Approximately 600 more students were enrolled in Barrow County Schools just after Labor Day, than were present on the first day of school, according to a student count report made to the Barrow County Board of Education at their Tuesday night called work meeting.
The current student enrollment of 12,748 is up 191 from the same time last year.
Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning, Claire Miller, told the board Barrow County sophomores will not have to pay for PSAT tests this year, thanks to a recent decision by the State Board of Education to appropriate federal “Race to the Top” funds to pay for public school sophomores to take the test.
Miller also told the board the system’s Charter Petition is posted for review and public comment on the Barrow County Schools website. Superintendent Wanda Creel is slated to request approval of the 99-page petition at the board’s Sept. 30 meeting. If approved, the petition will then go to the (state) Charter Advisory Council for review; that council will make a recommendation to the State School Board whether or not to approve Barrow’s Charter Schools status request by March 1, 2011.
In her superintendent’s report, Creel told the board there has been “some preliminary adjustments” made to the facility improvement proposals she introduced to the board for consideration last month. Since the Early Learning Center (ELC), 54 West Star Street in Bethlehem, is currently vacant, work will begin in December to convert that facility to the new Performance Learning Center (PLC) with “a segue” of that facility into a Career Academy planned.
Transition of the Teacher Recruitment Center (TRC), 106 Church Street, Winder, into a new Alternative School will begin in January, 2011, to be completed by July, 2011. Middle school will be on one floor, Creel said, and high school on the other. The old County Line School/Performance Learning Center (PLC) will be converted to “some type of elementary (school) relief” in 2012, Creel said, with plans for “relief for the Apalachee (elementary school) cluster” to follow.
Creel also told the board graduation for Winder-Barrow and Apalachee High Schools will be on May 20, “the same night for both schools”, as this “worked well last year.” Apalachee’s graduation will be first; Winder-Barrow’s will follow.
For more on this story, see the September 29 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition. 
