http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/ Whitfield County, GA News http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/6ccb98cb60df58a4fb87f6e97383d57e.html Sam Ward has been waiting a long time for his one and only CD release 28 years to be exact http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/41a823a016be2891531f0073d1299167.html The Catoosa County Board of Education recently learned that Catoosa County has exceeded the Georgia state SAT average scoreLakeviewFort Oglethorpe High School exceeded the state average of 1466 by 38 points with 1533 Ringgold High School scored 1468 points giving the county an average of 1490 out of 2400 possible points College Board which produces the SAT exams explained that the scores and ranks for each state should not be a full reflection on the school system but more so the individual studentsrsquo; preparedness and how well they will do in college According to the College Board Web site ldquo;People should not rank or rate teachers educational institutions districts or states solely on aggregate scores derived from tests that are intended primarily as a measure of individual studentsrdquo;Governor Sonny Perdue stated: Georgiarsquo;s schools are seeing improvement in graduation rates ACT scores and other test results and we will analyze these SAT results and our SAT programs to make sure we are doing everything we can to help students prepare for this testrdquo;Catoosa County as a whole dropped seven points from last yearrsquo;s score of 1472 and a national ranking of 46 for Georgia According to the State Department of Education the issue for the state of Georgia is itrsquo;s slipping for the second consecutive year in a row now placing at number 47 LakeviewFort Oglethorpe SAT scores slipped a total of 17 points this year going down six points in the verbal and math sections and decreasing by five points in writing Ringgold High school decreased only in the verbal sections by 10 points and increased in both math and writing giving the school a threepoint boost in its total from 2007In 2007 LakeviewFort Oglethorpe High School was a recipient of the Governors Cup and a 2000 grant towards SAT preparation resources to schools improving their SAT scores over a three year period According to wwwSATrockscom ldquo;The Governor's Cup Challenge focuses on raising SAT scores across the state Schools compete on 3year average gains from their most recentSAT average based on scores from participating seniors in critical reading and mathrdquo;According to a release from the Georgia Department of Education ldquo;Georgia's students were 22 points under the national average in mathematics the largest difference of any of the three parts of the test Even Georgia students who took higher level mathematics classes trailed the national average when compared to other advanced math studentsrdquo;A new mathematics curriculum installed in Georgia this year will introduce math to ninth grade students and require all students to have at least four years of math classes According to the department of education ldquo;The new standards will be phased in one grade at a time until 2012rdquo;Our mathematics scores are like an anchor; they are weighing us down and keeping us from moving up as a statesaid State Superintendent of schools Kathy Cox I know the state's new mathematics curriculum and the graduation rule requirements will better prepare students for the SAT for postsecondary education and for the world of workIn the September Catoosa County Board of Education meeting High School Improvement Specialist Trish Schimpf presented the SAT and ACT scores During the presentation board member Jane Everett asked how the recent budget cuts would affect the SAT prep courses ldquo;Are we going to be able to offer SAT classes anymorerdquo; asked Everett Superintendent for Catoosa County Denia Reese had explained to the board that Catoosa has offered more than the state required help for SAT prep ldquo;Itrsquo;s hard to give up the extra helprdquo; she said ldquo;It will be a decision the community will have to makeGeorgia is not just an SAT stateanymoreSuperintendent Cox stated But we are committing ourselves to providing a highquality education to all students so they are ready for the SAT the ACT or whatever challenge they face in the 21st centuryOn the Web:School SAT scores County SAT scores: College board Web siteCLICK ON THESE LINKSFEEDBACK: Send a letter to the editorSUBSCRIBE: Get The Catoosa County News each WednesdayGO BACK:Return to our homepage http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/4c73ed030ba343fab62aae1421a4278b.html The Catoosa County