The current and future Warriors got a sneak peek at what will be their new home in the fall. Principal Deb Troutman and staff led students through the halls on a tour of the new J.C. Booth Middle School to plenty of “wows” and smiles. When they got back on their buses to return to their current building, it was clear they can’t wait to move into the new Booth next year.
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Regina Daigre will be the Democrat candidate for Fayette County Board of Education Post 4 in this fall’s general election.
She defeated Patty Mosley 64% (1,086 votes) to 36% (609 votes) in the lone local primary election runoff on the Fayette ballot.
Daigre defeated Mosley in all 11 precincts comprising District 4, the northernmost Fayette voting district that borders Fulton and Clayton counties.
In the November general election, Daigre will face Dr. William Yarde, who ran unopposed in the May primary for the Post 4 Republican nomination.
Incumbent Leonard Presberg declined to seek reelection to the post.
The post Daigre tops Mosley in Democrat runoff for School Board Post 4 appeared first on The Citizen.
A new principal will lead Sandy Creek High into the school year this fall.
Tosha Oliver, who most recently served as an assistant principal at Westlake High of Fulton County Schools since 2013, was approved as the school’s new principal by the Fayette County Board of Education at their July 11 meeting. She succeeds Richard Smith, who will be Coordinator of Students Services for Fayette County Public Schools.
“I am extremely excited to begin this new chapter with you and cannot wait to meet the entire Sandy Creek community,” said Oliver.
Oliver earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in education from the University of South Carolina and her Master of Arts in Teaching degree in secondary English education from Clark Atlanta University. She earned her Specialist in Educational Leadership from the University of West Georgia.
Oliver began her journey in education with the Dekalb County School System where she served as an AP English teacher and Department Chair for nine years. She was promoted to the role of assistant principal with Fulton County Schools where she served as an instructional leader and culture builder for nine years.
“My passion for literacy and reading will serve our community well as we partner together to draw out intellectual curiosity within our students and allow them to cultivate their passions in a variety of areas within our school and the surrounding community,” she said. “I am committed to ensuring that all students at Sandy Creek High School become globally competitive and are recognized on a variety of platforms for all of the hard work they produce.”
Oliver’s focuses for the upcoming school year are student achievement, stakeholder engagement, and sustaining culture and communication.
On student achievement, she believes in ensuring that students are served with the very best professionals who will provide inviting workspaces to cultivate curiosity, intellectual discourse, and a commitment to excellence to yield positive results and improve instructional outcomes for all scholars.
On stakeholder engagement, Oliver will cultivate and nurture collaborative partnerships and provide students with a competitive advantage through active engagement within the school as well as within the greater community.
On sustaining culture and communication, she will focus on providing all students an opportunity to have a unique and enriching high school experience inclusive of active participation in extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, and community service while ensuring that clear channels of communication are streamlined and relayed to families on a consistent basis.
Oliver is a proud mother of two children. Her family has enjoyed being part of the Fairburn community for the last 14 years where they spend much of their free time at local softball and baseball fields. Her father is a CMSGT (Ret.) in the United States Air Force who proudly served our country for 25 years, and her mother worked for Fayette County Public Schools for five years before she retired.
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Dr. William Yarde is a resident of Fayetteville, Georgia since 1997, and the State of Georgia since 1979.
He obtained a BSc in Biology from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, in 1978 and his Medical Degree from the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta in 1985. He completed his Neurosurgical Residency at The University of Kansas in 1997.
After retiring from the United States Navy in 2017 he obtained a Master of Health Administration (MHA) from Penn State in 2018. He has been an educator/mentor for most of his professional life.
Dr. Yarde is a Retired United States Navy Neurosurgeon with twenty-five years of military service. He served in both the United States Army and the United States Navy. He is also an Afghanistan War Veteran, serving in Kandahar as a trauma neurosurgeon during the 2013-2014 period.
During his active-duty years, he held positions in various leadership roles which includes Neurosurgery Department Head, Director of Surgical Services and Board of Trustee member of the NATO Role 3 hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
He also served on various committees and boards in both civilian and active-duty realms. These include trauma committees/boards, infectious, quality control, peer review and Court Martial boards. He received several awards, citation, and medals during his military tenure.
Currently he is a Director of the American Legion Post 105 in Fayetteville, Georgia. He also serves on the Fayette Accountability Court Team Inc.
Although he lived in various parts of the country, and the world, Fayetteville was and is always home. Since retiring, his intentions are to dedicate his time to serving the community of Fayette County, and the state of Georgia in the capacity of a public servant, and board member of a nonprofit organization(s).
Should he be given the opportunity to serve the county as a Board of Education Member, his decisions will always be driven by the first and foremost question, “What’s in the best interest of the Fayette County community, students, teachers, parents and welfare of the school system.”
My Vision and Mission for the Fayette County School System.
• Ensure the highest quality education for all students.
• Provide equality of opportunity for each student whether college bound or not.
• Ensure a classroom environment free of political or ideological bias.
• Actively support our teachers through continuing education, mutual support, and providing state-of-the-art classrooms.
• Maintain county fiscal responsibility with taxpayer funds by holding our school administrators accountable for the projects funded by tax dollars.
• Encourage parent’s participation in their children’s education through open and transparent communications with them in all aspect of the education process.
• Support a Triad of Success: Schools, Parents, and students working together for student success.
• Encourage critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills development.
• Ensure a safe and healthy environment, conducive to learning for all students so that all will achieve to their potential and are prepared to become contributing citizens in our community, state, and beyond.
