Cherokee School Board Inks 2 New Partnership Agreements

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WOODSTOCK, GA -- The Cherokee County School Board on Thursday approved two new partnership agreements with community organizations.

The board maintains district-level agreements with more than 80 partners, which range from local businesses and civic groups to institutions of higher learning and nonprofit organizations that support students in need.

The agreements approved Thursday are with CURE Childhood Cancer and MUST Ministries.

CURE Childhood Cancer is a nonprofit organization that works to cure childhood cancer through funding and support of patients and their families.

The agreement with the organization outlines how district schools can participate in the organization’s efforts to raise awareness of childhood cancer, which is the No. 1 cause of death by disease among children; and to raise funds through programs such as its Coins4CURE coin drive.

The organization’s mission was brought home on Thursday night, by a moment of silence held by the board in memory of Teasley Middle School student Emily Rose Lamanac, who passed away on Wednesday after battling childhood cancer.

“What a fitting tribute that our school board approved this agreement tonight, as we are grieving the loss of a beautiful life cut short by cancer,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower said. “Our schools raise significant funds for organizations fighting cancer, and this agreement provides them with the opportunity to do more.”

The agreement with MUST Ministries formalizes the system's longstanding support of the organization, which serves needy families in the community by providing food, clothing, housing and employment services.

“Children who do not know whether there will be food in the refrigerator or an eviction notice on the door will not be as successful in school as their peers," Dr. HIghtower added. "We cannot turn a blind eye to that hardship. MUST helps our school district and our community ensure these most at-risk children feel assured their basic needs will be met, so they can focus on mastering academic standards that will help them be college and career ready and escape the cycle of poverty.”

Through the partnership, district schools are encouraged to not only continue existing collection drives of food, clothing, toys and other items to benefit MUST, such as the Sequoyah High School JROTC’s longtime and extremely successful Thanksgiving food box drive, but also to expand their efforts.

As part of the new agreement, MUST hopes to help schools develop food pantries on their campuses to help students in need and their families.

Board members also also:

• Recognized Sequoyah High School seniors Madison Evans and William “Will” Garrett Sanders as recipients of 2016 Waste Management/Pine Bluff Landfill scholarships;
• Recognized 2015-16 Georgia Scholars;
• Recognized 2015-16 Governor's Honors finalists;
• Recognized Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) seventh-graders who achieved grand and/or state recognition;
• Recognized middle and high school region and state technology fair winners;
• Recognized Etowah High School students Josh Minter, Noah Minter and Gwenevere Wrye as members of the FIRST Robotics Competition Team that won the Peachtree Regional District Chairman's Award and advanced to international competition;
• Recognized individual regional golf champion Brady Keran of Creekview High School and coach Jimmy Thigpen;
• Approved monthly financial reports;
• Approved the annual local plan of improvement for vocational, technical and agricultural education and one-year state funding application for 2016-17;
• Approved out-of-state travel;
• Approved out-of-state and overnight student field trips;
• Approved monthly personnel recommendations;
• Approved authorizing the development and implementation of the 2016 Education SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) renewal policy and legal requirement; and,
• Approved the 2016-17 Student Discipline Code.

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