School
employees offered a
$2,500 bonus
But
there's a catch: They'll
have to sign an agreement
to remain with Johnston
County Public Schools
through the end of the
2022-23 school year.
And that's a big reason
for the Retention Bonus
Plan adopted unanimously
by the county's Board of
Education on Tuesday: to
keep teachers and bus
drivers and cafeteria
workers and custodians and
all other support
staff on the job in
Johnston during this time
of labor shortages in just
about every category of
employment.
Another reason for the
plan is to reward school
employees who have stayed
the course through the
coronavirus pandemic that
has disrupted public
education for almost two
years now.
The $2,500 bonus will be
paid in two installments –
one in December, the other
next June – to all
full-time employees hired
before March 1 of this
year. Employees joining
the school system since
then will get $1,250 split
between the two payments.
New employees hired after
December 1 will get a $650
bonus next June if they
commit to staying here.
The Retention Bonus Plan
will be offered to more
than 4,000
employees. The cost,
estimated at more than $13
million, will be covered
by a portion of more than
$104 million
in federal
COVID-relief funds
allotted to Johnston
County's schools to be
spent over the next three
years.
The school board was
advised that the bonus
plan must be cleared by
the N.C. Department of
Public Instruction, with
approval more than likely.
Smithfield-Selma
High's academic
honor lists for the
first quarter>
AT
LAST: SMITHFIELD'S
YEARLY RE-PAVINGS
GETTING DONE
The
$240,627 contract with
Garris Grading &
Paving of Farmville was
approved by the Town
Council June 1 but
resurfacing portions of 11
streets didn't get started
till this week. Town
Manager Mike Scott said
one reason for the delay
was unexpected "milling"
to remove inferior
pavement from some streets
that prompted an extension
of the contract through
mid-November. Pictured
is work Monday
morning on the western
portion of Wellons Street.
The town's budget for
2021-22 calls for spending
$260,000 of state Powell
Bill funds allotted
Smithfield for street
repairs such as this.
Smithfield's
voting districts won't
be altered
Candidates
will file next month
for March 8 election
Without
objection, the Smithfield
Town Council agreed
Tuesday night to forego
redrawing the town's
voting districts, clearing
the way for candidates
to file next month
for seats up for election
March 8.
Smithfield's municipal
election was
postponed from
earlier this month because
the town did not receive
U.S. Census numbers in
time for the normal filing
period, which would have
taken place in July.
Up for election are seats
held by Marlon Lee of
District 1 (East
Smithfield), David Stevens
of District 2 (South
Smithfield), Travis Scott
of District 3 (West
Smithfield), and David
Barbour of District 4
(West Smithfield). The
mayor's seat now held by
Andy Moore is also up for
grabs – chosen by all the
town's voters.
Town Manager Mike Scott
showed the council on
Tuesday a change in
district boundaries
suggested by staff that
would have affected
several blocks of
residents between Market
and Johnston streets
and South Second and
Bright Leaf Boulevard.
But council members
decided against changing
the lines, citing recent
approval of residential
projects that
will almost assuredly
increase the town's
population before the next
census in 2030, especially
in the West Smithfield.
(The town grew by just 326
residents from 2010 to
2020.)
As things now stand, 2020
Census counts put 2,491
residents in District 1
(East), 2,763 in District
2 (South), 3,375 in
District 3 (North), and
2,655 in District 4
(West).
Subject to approval by the
Johnston County Board of
Elections, the filing
period for Smithfield
candidates will be noon
Monday, Dec. 6 through
noon Friday, Dec. 17.
VIEW map of
Smithfield's voting
districts on the Board
of
Elections website>
Smithfield
Council approves
two more
residential projects
On top of several
subdivisions approved
recently, the council
approved two more at
Tuesday's monthly meeting –
one near Downtown, yet
another in West Smithfield.
READ MORE
about that and other
council decisions on
Tuesday>
CHAMBER'S
ATHENA
LEADERSHIP AWARD
WINNER
Melissa
Overton (center)
is recipient of this
year's Athena Award
presented by the Triangle
East Chamber of Commerce to
an outstanding female
leader. A nurse by
profession, Melissa is
founder of a business called
MedicalTraining.me, which
provides life-saving and
leadership training. She is
co-founder of the Johnston
Network on Aging and project
leader for Launch JoCo,
a countywide outreach
initiative for
entrepreneurs. Pictured
with Melissa are Kay
Johnson, chair of the
Chamber Women's Business
Network, and Mark McDonnell,
Chamber board chair. (Triangle
East Chamber photo)
CORONAVIRUS REPORT
School
board votes 4-3 to
keep mask mandate
Johnston
County Public Schools will
continue to require
wearing of masks by all
students and staff for
another month at least
after another 4-3 vote by
members of the Board of
Education on Tuesday.
