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Parents Petition to Keep School Open

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Juanita Cousins, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Jun. 28--Twiggs County parents presented school officials with a petition with more than 2,400 signatures seeking a referendum about whether to reopen the Dry Branch Elementary School.

Board of Education Chairman Milton Sampson accepted the petition presented by Citizens to Save Twiggs Schools without comment, except "thank you."

The group claims 70 members; about 40 people attended Tuesday's meeting.

"These kids are so proud of what they have accomplished, and (the school board is) throwing them in a gutter," Donald Watson said, holding up the 230-page petition. "We have a yellow ribbon to bring our children home."

During his five-minute speech, Watson repeatedly told the school board it has violated Georgia Code 20-2-260. That law requires 24 hours' written notice for school closings and public comment.

The county school board voted April 11 to close the elementary school to save money.

Because of the county's decreased student population and tax base, the school board is facing a deficit of more than $1 million.

If Dry Branch stays closed, the board will save $650,000 and be able to meet next year's payroll, Superintendent Carol Brown said. If the school reopens, the school board must make other cuts, Brown said.

According to state law, the board has 10 days to turn the petition over to the Twiggs superintendent of elections, who will attempt to verify its 2,436 signatures. To be considered by school officials, the petition must be signed by 25 percent of Twiggs County's registered voters, which Watson said amounts to about 1,500 people.

If the petition is validated, the petitioners can form a group of 10 residents to negotiate the issue with school officials. If they are unable to agree on a solution, a referendum would be held about whether the school should reopen.

Board members did not comment on the petition or what action they would take, although Sampson said, "I am going to follow through as required by the law."

Ninety percent of Dry Branch's faculty and staff have found teaching positions in other schools, and principal Paul Smith is Wilkinson County's new schools superintendent, Watson said.

The board plans to bus Dry Branch's 200 students about 15 miles to Jeffersonville Elementary School and Twiggs County Middle School, Sampson said.

To make room for the consolidation, Jeffersonville Elementary School will house kindergarten through fourth grades, and the middle school will house fifth through eighth grades instead of its normal seventh and eighth grades, he said.

"If you look at the test scores, you will understand why we are so livid," said Vickie Lavender, a Dry Branch parent. "It's an injustice to (the students)."

Dry Branch was the only School of Excellence in Middle Georgia and one of the few in Twiggs County making Adequate Yearly Progress, she said.

Although Jeffersonville is only 15 miles away, she said it will take at least two hours for the bus to pick up all students and drive them to school.

Lavender said she plans to home-school her fourth-grader this fall.

Information from The Telegraph's archives was used in this story.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.)

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