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Fulton Schools Ebola-ready Despite remote chance schools prepared ►►PAGE 5
Director finds Play’s relevance ‘Elephant Man’ has levels of meaning ►►PAGE 25
Avalon opens with panache Merchandising mecca ready to pamper ►►PAGE 14
November 6, 2014 | northfulton.com | 75,000 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 18, No. 44
Experts: Drugs a growing teen issue Widely available in schools, homes BY JONATHAN COPSEY jonathan@appenmediagroup.com
Scott Kent/Centennial High School students work collaboratively at Centennial High School's Learning Commons, the new high-tech media center.
Centennial Learning Commons ‘world class’ Takes H.S. media centers to entirely new level By HATCHER HURD hatcher@appenmediagroup.com ROSWELL, Ga. – Remember when students would file into their old high school library and the only thing the librarian would say to them was, “Shhh!” Those days are a thing of the past at high school media centers today, but none more so than in Centennial High’s Learning Commons, the new name for its media center. It had long been an idea for media and education tech spe-
Learning Commons Statistics In the short time the Learning Commons has been in effect this year, student use of the media center has increased 40 percent. In a school of around 1,900 students, the Learning Commons has seen: • 8,766 student visits to Learning Commons before, during and after school • 249 classes met in and used the Learning Commons • 737 books checked out • 5,006 electronic retrievals from CHS databases cialist Maria Yelvington and English teacher Scott Kent. They had a lot of ideas about what “could be” at the school, but nothing came of it until they were encouraged to apply for and received a $189,000 Fulton County Schools seed grant. The grant, funded through the Georgia
General Assembly, is to promote innovative ideas in charter schools, and Centennial is part of the Fulton County Charter School System. “That was a game-changer,” said Yelvington. “With the grant, we went from theo-
See LEARNING, Page 4
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Drugs and alcohol are a frequent hassle for parents of teenage children. Recently, they have become more of a problem for county, school and legal professionals, and action is being taken. “Drug abuse is behind most of the crime in Fulton County,” said State Court Judge Christopher Brasher. “That is the reality. Most of the defendants I see are under 25 years old. When kids come to me, things have gone horribly wrong.”
Don’t run, call 911! Georgia is the 17th state to get a law passed offering amnesty for drug users who call 911 to help a friend. Anyone can call 911 if they are in the presence of someone overdosing on drugs. Neither they nor the victim can be arrested or charged. This also applies to underage drinking and alcohol poisoning. Members from Fulton County government and nonprofits held a town hall meet-
See DRUGS, Page 8
Fast track zoning OK’d for economic development Zoning Task Force makes recommendations By HATCHER HURD hatcher@appenmediagroup.com JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – The Johns Creek Zoning Task Force, created by the City Council to review the zoning process, had recommendations adopted including the fast-tracking of development projects that would be economically beneficial to the city when time is of the essence. This had been requested
by the Johns Creek Advantage, the public-private economic development arm of the city. Four other recommendations were also ZAPROWSKI accepted for adoption at the Nov. 3 workshop session of the City Council. That does not mean they go into effect. “It is more like the council has accepted the task force recommendations,” said
See ZONING, Page 32