"We feel very strongly to
continue the mask
mandate," reported board
member Lyn Andrews, who
has been serving on a
COVID-19 review committee
along with Dr. Marilyn
Pearson, the county's
health director, Assistant
Superintendent of Schools
David Pearce, and others.
Mrs. Andrews noted that
mask-optional schools
elsewhere in North
Carolina "are having huge
numbers of quarantines"
keeping students at home.
Johnston County's schools,
meanwhile, not only has
the mask requirement in
place but also a new state
program – Test-to-Stay –
that gives parents the
option of having their
children tested
periodically at school if
exposed to COVID rather
than keeping them
quarantined at
home. Assistant
Superintendent Pearce
reported that Test-to-Stay
so far has enabled 60
students to remain in
school.
The N.C. General Assembly
approved legislation
earlier this year that
requires local school
boards to vote monthly on
the masking question.
Johnston's board will
likely take up the issue
again at its December 14
meeting.
Starting with the board's
August 12 meeting, Al
Byrd, Kay Carroll, Terri
Sessoms, and Mrs. Andrews
have voted to require
masks while Ronald
Johnson, Mike Wooten, and
Board Chair Todd Sutton
have voted in favor of
optional masking.
This
week's report from
the school system (posted this morning) showed 107
active cases among
students and staff (up
from 68 last week) with
294 students and 21 staff
members quarantined (219
students and 7
staff quarantined a
week ago).
Schools with the most
students in quarantine (as
of this morning): East
Clayton Elementary 60,
McGee's Crossroads
Elementary 18, South
Johnston High 14,
Cleveland Elementary 13.
The highest number in the
Smithfield area was 7 at
SSS High School. West
Smithfield Elementary
reported no students in
quarantine.
VIEW the
school system's COVID
dashboard with data for
all schools>
VIEW the
current list of
vaccination clinics in
Johnston County>
VIEW the
current list of testing
sites in Johnston
County>
CORONAVIRUS
weekly
measurements |
Case total
since 3-20
(last week) |
Deaths
since 3-20
(last week) |
Hospital
patients
(last week) |
Fully
vaccinated
(last week) |
| JOHNSTON COUNTY |
32,582
(32,324) |
350
(345) |
31
(31) |
101,839: 49%*
(101,181: 48%) |
| NORTH CAROLINA |
1,497,677
(1,485,455) |
18,371
(18,191) |
1,095
(1,193) |
5,872,003: 56%*
(5,839,740: 56%*) |
| UNITED STATES |
46,850,000
(46,253,631) |
759,000
(750,431) |
|
194,382,921: 59%*
(192,931,486: 59%) |
| WORLDWIDE |
251,605,914
(248,243,646) |
5,076,073
(5,024,725) |
|
7,364,755,576
total doses given |
* Percentage of total population (all
ages)
Data provided by: County
of Johnston at
4:25 p.m. November
9
N.C.
Department of
Health and Human
Services at
12:05 p.m.
November 10
Johns
Hopkins
University at
8:21 a.m. November
11 |
Coach
Deron Donald leads his
charges onto the SSS
playing field in this
undated photo by Kevin
Gottuso posted on
the Town of
Smithfield's Facebook
page>
SSS defeats South Johnston in a
stunner, 54-14
Smithfield-Selma
High School's football
Spartans, who haven't had a
winning season since 2008,
dropped three of their first
five games this season,
including a 21-14 loss to
rival South Johnston and a
35-0 drubbing by eventual
conference champion Wilson
Hunt.
Since
then, the Spartans have won
six in a row, including a
stunning 54-14
victory over South
Johnston in last Friday's
3-A playoff opener at
Charles Tucker Stadium. None
of those games
have been close as SSS
outscored its opponents by a
whopping 276-88 during that
six-game stretch.
Two Spartans scored four
touchdowns apiece against
South on Friday. Brandon
Perry ran the ball into the
end zone four times while
Clevonte Watson caught three
TD passes from George Brewer
and scored a fourth on a
running play.
The Spartans intercepted
four Trojan passes – by
Isaiah and Daniel Dawson,
Gerard Sanders Jr., and
Michael Thompson – and
recovered two fumbles – by
Chris McCray and Jaylen
Stancil.