Board of Commissioners has proclaimed September as Literacy Month in Catoosa County As part of the effort the Catoosa County Learning Center and the Catoosa County Library are cosponsoring One Book One Community Those interested may check out the book ldquo;Finding Salvation at the Dairy Queenrdquo; which is set in Ringgold at the library or learning center and then participate in an Oct 9 discussion with the bookrsquo;s author Susan Gregg Gilmore at 6 pm at the Colonnade For more information call 706 9656155 In addition Shirley Smith Catoosa County Learning Center Executive Director Shirley Smith invited the commissioners to visit the center on Sept 8 mdash; Literacy Day mdash; to see its many programs The Catoosa County Learning Center on the Benton Place campus just off Battlefield Parkway offers free day and evening GED classes Monday through Thursday Day classes are 8 am to 4:30 pm Evening classes are 69 pm The Catoosa Citizens for Literacy provide 65 towards the 95 test fee to Catoosa County residents who take a minimum of 12 hours of GED instruction and remain in class until ready to take the test Free childcare is available Monday through Thursday 9:30 am to 2:30 pm English as a Second Language ESL classes are Thursday noon to 2 pm and 3 6 pm; Tuesday 3 6 pm; and Friday 11 am to 1 pm at the Learning Center Northwestern Technical College offers a variety of classes credit and noncredit at the facility Computer classes are also availableCLICK ON THESE LINKSFEEDBACK: Send a letter to the editorSUBSCRIBE: Get The Catoosa County News each WednesdayGO BACK:Return to our homepage http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/180258cdac960de846dce3c0eb50160a.html Septemberrsquo;s Catoosa County Board of Education meeting brought an announcement from Catoosa County Public Schools Superintendent Denia Reese that four additional schools are expected to meet AYP Adequate Yearly Progress standards after final CRCT retest numbers are calculated in late September For the Catoosa County system as a whole it would require 95 percent of the schools meeting AYP Even with the estimated number of schools passing AYP the system would not meet it as a wholeldquo;Ringgold Middle School and Battlefield elementary should now pass AYP with the CRCT retests inrdquo; she said LakeviewFort Oglethorpe High School and Ringgold Elementary should also passAlthough the final results are not fully in according to Reese there should be 13 schools passing AYP During the Aug 5 board meeting it was predicted that 13 of the 15 tested schools would pass AYPCatoosa County has cleared the Georgia state average for SAT scores of 1466 by 14 points with an average of 1480 points Ringgold High School had an average of 1478 and Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe averaged 1482 according to Trish Schimpf of Catoosa County public schools Catoosa did not meet the national average of 1511 leaving the state of Georgia in the 47 lowest ranked state Schimpf presented to the board information about Catoosarsquo;s current SAT scores in addition to Georgia Virtual Schools and Credit RecoveryAll Georgia SAT scoresGeorgia Virtual School and Credit RecoveryStudents who had not passed a course in high school but had the proper seat time and attendance would be allowed to take the course at their own pace online at no extra charge to them Schimpf spoke for the Catoosa program of Georgia Virtual School and Credit Recovery explaining itrsquo;s importance to the board of education According to Schimpf ldquo;the Credit Recovery program allowed more than half of the summer graduates to receive their diplomardquo; by taking extra courses onlineThe Georgia Virtual School has enabled students to take courses online that would otherwise be unavailable to them ldquo;If a class is to full or the student has a schedule conflict they may take the course onlinerdquo; said Schimpf ldquo;If there are summer classes with low enrollment we can offer the online classrdquo; rather than canceling itrdquo; she said In cases where students have schedule conflicts or the class is too full there would be no cost to the student According to Schimpf ldquo;if a student wishes to take a course online and they would during regular hours it would cost them 600 for a years worth of the classrdquo;The guided courses can be done at studentsrsquo; homes but Schimpf encourages students to take full advantage of the teachers available after regular school hours Currently the program that allows the public schools to offer online courses is through the Georgia Board of Education according to Schimpf ldquo;We use the system primarily in Catoosa County at