• To make Fayette county School System # 1 in the State .
Dr. William Leon Yarde, MD, MHA
CDR (Ret) USN
Fayetteville, Ga.
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The new school year is almost here. The 2022-23 year begins on Thursday, August 4, and excitement is filling the air.
For the first time in many years, the county is celebrating a new school building with the grand opening of the new J.C. Booth Middle School.
The new school will provide a fresh and spacious learning environment, replacing the current building that is over 40 years old and lacks the space to accommodate the more than 1,100 students who attend the school, officials said.
Situated on 37 acres, the new J.C. Booth Middle is 180,654 square feet and has a core infrastructure and classroom capacity to accommodate up to 1,400 students. It features wide hallways for ease of movement between classes, and has 57 regular classrooms and 18 science labs, along with an art room, band room, orchestra room, drama room, two technology labs, a family and consumer science lab, and a business lab. All totaled, there are 89 instructional units in the building.
There is also a media center, cafeteria, and large commons area for students to interact, as well as a gym that seats 1,290 persons.
The construction of the approximately $46 million school was approved by the Fayette County Board of Education on November 4, 2019. Clearing of the building site began April 2020. Initially set to open December 2021, completion of the school was slowed due to a global supply chain storage of materials needed to finish construction.
The old J.C. Booth will become the new home for the Center of Innovation, a campus offering career and technical education (CTE) courses to prepare students to be college and career ready.
Here’s the news about students pick-up and drop-off at the new Booth.
Carriage Lane will be the only entrance/exit for all traffic and buses. Stagecoach Road will NOT be used for any traffic flow at this time due to construction.
Booth school hours will be 8:10 – 3:10. Drop-offs are allowed as early as 7:15. Officials say that since there is only one entrance and exit at this time, parents will need to plan for traffic backups and delays. You are encouraged to carpool as much as possible, as well as register your child for school bus transportation to help ease traffic and assist your child in arriving at school on time.
New faces will be leading the way at three schools this year.
Tosha Oliver will be principal at Sandy Creek High. Oliver, who most recently served as an assistant principal at Westlake High of Fulton County Schools since 2013, was approved as the school’s new principal by the Fayette County Board of Education at their July 11 meeting. She succeeds Richard Smith, who will be Coordinator of Students Services for Fayette County Public Schools.
David McBride takes the reins at North Fayette Elementary. McBride most recently served as the Virtual Academy Administrator for grades K-8 for Fayette County Public Schools. Among many roles in the county, he also previously was an assistant principal at Starr’s Mill High and Flat Rock Middle. Dr. Lisa Moore departed for career opportunities with another school system.
Bennett’s Mill Middle principal Dr. Marcus Broadhead resigned in mid-July to pursue other career goals. JP Ward, currently an assistant principal at Whitewater High School, will temporarily assume principal duties at Bennett’s Mill until a permanent administrator is named.
The Fayette County Board of Education approved a price increase for student meals for the 2022-2023 school year. The elementary school lunch price will be $3.00, and middle and high school will be $3.25. Breakfast will be $1.75 for all grade levels.
Families that are eligible for free and reduced meals are asked to apply by August 4 via www.myschoolapps.com. Assistance is available for breakfast/lunch and for home internet/device.
Rising sixth and eighth grade students who will be riding a school bus this year need to register for transportation service. Information regarding bus stops and pick up times will be sent to parents via an Infinite Campus message on August 1. Parents can also view this information on August 1 at the following link: https://www.fcboe.org/Page/336 .
Meet the teacher will be held at all county schools on Tuesday, August 2, except Rising Starr Middle, which will be held August 1. Contact your school for further details.
The post What to know when heading back to Fayette schools appeared first on The Citizen.
Letter from parent:
I believe I have a critically important story that I feel should be brought to light, centering around Fayette County’s Board of Education, and, from my experience, Bennett’s Mill Middle School, to include both the students and administrators.
On the surface, it appears this particular school has a decent reputation, fairly positive marks, and while I agree, every school, especially the middle and high schools, all tend to have a dark side of some form. Every school deals with some level of bullying, behavioral problems, and even some fighting; these things happen when you include ego, cliques, and finding little things that just irritate another student that causes animosity.
I learned that this year, things are FAR worse than when even I was in middle school. Sure, I wasn’t the popular kid, I got my share of insults, lost my temper, had a couple scraps, dealt with the fear of bullies and occasional sucker punches … but some of the things that surfaced include crossing lines I wouldn’t have dared cross at those ages.
Organized fighting in bathrooms, like UFC, but from wish.com, well away from the prying eyes and cameras of the administrators, some of which are currently posted and available on social media platforms.
“Confession” social media pages, where in one instance that I took a screenshot [of] was a teenage female offering sexual favors to anyone willing to assault my daughter, didn’t matter if it was a male or female, seemed akin to a “hired hit.”
Student boys (mostly) making sexually explicit noises, gestures, and comments in the hallways or even during class time … these children know that the administrators have no power, they have no true authority, and they will absolutely get away with anything, especially if they put on an innocent face on to lie through their teeth, as long as it sounds convincing enough.
The worst part is, the administration doesn’t see through those lies. But they can’t actually do anything about it, either they’re too scared, or they’re just incredibly dense or stupid.
I honestly couldn’t figure out which of these it is until an incident occurred to my own daughter this year at Bennett’s Mill Middle School. Only during this stressful event is where I learned a lot about how far-reaching politics are. It is not something a bunch of people sitting on Capital Hill that like to dodge actual issues, continuing to fail the people time and time again to do the jobs they were elected for … but it is right in our faces, right here in our own backyard.
