The new school is scheduled to open in August.

The rezoning also affects Cedar Ridge, Lewiston and Euchee Creek elementary schools.

An estimated 586 elementary-school-age pupils live in the new zone.

The elementary school enrollment for the system is expected to grow by nearly 380 pupils, according to data provided to the school board last week.

Despite the growth, Nagle said he believes no new teachers will be required.

With more state budget cuts, and teacher furloughs expected next year, the superintendent said he wants to try to absorb the growth in the elementary schools.

"I'm trying to be very conservative with teacher allocations," he told the board. "We can add teachers and take away days, or we can try to keep what we got."

Also at the meeting, the board voted 4-1 on a calendar for the 2012-13 school year. Trustee Mike Sleeper was the dissenting vote.

The calendar sets Aug. 7, 2012, as the first day of school and the final day as May 21, 2013. Graduation will be May 25, 2013.

Worried that state lawmakers might develop a statewide school calendar during the next legislative session, Nagle asked board members to set the long-term calendar to insulate themselves. With a local calender already in place, he said, the system might be able to keep it before moving to a state calendar the next year.