the high school level but there are Middle School Math remediation resources available to our students in grades 6 8 in addition to new tuitionbased MS courses added this fall in math language arts science world languages and career technologyrdquo;Bus stop safety concern soon to be correctedAn area of concern for Catoosa County is soon to be corrected as there are now plans to remove a barrier and pole at a bus stop for the Village Green mobile home community Currently the bus must to pick up the children outside of the mobile home community creating a safety concern ldquo;We used to do this before the barrier was builtrdquo; said Reese explaining that the parents would no longer have to double park on Bible Road When parents would double park on the road it would cause it to be only one lane preventing the bus from properly turning around The bus will now be able to enter the mobile home community Approved by the BoardThe bank bids received by the board of education had been discussed and have renewed a five year term with Northwest Georgia Bank for the public schools For the past five years the Catoosa public schools have used Northwest Georgia BankBudget cuts are still an issue that the council is working on with no new information as of nowThe Board of Education reviewed Reesersquo;s work as superintendent and decided to extend her contract for another two years After kind words from the board members she expressed her gratitude Reesersquo;s new term will end after October of 2011Other items approved by the board of education for September:Human Resource RecommendationsJuly Financial ReportJuly ESPLOST reportBanking services approvalField trip requestsSuperintendentrsquo;s contractOn the Web:Number of Catoosa schools to meet AYP requirements may riseCatoosa working to solve safety issues at Bible RoadCLICK ON THESE LINKSFEEDBACK: Send a letter to the editorSUBSCRIBE: Get The Catoosa County News each WednesdayGO BACK:Return to our homepage http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/d7abea299aa8cc98ef6826a1d3424e06.html At the end of Week 1 the Hall County football players have created the following power ratings As the season goes on I take into consideration the following criteria: 1 Headtohead competitions; 2 winloss record; 3 ratio of points scored vs points allowed; 4 opponents winloss percentage http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/5c02eb29bdb2722597446189a39890b6.html Editorrsquo;s note: a press release from the Saddlebred Worldrsquo;s Championship Horse Show listed Jennifer Hustonrsquo;s training barn as Turtle Creek Farm in Cleveland Tenn Huston actually trains at Creekbend Stables in RinggoldAn 8yearold saddlebred horse competitor who trains in Ringgold has earned a seventhplace world titleJennifer Huston of Chattanooga Tenn daughter of Nancy and Rob Huston placed seventh out of 11 finalists in the walktrot equitation 8 years old and under championship aboard Copper Perfection at the Saddlebred Worldrsquo;s Championship Horse Show at the historic Freedom Hall in Louisville Ky on Aug 22ldquo;Shersquo;s been riding for twoandahalf years with us and she takes instruction very wellrdquo; said trainerinstructor Cathy Kellerhals of Creekbend Stables in Ringgold ldquo;The horses are her only sport that she participates in right nowrdquo;Kellerhals said Jennifer had to qualify at several large shows including events in Perry Ga Asheville NC and Chattanooga Tenn before she could even advance to the world championship Once in Louisville Jennifer competed against 15 other riders ages 8 and younger before moving to the final round against 10 othersThe competition involved demonstrating proper etiquette such as positioning the feet hands and knees correctly as well as handling her horse Kellerhals saidldquo;She had to show her skill in control of the horserdquo; she said ldquo;The announcer would give her directionsrdquo;Jenniferrsquo;s mother Nancy Huston said that when her daughter first began asking to take riding lessons she thought it was just a phase she was going throughldquo;We said lsquo;OK wersquo;ll give her a few lessons and shersquo;ll forget about it and get over itrsquo;rdquo; she said ldquo;She didnrsquo;trdquo;Now she practices two to three times a week and is readying to compete in the Southeastern Charity in Conyers Ga at the end of SeptemberIn an email interview Jennifer said the competition with her horse Copper Perfection was ldquo;funrdquo; Around the barn Copper Perfection is known just as Fruitcake she saidldquo;I didn't actually think of competing there but I liked itrdquo; Jennifer said ldquo;I was amazed at actually being there and