My daughter used her cell phone to text her mother and myself from the bus at the end of the school day on January 14th that she had been sexually assaulted by a boy she shared classes with.
Early in the day during first period, he had placed his hand on her thigh, she forcibly removed his hand, which he later put it back, only for her to shove his hand off again. Soon, he proceeded to “drop” his pencil, as an excuse to further invade her personal space.
Had that been the end of it, I somehow don’t think it would have been pursued much further, especially had she not told us about it. Later in the day, during her 6th period class where they turn in their work folders from the day, as she was returning to her seat, this predator open-hand groped her groin area. Of course, she was stunned and physically hurt from this, she quickly returned to her seat.
It was when I got to the school after her text message as quickly as I could only to see that my little girl was NOT the same little girl I said goodbye to that morning … and as a father, it truly broke my heart. I was beyond enraged, I knew I had to keep my head on straight, but beneath the surface, I was ready to rip someone in half for hurting my baby. Even recounting this now, it feels like fire under my skin.
Moments later, we met with the staff that remained in the school, the principal, Resource Officer, a couple of teachers. [EDITOR’s NOTE: The principal mentioned here “resigned in mid-July to pursue other career goals.”]
At the time, it seemed like they acknowledged there was a problem and were determined to fix it. It was at this time we made it known that we were going to press sexual assault charges.
The next meeting a few weeks later was a total 180, where we had [Central Office supervisory] members, this is when it felt like it was Human Resources at a corporation that was protecting the face of the company.
While they did ask our daughter about the incident, they seemed very dismissive, especially [the Central Office] pencil-neck at the head of the table. Another of the [Central Office] reps present seemed especially dismissive.
Unfortunately, I had correctly predicted the outcome of this second meeting, after the “investigation” by the school, the evidence was deemed circumstantial, and dismissed. The predator was moved to a different team and ordered to maintain distance. He didn’t heed this, as he continued to encounter her and even taunted her in remote Zoom classes.
Fast forward to today, we found out just yesterday that this wasn’t the first, or even second time this student was moved to a different class because of inappropriate contact with a girl.
The shining light in this whole ordeal was the school’s Resource Officer, who was a wonderful advocate and ally for our daughter, along with a handful of teachers, though there are some teachers that felt differently.
In addition, going back to the day of the initial meeting where we reported the incident to the administrators, the first period teacher had contacted the other family by phone, and advised them of our intentions of pressing charges. In my view, this was interfering with an active investigation; of course, nothing came of it.
This wasn’t the first or last time this teacher would end up on the wrong side of me. He seems more intent on talking about [non-education issues] and showing music videos to students than teaching. In one case, displaying an email from me on his large whiteboard in the classroom where I put him in his place and calling him out on his dodging of my direct inquiries, inconsistencies, and blatant lies.
While we sought a professional to guide us all on how to cope and move on from this, whom [my daughter] is still seeing today. We have stood firm in assuring her that this isn’t her fault at all. Despite that, our daughter was changed and was truly afraid of this student.
She was even in the running to be the lead for the school play of “Beauty and The Beast.” During one of the rehearsals where the drama class put on the play for other students, her predator was there, causing her to have a severe panic attack.
Despite the failure of the school administration and the [Central Office administrators], we found some semblance of justice in the Juvenile Justice system. The victim advocate and DA were absolutely wonderful and put our minds at ease. Despite the stall tactics of the predator’s lawyer, the court went in our favor.
We made it clear from the beginning that we were not after money, we simply wanted very clear consequences for these actions. He plead guilty to simple battery instead of sexual assault, 12 months probation, classes, an apology letter, though I still feel he got off too easy. I wish I could say this was the end … it isn’t, and sadly it only gets darker.
Today is 20 July 2022; a former employer of my wife had linked us to another parent with a daughter in the same grade as ours [also experiencing problems]. While I would say that our girl got it bad in the bullying department, the other girl got it far worse. While it isn’t my story to tell, I can tell you that it got so bad that she wore a wire to school to record all the exchanges during the day.
At this point, I have not heard them myself, but I fully believe the parent when she says they’re extremely disturbing: Boys making sexually-explicit moaning noises, suggestive comments, demanding sexual favors, and being generally abusive.
Again, that is just a basic rundown of what I know, she has far more details than I can divulge here. I do know she has reached out to several parties by email and only received a response when a threat to go to the media was made.
I truly believe there is some need to investigate these actions in the schools, and despite the pretty coat of paint put on for the world to see, there is a lot of rotting underneath that needs to be shown to start repairing the short- and long-term damage these young women, and maybe even boys, are experiencing.
We cannot hope to fix this if we can’t convince these administrators to stop playing politicians and start being human beings.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Todd Moreau
Fayetteville, Ga.
[Moreau said he has started a FaceBook group to facilitate hearing from other parents whose children might be experiencing similar problems at their schools.]
The Citizen asked for a response to the letter from Fayette Schools Superintendent Dr. Jonathan S. Patterson. Here is his response:
“Although I cannot address circumstances regarding specific students, I recognize the courage it takes for a student to report harassment, assault, bias and bullying. Our administrators address these allegations as soon as they are brought to their attention.
“We do not tolerate harassing behavior by students or staff, and will take appropriate action upon notification as outlined in the Fayette County Public Schools Sexual Harassment of Students policy.
“We also provide supportive measures for students and their families such as counseling, extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments, modifications of work or class schedules, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, and other similar measures.