Joshua Hightower made
four solo tackles, Jalil
Howell nine, Jaylen Stancil
eight, Thompson and Jeremiah
Hatley seven apiece.
MORE SSS stats
from the South Johnston
game on MaxPreps>
Smithfield-Selma travels
to Northern Nash High this
Friday for Round 2 of the
3-A state playoffs. The
Knights have won 10 of their
11 games this season. To buy
tickets in advance for
Friday's game, follow this
link>
Neuse Charter girls come up short in
volleyball title match
Neuse
Charter School's Cougars won
26 of its 29 matches this
season, which ended with a
3-1 loss to Union Academy in
Saturday's state 1-A
championship showdown. The
Cougars won all 10 of their
Carolina 1-A Conference
matches this year plus four
non-conference matches
against intra-county rivals
Princeton and
Smithfield-Selma.
REVIEW the
entire season on Max
Preps>
FOR
SALE: HIGHLY VISIBLE
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Former
Jewel Box store on its
own lot at 1699
East Booker Dairy
Road, with more
than 30 parking
spaces: $569,000.
SUSAN
LASSITER
Fonville
Morisey Realty
•
919-669-9235
• LassiterSusan@aol.com
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
Veterans
Day fireworks this
evening at
Community Park
Smithfield's Parks & Recreation
Department's Veterans
Day celebration begins
at 4:30 p.m. today
with children's
activities capped
off with a fireworks display
at 7 o'clock. There should
be plenty of room in
parking lots adjacent to
the park off Durwood
Stephenson
Parkway for folks to
watch the show from their
vehicles.
Neuse
Little Theatre's
"Explorers Club" opens
Friday
It's
the second production of
the 47th season for the
theatrical troupe in its
home in the former Legion
Hut beside the river
in Smithfield. Show times
are 8 p.m. this Friday and
Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday,
and 8 p.m. Friday and
Saturday, Nov. 19-20. To
reserve tickets, call
919-934-1873. The cast
list is posted on the
NLT website>
County
Commissioners will
convene at 6 p.m.
Monday
The
board's regular
third-Monday-of-the-month
session begins at 6 p.m.
in the Commissioners
Meeting Room inside the
Courthouse. First up on
the agenda is a moment of
appreciation for Chairman
Chad Stewart, who is
giving up his seat on the
board at the end of the
month to accept a
full-time job as manager
of Johnston's ABC system.
Among other items on
Monday's agenda is an
update from consultants on
work to revamp the
county's Comprehensive
Land Use Plan.
VIEW the
complete agenda posted
on the county's
website>
KIDS
OF ALL SIZES FLOCK TO
ALL SIZES OF TRUCKS
Last Saturday
turned out to be blustery
with the
temperature barely
above 50, yet
that didn't keep
parents from bringing their
youngsters to
Touch-A-Truck, an
annual Downtown treat
put on by the Junior Women's
League of Smithfield with
support from commercial
sponsors and equipment
providers. The League is
currently accepting
applications for membership.
MORE
information on its
website>
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
Click
on the name to read an
obituary, usually posted
by the funeral home
RAQUEL ANN
KORNEGAY CONNELL, 50 –
died November 10
BRAD JOSEPH
MOORE, 46 – died
November 9
DOROTHY
MARIE CARROLL COCKRELL,
78 – died
November 5
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Electric
rates are no longer the
main issue here
The
good news: Residential
electric rates charged by
the Town of Smithfield
continue to be the lowest
in Johnston County.
Not so good: Charges for
water and sewer service
from the town are now as
much if not more than
monthly costs for
electricity.
That shifting of utility
expenses began to hit home
this summer after the town
passed along an increase
in what the County of
Johnston charges
municipalities like
Smithfield for accepting
and treating our sewage.
Our most recent
utility bill from the town
had charges for water and
sewer service about $30
more than what we owed for
power.
And that's before adding
in monthly fees billed by
the town for emptying our
garbage cans and picking
up our yard debris (both
fees slightly increased
July 1).
Thank goodness those
electricity rates came
down some years back as a
result of negotiations
that eliminated the
crushing debt dumped on
Smithfield and
other ElectriCities
by the commercial power
companies half a century
ago.
Now, if we can somehow cut
down on what we're
flushing down the drain
and tossing into the
trash can....
Paying what's necessary
for utilities essential
to our livelihood is
one thing; paying more for
wastefulness is a telling
commentary on our
present-day
lifestyles.
If
you're not a subscriber and
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when a new edition
of the Smithfield
Weekly Sun is
published, send your
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