riding on the green shavings I'm looking forward to going there again next year and getting a better placerdquo;Jennifer is in the third grade St Peters Episcopal School and rides at Creekbend Stables in Ringgold with Cathy and Bendy Kellerhals This was Jenniferrsquo;s first trip to the Worldrsquo;s Championship Horse Show Cathy Kellerhals said She said there were competitors from ldquo;all over the US and South Africardquo; in the competitionCLICK ON THESE LINKSFEEDBACK: Send a letter to the editorSUBSCRIBE: Get The Catoosa County News each WednesdayGO BACK:Return to our homepage http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/9681cddb0f9bde181a1b7ba3f27560d3.html Where would Catoosa County be without SPLOST Special Project Local Option Sales TaxSince 1994 when the very first SPLOST started rolling in 97606992 in pennies flowed through the coffers of the county and the two cities for capital expenditure projectsA capital expenditure is money used to acquire or upgrade physical assets mdash;buildings bridges or vehicle such as a fire truckBenton Place would still be a green field with trees if it were not for 92 million that paid for the Colonnade the senior center the health department and the campus itself The Catoosa County Library would not have benefited by 19 million and received its new home and the learning center would not have received 340000 towards its initial buildingldquo;Without it SPLOST we would be missing all these projectsrdquo; said Carl Henson Catoosa chief financial officer Recreation in the county would not have 6 million in facilities including Jack Mattox Recreational Complex Fort Oglethorpe tennis courts numerous playgrounds and additions made by Boynton Fort Oglethorpe and Ringgold recreational groupsGraysville and Woodstation would not have 14 million in voting precinctsCounty leaders would have had to fund the 89 million Catoosa County Detention Facility and the 911 building and equipment at 360000 from other sourcesSheriff Phil Summers said the legislature mandated the creation of the 911 facilities and the county was under a federal court order for improving the jail due to over crowdingldquo;Cost of housing prisoners outside the county and outside medical costs were ultimately becoming an extreme burden on citizensrdquo; he said But he said that those costs have actually gone down since completion of the project even though itrsquo;s a larger facility ldquo;The SPLOST has been extremely important as far as emergency servicesrdquo; he saidIt is because voters went to the polls and approved the SPLOST three times that all these projects now provide opportunities to county residentsRinggold has received 4 million while Fort Oglethorpe received 129 million to use on their sewer water municipal buildings and recreation projectsThe Catoosa Utility District Authority provides water services to the county It received 719 million to improve and add water lines and equipmentldquo;We would be in world of hurt without itrdquo; said Jerry Lee Catoosa Utility District Authority chairman ldquo;Water would cost considerably more Itrsquo;s saved us from having to go up on water rates ldquo;Wersquo;ve also gotten to provide numerous old subdivisions with adequate lines to have fire hydrantsrdquo; he saidSewer service is now available in many areas at a cost of 28 millionEmergency equipment such a fire vehicles emergency sirens a communications system and the Three Notch Road fire station are all now helping to provide service at a cost of 56 millionCatoosa roads and bridges would be 41 millionThe former Catoosa County Landfill received 39 million Stormwater projects received 16 million in improvement Another 15 million improved public buildings bought equipment and improved a project for residents in Keithldquo;Without SPLOST there is no way ad valorem would have funded these projects without a major burden on property ownersrdquo; Henson saidHenson estimates the next SPLOST to bring in 56 million if voters approve it Sept 16 While the monies are spread across a variety of similar areas as those mentioned above Henson said one major need is the improvement of county bridgesldquo;We have put 10 million in next SPLOSTrdquo; he said ldquo;In the past the only thing wersquo;ve been able to do is rely on LARP Local Assistance Road Program and use SPLOST for matching funds That left very little to do on road projectsrdquo;He said the county recently spent 600000 in addition to 300000 in state funds to improve the Colbert Hollow Road bridgeHe added that the county is considering adding two more fire stationsCLICK ON THESE LINKSFEEDBACK: Send a letter to the editorSUBSCRIBE: Get