“We are in the process of looking for a new principal for Bennett’s Mill Middle, and have been meeting with parents to determine the qualities and type of leadership they value most. We will ensure that the new principal is aware of all issues impacting the school so that they can be further addressed, and measures taken to help prevent negative behavior from taking place.
“Everyone should feel safe and comfortable at school. Any student with information regarding harassment should report it directly to their school principal or school counselor.”
The post Parent reports sexual assault at middle school, says problems still unaddressed; Superintendent responds appeared first on The Citizen.
No matter where you live in Fayette County — city or county — if you own property, you will be paying more in property taxes this year as compared to last year.
The local governments are holding public hearings in the next two weeks to get taxpayer input on the mainly double-digit percentage increases in your property tax bills.
Notice that the taxing entities vary in how they describe the increase: Some give the increase as a percentage of millage rate — probably the least helpful metric — and others give the increase as the actual percentage increase in tax dollars collected.
• School taxes to the Fayette County Board of Education — 9.92% increase in the effective millage rate.
• County taxes controlled by the Fayette County Commission — 14.47% increase in actual dollars collected.
• Peachtree City taxes — 17.59% more tax dollars to be collected.
• Fayetteville city taxes — 13.21% increase in the effective millage rate.
• Tyrone town taxes — 15.99% increase in the actual tax money collected over the previous year.
• Brooks town taxes — 83% increase — that’s not a typo, but it is slightly misleading by itself. See the Brooks story below.
• Woolsey — no town taxes collected, so no increase.
Above is the total take on who wants to raise your property taxes this year — every single local government within Fayette County — except for the tiny municipality of Woolsey, population 206, which levies no town property tax.
• The biggest collector of local property tax is the Fayette County Board of Education. The school system’s budget for Fiscal Year 2023 is right at $243 million.
• The FY 2023 budget passed by the Fayette County Commission to run the county government functions is just under $112 million, less than half that of the school system.
• Peachtree City’s FY 2023 budget comes in as third largest of all local governments in the county at just over $47 million. That’s one-fifth the size of the school system’s budget.
• Fayetteville comes in with the fourth largest budget in the county at nearly $44 million, but that includes money for operating the city-owned water and sewer system. The city’s General Fund for public safety and city operations is right at $22 million.
Now let’s look at individual taxing authorities:
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Here’s the school system announcement:
Fayette County Board of Education announcing proposed property tax increase over rollback millage rate
The Fayette County Board of Education announces its intention to adopt the maintenance and operations (M&O) millage rate at 19.150 mills compared to 19.334 mills the prior year. This is a reduction in the 2022 tax digest M&O millage rate of 0.184 mill. In addition, the bond millage rate will be set at 0.85 mill compared to 1.1 mills the prior year. The combined millage rate reduction is 0.434 mill.
The Board of Education adopted the FY2023 general fund (M&O) budget of $242.9 million on June 27, 2022. The budget includes a 7% cost of living adjustment for teachers and other staff. In addition, the budget includes provisions to maintain smaller classroom sizes, retain current employees, and recruit staff for positions such as bus drivers, paraprofessionals, custodians, and after school program and school nutrition workers.
The millage rate change takes into consideration changes in the tax digest values and exemptions. Gross tax digest values increased 16.54% over the prior year, but total exemptions increased 35.66%. Since the increase in exemptions outpaced the increase in the property values on the digest, the net digest increased only 9.63%. Tax exemptions are now equal to nearly one-third of the gross digest at 30.89%.
Of special note is the floating homestead exemption (L7) enacted by the state legislature for Fayette County last year. The floating tax exemption only applies to school system M&O tax revenues. The exemption caps the increase in assessed value on a homestead property to the lesser of the prior calendar year’s consumer price index (CPI) or 3%. For 2020, the CPI was over 8% so the increase in net assessment value for homestead properties was capped at 3% unless the property changed ownership.
On the 2022 tax digest, there are 20,509 properties that qualify for the floating homestead exemption. On average, these properties have a $43,000 exemption that equates to approximately $840 in exempted property taxes per property. In total, the floating homestead exemptions equate to over $17 million in exempted tax revenues.
Other residential property exemptions include exemptions for senior citizens (age and income qualifications), disabled persons, and military veterans.
Each year, the board of tax assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the county. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the Board of Tax Assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and adjust the assessment. This is called a reassessment.
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred. The rollback rate for 2022 is 17.422 mills.
The intended millage of 19.15 mills will effectively raise property taxes the Board of Education will levy this year by 9.92 percent over the rollback millage rate.
The fiscal year 2023 budget adopted by the Fayette County Board of Education requires a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate; therefore, Georgia law requires three public hearings be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the proposed increase.
All concerned citizens are invited to participate in the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the LaFayette Educational Center located at 205 LaFayette Avenue, Fayetteville, Georgia on August 15, 2022 at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM, and August 22, 2022 at 6:30 PM. www.fcboe.org.
The millage rate adoption is scheduled to occur August 22, 2022 at 7:00 PM at the location listed above. — By Thomas J. Gray, Chief Financial Officer
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Here’s the county announcement:
NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
Fayette County has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 14.47%.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax increase to be held at Fayette County Administrative Complex Commission Chambers, 140 Stonewall Avenue West in Fayetteville on August 18, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Times and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase are at Fayette County Administrative Complex Commission Chambers, 140 Stonewall Avenue West, Fayetteville on August 25, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.
