The Journal Friday, July 10, 2020
Vol. 116 No. 137
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DECISION TIME ACC, Big Ten announce changes to fall sports. C1
‘YOU MADE MY DAY’: Playing through the pandemic. B1 SANCTIONS: U.S. bars Chinese officials for repressing minorities. D1
WALHALLA
PICKENS COUNTY
Walhalla councilman proposes to increase transparency BY NORM CANNADA THE JOURNAL
WALHALLA — City Councilman Josh Roberts raised the possibility this week of recording and posting video of council meetings online in an effort to create more transparency about council actions for city residents. Roberts, chairman of the council’s government committee, brought up the idea during his committee’s part of the monthly council committee meetings Tuesday. He made a motion for the committee to instruct city Roberts administrator Brent Taylor to prepare ideas and costs related to purchasing microphones, a video camera and other necessary equipment for the full council to consider at its next meeting on July 21. After nearly 20 minutes of discussion that included other council members, committee members Keith Pace and Danny Woodward declined to move the issue to full council, saying they wanted more time to think about it before making a decision.
FILE
Students work on an art project Aug. 20, 2019, during their first day of school at the Central Academy of The Arts.
Pickens County schools announce reopening plan BY GREG OLIVER THE JOURNAL
EASLEY — The School District of Pickens County has released a 30-plus page reopening plan in which sixweek schedules containing both face-to-face and online instruction will be used. “In our first month of school, we will attempt to create a sense of belonging in all grade levels and to prepare for eLearning instruction,” school superintendent Danny Merck said in the letter that is set to be sent to parents today. “The first two weeks of school will allow us to gather vital information from teachers, parents and students to adjust moving forward. To protect our students and to make sure we have a healthy workforce, these schedules will be updated periodically as we continue to monitor community
outbreaks of the virus.” Merck added that following the first two weeks of school, which begin Aug. 10, the district expects to alter its daily routines in every school “to provide an even safer environment as we monitor daily the safety and well-being of all students and employees.” The reopening plan states that parents or guardians will have a choice of allowing students to attend school through traditional, virtual or Pickens County Virtual Academy. Should they choose the virtual academy, the superintendent said the district has set the enrollment deadline for July 17. Under the initial six-week schedule established by the school district, the first two weeks — Aug. 10-14 and Aug. 17-21 — will be for all SEE PLAN, PAGE A3
‘WE CAN DO BETTER’
preparing its reopening plan for the upcoming 2020-21 school year. Among parents, 82.9 percent of the more than 5,000 respondents said expectations from eLearning were “met” or “somewhat met;” that 80 percent said their “child’s teacher maintained regular contact and care about their child;” but added that 71.7 percent said that “children are looking to return to school in August.” While the parental survey had 58.4 percent of parents stating, “children’s
Roberts suggested council meetings be recorded in a way similar to Oconee County Council, which shows its meetings live, but also posts them on YouTube for county residents to watch whenever they want. “The Oconee County Council films all their meetings and puts it on YouTube,” he said at the meeting. “If you want to refer back to something that was said — something good, bad or whatever— you could look back at the meetOUR VIEW ings on TO READ A RELATED YouTube EDITORIAL, TURN and make TO PAGE A4. reference to them. I would like to start looking into doing this. I think we can be better in terms of transparency. We can do better as a council. We owe it to the taxpayers. We owe it to the voters. We owe it to the people. We can do better.” He referenced two meetings in April in which he said issues were discussed and voted on, but added all of the discussion on those issues was not included in the minutes of the two meetings. He said a video recording would give residents a
SEE SURVEY, PAGE A3
SEE MEETINGS, PAGE A5
SDPC releases results of parents, staff survey BY GREG OLIVER THE JOURNAL
EASLEY — Survey results released on Thursday by the School District of Pickens County found that an overwhelming percentage of parents felt eLearning administered during the extended closure of school in the spring “met or somewhat met their child’s learning needs” while a majority of teachers felt “very” or “somewhat comfortable” with returning to normal school conditions in August. The district sent surveys to parents and teachers in
PENDLETON
Some Tri-County Tech construction projects put on hold BY GREG OLIVER THE JOURNAL
PENDLETON — While some capital improvement projects at Tri-County Technical College are moving forward, the COVID-19 pandemic and its financial impact has forced other projects at the Pendleton campus to be put on hold. During a recent technical college commission meeting, commissioner Butch Harris, who also chairs the building committees, said all current
projects, including construction of new science labs and a new physical plant, remain in the plans — although the science labs won’t be ready for occupancy until October rather than August. But the commission, at Harris’ request, approved putting several capital projects already planned as well as any future building projects on hold. The estimated $6 million worth of projects affected includes Miller Hall and Oconee Hall
restorations and chiller loop. “The recommendation is that all future building projects be put on hold until the pandemic is resolved,” Harris said. Harris added the automotive lab will be left in Wilson Hall and a feasibility study conducted in the next couple of months will determine a long-range option. In addition, the TTI building project asphalt lab approved by Anderson County will be funded and moved from campus, but construction is
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delayed. But the building program chairman said there is good news on several fronts. The delay in opening the new science labs will not negatively impact students since it was not included in the fall schedule and the physical plant storage building — a 4,200 square-foot steel structure that will store college inventory and physical supplies — will go forward. SEE PROJECTS, PAGE A2
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Tri-County Technical College commission members approved putting several capital projects already planned on hold. The estimated $6 million worth of projects affected includes Miller Hall.
WILLIE SAYS: I really do hope you rest your case ... B6