The Catoosa County News each WednesdayGO BACK:Return to our homepage http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/georgia/whitfield-county/content/0eebeb372b4daf4d4af1afb077523e2e.html The Catoosa County Board of Commissionersheard additional concerns Sept 2 from Bible Road residents about safety issues from a bus stop at the end of the Catoosa County roadStudents in the area many of whom live in the Village Green Mobile Home community use the stopResidents had expressed concerns at an earlier meeting that cars parked along both sides of the road limited it to one lane while parents'were dropping off and picking up childrenBible Road resident Charles Kerley asked commissioners if any progress was made since the last meetingCounty Manager Mike Helton told commissioners that he had met with Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Denia Reese and other school personnel He said they visited the location and that the school system and the county were working together to find a solution to the problemOne of the issues of contention was which roads were private and which ones were county roads County Attorney Clifton ldquo;Skiprdquo; Patty said that Biscayne and Bible were both county roadsAnother Bible Road resident Bill Tinker added that in just a short stretch of 200 yards drivers wiz by at up to 60 mph on a road marked 15 mphVillage Green Manager Robert Moore said that his supervisors are willing to provide the parking lot for the bus drivers to use within the grounds to turn around He said the mobile home company will be responsible for any paving repairs that may occurMoore added that their company preferred the gates placed in 2005 preventing traffic from entering and leaving on Biscayne to remain in placeTina Baine said Bible Road residents are only 13 voices strongldquo;I watch the people fly up and down thererdquo; she said ldquo;We really need help to get some reliefrdquo;Baine told commissioners that the closure of access to the mobile home park from Everglades and Biscyane Blvd simply funneled all the traffic down Bible mdash; moving the problemBiscayne Blvd resident Doyle Brewer was one of those who urged commissioners to close the gate in 2005 ldquo;I donrsquo;t believe the answer is to open the gaterdquo; he said He said prior to its closure he was almost run down twiceHelton told residents the county will continue to work with the school system to improve the situation ldquo;If we got the speeders hemmed up in an area 200 yards long it should not be difficult to take care ofrdquo; Chairman Bill Clark saidIn other business Tuesday Sept 2 at the Governmental Building the Catoosa County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to: Approve a 197000 contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation for rural public transportation program TransAid Approve a 1387 contract per year with 3M for detection system at the Catoosa County Library Approve an amendment to an intergovernmental agreement with the Ringgold regarding sewer inspections to allow inspections in another area Approve an 11610 contract with Floodplain Management Services for review of preliminary Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps Approve an intergovernmental agreement to present to the city of Ringgold concerning fire services updating a 1999 agreement Under the new agreement according to County Attorney Clifton ldquo;Skiprdquo; Patty Ringgold will provide the money it receives from Fire Insurance Premium tax beginning Oct 15 2008 to the county in exchange for the county providing fire services to the city Appoint Vice Chairmen Bobby Winters as delegate for the Association of county Commissioners of Georgia fall policy conference Approve an intergovernmental agreement with Fort Oglethorpe for Catoosa County to provide services for the Homestead Exemption Referendum to be included in the November vote and Fort Oglethorpe to pay the county 4455 Approve a resolution to adopt the 20082018 MultiJurisdictional Solid Waste Management Plan Approve speed limits changes for roads around Woodstation Elementary School from 25 to 20 mph Heritage Middle School from 25 to 20 mph and Heritage High School from 45 to 25 mph and add new and improved signage where needed Approve a resolution allowing an unnamed employee to access that employeersquo;s pension funds early due to an emergency situation Approve the 2009 Local Assistance Road Program list including 5022 miles of county roads to submit to the Georgia DOT for consideration for pavingCLICK ON THESE LINKSFEEDBACK: Send a letter to the editorSUBSCRIBE: Get The Catoosa County News each WednesdayGO BACK:Return to our homepage