This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 4.034 mills, an increase of 0.510 mills. Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 3.524 mills. The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $325,000 is approximately $63.75 and the proposed tax increase for nonhomestead property with a fair market value of $375,000 is approximately $76.50. — Marlena Edwards, Chief Deputy County Clerk, Fayette County Board of Commissioners
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Peachtree City plans to raise tax revenue 17%, invites public to 3 public hearings on tax rate
The Peachtree City Mayor and Council today announces today its intention to raise property taxes by not rolling back the impact of assessment increases of property values.
The city millage rate for Maintenance & Operation (M & O) is scheduled to remain the same at 6.043 mills, while the City Bond millage rate is scheduled to remain at 0.000 mills.
State law also requires governments to announce the percent increase over the roll-back millage rate if property values increase. As property values on the 2022 tax digest have increased, the roll-back millage rate for M & O was calculated to be 5.366 mills. The proposed M & O millage rate of 6.043 mills represents a 12.62% increase over the roll-back millage rate.
The tax levy will generate approximately $19,517,063 or 17.59% more tax revenue than the 2021 levy, due to the combined impact of new growth, decline in motor vehicle values, and increased property values due to reassessments of existing property. The net M & O digest value increased by a total of $483,035,472 or 17.59% from 2021 to 2022.
Each year, the Tax Assessors Office is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in Fayette County. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the County indicates there has been an increase or decrease in the fair market value of any specific property, the Tax Assessors Office is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and increase the assessment. This is called a reassessment.
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue from Real property on the current year’s new digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments to Real property occurred. As Real property values have increased, the M & O rollback millage rate of 5.366 is 0.677 mills lower than the current rate of 6.043.
Before City Council may set a final millage rate, Georgia Law requires that three public hearings be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on this increase. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase, to be held at City Hall, 151 Willowbend Road in Peachtree City on the following dates:
· Public Hearing: Thursday, August 11, 2022, at 9:00 a.m.
· Public Hearing: Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 9:00 a.m.
· Public Hearing & Tentative Adoption: Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 6:30 p.m.
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Here’s how the city announced its tax hike:
The Fayetteville City Council has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 13.21 percent over the rollback rate.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax increase to be held at Fayetteville City Hall 210 Stonewall Ave W., Fayetteville, Georgia on August 18, 2022 at 6:00 PM.
Times and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase are at Fayetteville City Hall, 210 Stonewall Ave. W Fayetteville, Georgia on August 25, 2022 at 9:00 AM and 5:30 PM.
This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 5.646 mills, an increase of .659 mills. Without the tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 4.987 mills.
The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $185,000 is approximately $48.77 and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $350,000 is approximately $92.26.
In an accompanying release the city said:
City of Fayetteville announces proposed property tax increase
The Fayetteville City Council today announces its intention to increase the 2022 property taxes it will levy by 13.21 percentage over the rollback millage rate.
Each year, the board of assessors is required to review the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable property in the county. When the trend of prices on properties that have recently sold in the county indicate there has been an increase in the fair market value of any specific property, the board of tax assessors is required by law to re-determine the value of such property and adjust the assessment. This is called a reassessment.
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia law requires that a rollback millage rate must be computed that will produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no reassessments occurred.
The budget tentatively adopted by the Fayetteville City Council requires that a millage rate higher than the rollback millage rate, therefore, before the Fayetteville City Council may finalize the tentative budget and set a final millage rate, Georgia Law requires three public hearings to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their opinions on the increase.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at City Hall, 210 Stonewall Ave. W, Fayetteville, Georgia on August 18, 2022 at 9:00AM and 6:00 PM, and also on August 30, 2022 at 9:00 AM.
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Town of Tyrone proposes increase in property taxes
The Mayor and Town Council of the Town of Tyrone, Georgia have announced today their intention to increase the collection of property taxes in 2022.
This increase as compared to prior-year revenues is due to the need for a millage rate above the state-defined roll-back millage rate as calculated after the tax digest is prepared by the Fayette County Tax Assessors Office.
During budget preparation, the Town of Tyrone committed to maintaining its Maintenance & Operations (M&O) millage at a rate of 2.889 mills. As was the case last year, the assessed value of the new construction and existing real and personal properties within the town limits have increased, and a roll-back millage was calculated at 2.537 mills.
Georgia Law requires that a government rollback their millage rate to a number of mills that will produce the same number of dollars in property tax revenue from the prior year.
The Town’s millage has been at this rate for fifteen years, despite vast fluctuations in economic factors. The proposed increase in property tax revenue, year over year, amounts to $235,109 or 15.99%. The total number of dollars anticipated to be collected in property tax for 2022 is $1,705,890.
Before the Town Council can set a final millage rate at a council meeting on August 18, 2022 at 7:00 p.m., the Department of Revenue requires that three public hearings be held to allow for the citizens to express their opinion on the potential increase. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings, which will be held at the Tyrone Municipal Complex, 950 Senoia Road, on the following dates and times.
Public Hearings for Town of Tyrone Property Tax Increase:
Wednesday, August 10, 2022 at 9:00 AM
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 5:00 PM
Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 6:30 PM
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That’s not a typo. But Brooks is a small town in southern Fayette County, and percentages there can be misleading. We’re talking thousands, not millions of dollars.
The town council actually wants to increase tax collections from last year’s $18,898 to a new level this year of $34,923. That’s 84%. The town budget would rise from $44,450 in 2021 to 49,958, less than $6,000.
The thing is, the tax collector in Brooks seems to have awakened from a long sleep.
Brooks town taxes collected have more than doubled in the past 5 years: from $20,564 in 2017 to a projected $46,605 this year. Things are a ‘popping in Brooks.
