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Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

Houston BOE shares proposed rezoning maps, names new principal

PERRY — The Houston County Board of Education presented proposed zoning maps for the 2010-11 school year and named the principal of Veterans High School at its monthly meeting Tuesday. The new zoning affects about 1,800 students.

The board named Lionel Brown, current assistant principal at Perry High School, as the principal for Veterans High School, which will open in August 2010.

Brown, himself a graduate of Perry High School, has worked in the Houston school system for 15 years, according to a news release. Before becoming assistant principal, he was a social studies teacher and coach at Warner Robins High School from 1994 to 2005. Brown was selected as Teacher of the Year there in 2000.

The opening of Veterans High School will affect zoning for Houston County’s elementary and middle schools in addition to the high schools, said Stephen Thublin, assistant superintendent for finance and business operations.

Maps of the proposed school zones are available online at www.hcbe.net/zoning.aspx.

Veterans High School is expected to have 1,012 students in its first year and won’t have a senior class until the 2011-12 school year. Enrollment is expected to level off at about 1,300 students, comparable to enrollment at Perry High School. Houston County, Warner Robins and Northside high schools will average about 1,800 students after the proposed zoning changes.

In all, about 1,600 high school students will be rezoned, Thublin said.

Also in the proposed plan, 83 students from Eagle Springs Elementary School, the county’s largest, would be rezoned for Quail Run Elementary School.

At the middle school level, 27 students living at Robins Air Force Base would be rezoned for Huntington Middle School under the plan. Students from the western edge of the current zone for Huntington Middle School would move to Warner Robins Middle School, and some students from Thomson Middle School would be rezoned for Northside Middle School, affecting 106 middle school students.

The board has scheduled two public meetings to discuss zoning for the 2010-11 school year. The meetings will take place Oct. 27 at Houston County High School and Nov. 19 at Warner Robins High School. Both meetings will begin at 7 p.m.

The zoning Web site includes a survey for questions and comments. The questions will be used in the public meetings and a frequently-asked-questions document. The page also includes current zone maps, proposed zone maps and other information about the new school.

“This is strictly a proposal,” Thublin said. “We’re definitely seeking public input.”

After the public hearings, the school board plans to make corresponding zoning changes and approve the final zones during its January 2010 meeting, said Beth McLaughlin, director of community and school affairs.

The new zones were designed to address overcrowding in high schools in Warner Robins and remove zoning “islands” in the county, said Superintendent David Carpenter.

“Even though it’s going to be challenging, especially with the distribution of high schools in the county, it’s something that needs to be done,” Carpenter said.

Before the meeting, the board honored employees who have worked in the school system for 30, 35, 40 and 45 years at a reception sponsored by HEA Federal Credit Union and Stevi B’s. During the board meeting, honorees received a certificate and a years of service pin from Carpenter and the board.

Among other business:

Ÿ The board accepted a check for $27,694.54 in capital credit funds from Flint Energies to the Houston County School System. Capital credit funds are leftover monies at the end of the year. Electric cooperatives usually disperse the funds back to their members.

Ÿ The board signed documents seeking $1.5 million in federal stimulus funds over two years under the Title I, Part A American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money would go toward 21 staff positions which would otherwise be lost from local and state funding shortfalls, demonstrating “precipitous decline” under guidelines from the Georgia Department of Education.

Ÿ The board approved a transfer of a one-quarter acre parcel of land from Lake Joy Elementary School to the city of Warner Robins in a 6-0 vote, with one abstention. The land will be used for a parking lot.