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Bryan County Schools recognized by state
Georgia DOE names system a 'Title I Distinguished District'
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Special to the News
Bryan County News
Updated: Jun 26, 2014, 5:58 PM
Published: Jun 26, 2014, 5:59 PM

Bryan County Schools recently got some good news from the state. The following is a BCS press release sent Thursday:

The Georgia Department of Education has named Bryan County Schools a Title I Distinguished District for 2013-2014, recognizing the school system for strong gains in the percent of economically disadvantaged students meeting or exceeding state standards ultimately reducing the achievement gap.

"We are honored to be selected as a Title I Distinguished District,” said Dr. Paul Brooksher, Bryan County Schools Superintendent. “It confirms the progress we've made as a system and further recognizes our efforts to close the achievement gap, something we are extremely proud of,” said Dr. Brad Anderson, Assistant Superintendent. “While we won't rest on our achievements, the board and I are honored the Georgia Department of Education has recognized the detailed work of our teachers and staff and the commitment of our parents and community partners who support our efforts,” said Dr. Paul Brooksher.

Title I is a federally-funded program which provides services to schools based on student economic need. The goal of Title I is to provide instructional services and activities that support students in meeting the state’s performance standards. A Title I school-wide program permits schools to use resources to upgrade the entire educational program of the school and to raise academic achievement for all the students. Lanier Primary School, Bryan County Elementary School and Bryan County Middle School are the Title I schools in the district. Georgia recognizes only four districts each year through the Title I Distinguished Districts program. Bryan County Schools was recognized as the “medium-sized” district and received $50,000 as a reward for reducing the achievement gap.

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Later yall, its been fun
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Ted O'Neil
Updated: May 23, 2018, 6:03 PM
Published: May 23, 2018, 6:05 PM

This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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