Here’s the town’s announcement:
NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
The Town of Brooks has tentatively adopted a 2022 millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 83.04%.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax increase to be held at Town Hall, 961 Highway 85 Connector, Brooks, GA on August 11, 2022, at 4:00 p.m.
Time and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase are at Town Hall, 961 Highway 85 Connector, Brooks, GA on August 15, 2022, at 6:30 p.m., and on August 22, 2022, at 6:30 p.m.
The tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 1.64 mills, an increase of 0.64 mills. Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 1.0 mills.
The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $300,000 is approximately $196.80.
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Just for some more data, here’s how many people live in each of the governmental jurisdictions:
• Fayette County, GA (pop. 120,574 U.S. Census estimate 2021)
• Peachtree City (pop. 38,818 U.S. Census estimate 2021)
• Fayetteville (pop. 19,284 U.S. Census estimate 2021)
• Tyrone (pop. 7,817 U.S. Census estimate 2021)
• Brooks (pop. 568 in 2020 U.S. Census)
• Woolsey (pop. 206 in 2020 U.S. Census) — no municipal tax rate, thus no need for public hearings.
The post Local governments — all but one of them — want more money from you in increased property taxes appeared first on The Citizen.
We just witnessed a federal election that promoted the status quo, a state election that kept woke leftist ideology outside our gates, and local races bidding to maintain our community’s stability.
Those races cover us for the just a few years, so what does the future hold? Can Fayette County remain a reliably confident community, a place of integrity and strong reputation? It really depends on you.
Other metro Atlanta counties are falling apart at the seams with rising crime, lamentable public schools, blight, and especially poor governance.
Can Fayette County’s families remain immune to the negative cultural impacts into the foreseeable future? Abraham Lincoln was well aware of how nations and civilizations can change rapidly. He said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.” Pay attention to Honest Abe.
The content of this column dealing with education may contain microaggressions and challenging topics that could be emotionally upsetting or offensive to anyone buying into critical hip-hop pedagogy, popular education, theatre of the oppressed, youth participatory action research, and leftist political narratives. Reader discretion is advised. If you become triggered, you can troll in an anonymous comment below.
Fayette County has already experienced some of its first few elected officials and candidates who embrace the woke system of oppression found in Critical Race Theory (CRT), anti-racist, queer, and leftist political narratives known as “intersectionality.” Expect this to continue with organizations like the local We Push Progress (https://www.wepushprogress.com/mission) devoted to pushing that agenda by overturning local governments in our area while hoping no one is paying attention.
Western culture has shifted from Judeo-Christian to enlightened freethinker to the divisive neo-Marxist/postmodernist that has infiltrated most of our public institutions.
Schools are a key influencer of culture, and it’s hard to overstate the importance of education in the life of a community, nation, and civilization. Force-feeding political philosophy used to be the domain of the universities. Now, it’s in K-12.
Locally, many of our teachers are retiring who have been steadfast promoters of building our students’ intellect and desire for learning. These are professionals who truly care about your students and have no interest in making them into political pawns. Show them appreciation while you can and encourage the younger members of the faulty to resist.
Unfortunately, many colleges of education are inculcating our new generations of teachers on a divisive ideology that affects young students mentally, emotionally, academically, spiritually, culturally, and morally.
Gone are the days of focusing on the statistically measurable achievement levels of “No Child Left Behind” in reading, science, mathematics, graduation rates, etc.
Many of the new educators are being introduced to “queering” English, censoring scientific debate, and declaring mathematics a racist construct. Generating division within the student population based on race and gender, creating a victim and oppressor mentality, is stressed.
To be fair, some universities refuse to participate. John Ellison, Dean of Students at the University of Chicago, which sparked a national discussion about intellectual safe spaces, asserts, “Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so-called trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual safe spaces where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.”
What are the consequences witnessed from this new generation of woke educators? In some school districts across the nation, the data show virtually no students capable of meeting the minimum requirement in reading or mathematics.
However, they do have thorough knowledge of “global citizenship,” gender ideology, and the supposed dangers of the alleged man-made warming of the climate. Additionally, they learn to choose their pronouns and that they may have been born in the wrong body which should be “cured” through irreversible surgeries and arresting hormone treatments (with or without parental knowledge).
The most powerful philanthropic organizations in the world are involved and, consequently, there is almost nothing you can do about it because they are private and there are no laws to change or politicians to recall. The Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation are all funding these far-left ideological initiatives in public and private schools.
These foundations have large sums of money, can move very quickly, operating under the radar, and have no oversight or accountability.
The Biden administration is 100% publicly in favor of forcing the ideology into every public school system.
Perhaps the only benefit of the tyrannical Covid lockdowns and school closings might be that parents across the country actually got a glimpse of what was being taught in their children’s schools.
Don’t think for a moment that Fayette County is immune from this ideological pandemic infecting students’ minds. The response of our local officials must be organized and intentional to avoid calamity.
The failure of majority black urban school districts under the totalitarian leadership of far-left politicians and abusive teachers’ unions has been public knowledge for decades. However, the illusion of wealthy school systems providing a top-quality student-focused learning environment was shattered during the pandemic in some top private prep schools and public school systems like Fairfax County, VA and San Francisco.
Even the wealthy school systems have been coopted and repurposed to lower standards, political indoctrination, sexualizing content, and weaponizing future generations.
Critical pedagogy, intersectionality, patriarchy, white supremacy, open Marxism, demonizing America, disavowing personal liberty, and transgenderism crept in while parents were not paying attention. (Suggested reading: “Race to the Bottom” by Luke Rosiak.)
