Oconee County of Board of Education Member Tim Burgess informed the other members of the Board at their meeting on Monday that he is expecting the county’s state legislators to introduce bills shortly to change the ways the Board operates.
The legislation would require vacancies on the Board to be filled by voters under most circumstances rather than by the Board itself and would allow the Board, rather than voters, to select the Board Chair.
The Oconee County Board of Education and the county’s two House members in the Georgia General Assembly have a secret they have worked hard to keep.
The Board met with the legislators in an unpublicized meeting last fall before the current legislative session began, using a legal loophole in the state’s Open Meetings Act allowing them to do that.
Kevin Yancey, Principal at Oconee County High School, will become Director of Student Services for Oconee County Schools on June 3, reporting to Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Suzanne Korngold.
The Oconee County Board of Education approved the move of Yancey along with other personnel recommendations from Superintendent Jason Branch after meeting in executive session at the end of its work session on Monday.
The Georgia Department of Public Health reported that the Northeast Health District added only 229 new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending on March 6, based on the Department’s electronic tracking system.
The Department of Public Health reported the Northeast Health District had added 311 cases in the week ending on Feb. 28, 374 cases in the week ending on Feb. 21, 509 cases in the week ending on Feb. 14, and 485 cases in the week ending on Feb. 7.
Qualifying for the May 21 General Primary and Nonpartisan election took an unusual turn in Oconee County on the last day of qualifying on Friday when six candidates completed the required paperwork, one as a Democrat and five as Republicans.
Democratic Party Chair Harold Thompson said after qualifying ended at noon that one of the candidates who qualified as a Democrat on Friday as well as two who qualified as Democrats on Thursday were not recruited by the Democratic Party.
Three more Democrats qualified on Thursday at the Oconee County Office of Elections and Registration to run for county offices in the May 21 General Primary and Nonpartisan Election.
Reginald Wade qualified to run for Sheriff, and Laura King qualified to run for Clerk of Superior Court.
Kathryn Green qualified to run as a Democrat for Post 5 on the Oconee County Board of Education on Wednesday, and incumbent Watkinsville Post 5 Council Member Jeff Campbell qualified to run for re-election in the nonpartisan Watkinsville race.
Green’s name will appear on the Democratic ballot on May 21 in the General Primary and Nonpartisan Election, while Campbell’s name will appear on the ballot on Nov. 5 in the Watkinsville races.