As parents began publicly declaring their disapproval and recalling their school board members, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice declared them “domestic terrorists” for exposing the destructive forces at work.
Georgia became one of the first states to ban CRT in K-12 education. The ban is not through the legislature, but via the state Board of Education.
How is such a ban in K-12 enforced? What are the parameters? Is a mere resolution from the state Board of Education enough to survive a legal challenge?
President Biden’s Department of Education has signaled its intent to impose the most radical forms of Critical Race Theory on America’s schools, very much including the 1619 Project and the so-called anti-racism philosophy of Ibram X. Kendi, by tying federal funds to compliance. Venture to see how much federal funding Fayette County receives through the state.
There is no such mandate in either direction for colleges or universities in Georgia and many in the state have fully embraced CRT, anti-racism, and the like. If you want to see what our future teachers trained in education programs in Georgia’s universities are being taught, look at the scholarly works of the faculty.
At our flagship institution, the University of Georgia, the Just Education Policy at UGA’s College of Education is a program “to inspire and engage the next generation of racial justice-focused policy scholars.”
Likewise, the UGA Staff Council’s Dismantling Systematic Racism Ad Hoc Committee offered a presentation by Terry College of Business’s Dr. Dawn Bennett-Alexander, titled, “Using Anti-Racism to Dismantle White Supremacy.”
The University of Georgia’s Planning Committee on Diversity and Inclusive Excellence established a “five-year roadmap to advance diversity and inclusion at UGA” consisting of 11 university-level strategic diversity initiatives on a CRT platform (see: https://criticalrace.org/states/georgia/#college).
Many universities across the state have leaned into a CRT social justice movement that promotes an anti-western narrative. The organizers’ goal is sliding their damaging belief system not only into our communities, but also in our living rooms via our children.
As we witnessed with the Common Core conversion, once the major private foundations, political donors, and influential politicians surface with transformative schemes, it’s incredibly difficult to stop the momentum.
A good first step would be for the Georgia Legislature to follow Florida’s lead on passing laws specifically to address CRT and other counter-culture initiatives in our K-12 systems.
Second, citizens need to contact members of the state’s Board of Regents and stress that the board enact standards like the stance the University of Chicago has taken. No more censoring opposing views on campus and punishing faculty members and students who contest such divisive ideology.
Third, the State Board of Education needs to create useful metrics to aid local school boards in hiring teachers from various college of education programs to help determine which programs are most likely to hire activist faculty members and use a curriculum that defies the current state ban.
All of that will only get you so far.
There are a number of private schools in and around Fayette County. Additionally, there are now some impressive turn-key home school curriculums available.
It would be wonderful if the state legislature would pass legislation designed to have state education funds follow a student in the form of a voucher that could be used in the public school of choice in their county, a private school, or for home schooling. I am not holding my breath on this one.
A significant number of Fayette County K-12 students are already enrolled in private schools and home school programs. Data nationally demonstrate that home-educated children are out-performing their government-educated peers on academics, socialization, and other measures.
It’s past time to wake up and get involved. Here are some positive steps.
• Don’t wait for an OMG moment at your student’s school to get involved.
• Volunteer at your child’s or grandchild’s school whenever possible.
• Share any of your concerns directly with the teachers.
• Carefully review the syllabi of your students’ classes and do not be afraid to ask questions.
• Do an internet search of the textbooks, supplemental books, and the authors used for the classes. Ask to see the list of books and digital teaching material added to the school’s library in the past couple of years.
• Expect transparency and accountability from your child’s school faculty and staff.
• If you find problems that cannot be resolved at the school level, contact your Board of Education members. Do not settle for an insufficient response.
• Offer praise to the teachers who are exceeding expectations (we have a lot of them).
[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.]
The post Are Fayette schools next cultural battleground for our children’s minds? appeared first on The Citizen.
In my last column, I asked, “Can Fayette County’s families remain immune to the negative cultural impacts into the foreseeable future?” It’s a question that worries a significant number of people across our nation.
We are now witnessing in Fayette County and across the state a growing number of people gaining access to positions of influence who do not recognize certain standards of right and wrong, instead relying on a “truth” based on how they feel. These woke elitists are contemptuous of their fellow citizens.
My column discussed how newly minted young teachers could bring divisive philosophies into our school system from the ground up. Many of our young, far-left political activists in the community were not pleased.
After reading my column on Facebook, local commentator Chris Donnelley snarled: “How. Fu[redacted]. Ridiculous. I TRIED to read it, but it’s just so moronic that my eyes began to bleed. Steve is a bigot. Steve is a fear monger. Steve thinks he’s much smarter than he is. And Steve is a sad, pathetic, little man …”
Donnelley was one of the nicer far-left millennials. Here is the previous column. Read it if you dare.
Let’s be honest, no one should be surprised that local left-leaning millennials who according to their own doctrine are white privileged, inherently racist, and oppressive would have a meltdown over my column. They are easily confused when condemning people of similar demographics without trying to implicate themselves.
Digital magazine Salon cited a poll that found 70% of millennials said they would be somewhat or extremely likely to vote for a socialist candidate (“New poll finds 70% of millennials say they’re ‘likely’ to vote for a socialist,” Salon, Oct. 29, 2019). Bernie Sanders received more primary votes from Americans under age 30 than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined proving the point.
I highly recommend the book “Race to the Bottom,” by Luke Rosiak. You will find it amazing how few people it takes to overturn a local political system.
Even voters in San Francisco are rebelling over too much focus on race and intersectionality, recalling their school board members and the district attorney, but that’s crazy California, right?
Luke Rosiak dedicated an entire chapter to Loudoun County, Virginia. In 2015, the county had the highest median income in the nation, and the county board was totally Republican. Black families in Loudoun making up around eight percent of the population had an estimated median income of $112,000 in 2019.
By 2020, Loudoun school Superintendent Eric Williams was pressured by a small group of parents with unsubstantiated claims and began spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to “engage in the disruption and dismantling of white supremacy” to appease this active and vocal group. He hired the consulting firm Equity Collaborative, LLC out of California. The methods used by the consultants are well documented in the book.
The school district began generating reports and programs using the CRT philosophy of evaluating fairness in the system based on “outcomes.” There was no presumption of innocence for students, parents, or teachers of any race other than black using the core premise of CRT that people who accept “Anglo-American norms” should be considered white, and thus oppressors.
Loudoun schools were essentially controlled by a handful of parents in a lopsided committee created by the school superintendent that encouraged schools to create racially segregated clubs, punished and purged those with opposing views, pre and post-tested individual school board members on racial literacy and consciousness, mandated racial literacy training for all school employees, and dropped the entrance standards to the new prized science magnet school to students with a “C” average.
No one could prove the school system was beginning to fail because the basic performance standards were declared inherently racist. It took a massive rebellion from parents to finally dismantle what a few disruptive people in the community created.
The situation was so alarming that it shaped the election for Virginia governor, catapulting a Republican candidate who had no chance of winning to a stunning victory.
Superintendent Williams left a school system that was once the envy of all others for a small school district in Texas. He received no help from the band of radical parents he aided because they believed the basic tenet in CRT, “interest convergence, the belief that when a white ‘ally’ like Williams does everything a CRT practitioner could be expected to, he must be doing so only out of self-interest, thereby demonstrating his continued racism.”
Denial is a terrible thing. Please do not think that a similar situation could not occur in our community.
Schools can and should teach about the history of racism, but not indoctrinate children into the cult of race essentialism, collective guilt, and racial superiority theory. Leave that debate to the universities.
The new breed of local elected officials who “feel their truth” and have no system of principles or values to fall back on can ruin a community very quickly.
The new young socialists believe they have advanced opinions and that we need them to provide direction because the rest of us are either too stupid or too evil. As an example, here is a product of an American college of education, this 20-something history teacher offered her personal teaching philosophy on social media (TikTok), and it was rebroadcast by The Quartering.
In this context, “anti-racism” is a Kafka trap, a rhetorical device, where the more you deny your personal racism, the more it’s proof of your guilt as a racist. The teacher gets the children to admit they are racists based merely on their race.
The teacher explains, “The education system, the curriculum, school zoning, funding, standardized testing, all of these things can create and further lead to class and racial inequalities and impact life chances for our students. Especially as a history teacher, my students deserve somebody who is going to confront and challenge the injustices and untruths that are in our history that have led to discrimination. So, yes, teaching is political because as we develop curriculum and have conversations with our students, equity and anti-racism need to be in the forefronts of our minds as well as giving our kid’s the means to gather factual information and form their own opinion.” (The video is here.)
That’s more than indoctrination, it’s oppression, authority figures within the school system convincing young children they are inherently racist, evil, and not worthy of positive recognition. Just as wicked, those same authorities are telling black children they are incapable of learning or experiencing success.
At some point, you will need to take a stand.
[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.]
The post Despite angry denials, questions remain about what our kids are being taught appeared first on The Citizen.
Officials in Fayette County, both in the school district and in law enforcement, are doing their due diligence to make sure students show up for class.
Daily police reports during the past week from different agencies in the county contain nearly a dozen separate incidents related to students at three different schools being declared in violation of the Georgia Compulsory School Attendance Law.
Reports with the Peachtree City Police Department indicate three cases of truancy involving Booth Middle School students, one of whom missed 25 days and two others who missed 18 days between last August and the end of March. A student at McIntosh High School is reported to have missed 17 days between late September and mid-February.
Fayetteville Police Department reports show four students from Cleveland Elementary School being investigated for truancy.
How does a student reach the point that law enforcement is involved?
Documents furnished by Fayette County Public Schools show that the school board put a specific set of steps in place before this point.
The board’s printed policy states, “Any parent/guardian or other person who has control of any child who on the tenth unexcused day of absence per semester, and after the child’s school system has notified the parent/guardian, or other person who has control of any child, of each day’s absence from school, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and court action may be pursued for formal intervention.”
The potential penalties include a fine of $25-100, imprisonment up to 30 days, community service, or any combination of the three as determined at the discretion of the court.
To keep it from getting that far, school district officials notify the parent, guardian or appropriate authority figure when a student has five unexcused absences in a semester. That notice outlines the penalty and consequences for those absences and that each subsequent absence constitutes a separate offense.
After two reasonable attempts at notification, the school district will send written notice via first class mail or certified mail with return receipt requested. This will happen before any attempt at judicial proceedings, according to a school district report.
Schools are required to provide information about compulsory attendance at the start of the school year, and parents or guardians are asked to sign a statement indicating that they have been informed. This is also done by the students themselves once they reach ten years of age.
School resource officers are key players in keeping track of student attendance violations, according to a police spokesperson. These officers get information from the school and generate the paperwork from there.
Typically the issue is resolved with only a phone call. An SRO will inquire as to whether the child has been sick for an unusual length of time or if the parent is the problem and not being responsible to see that the child gets to school.
Overall, “we really don’t see [truancy complaints] too much,” the spokesman noted.
The post Fayette schools crack down on unexcused student absences appeared first on The Citizen.
