School
board votes 4-3 to
continue mask mandate
The Johnston
County Board of
Education's split vote was
the same as it was last
month: Lyn Andrews, Al
Byrd, Kay Carroll, and
Terri Sessoms voted in
favor of keeping the mask
requirement in place for
all students and staff;
Ronald Johnson, Todd
Sutton, and Mike Wooten
voted to make masks
optional. (Johnston
County
Public Schools
Facebook photo)
As the board prepared to
vote during Monday
afternoon's brief virtual
meeting, Ms. Andrews
suggested a committee
including at least two
board members and leaders
from Johnston's
health-care community to
work out some specific
guidelines for determining
when it's safe to lift the
mask mandate
in Johnston's
schools.
Mr. Wooten volunteered to
represent board members in
favor of making masks
optional. Chairman Sutton
asked Ms. Sessoms and Mr.
Johnson to serve as
backups to Ms. Andrews and
Mr. Wooten.
Mr. Johnson asked staff in
the meantime to explore
logistics of a scenario
that would give parents
and teachers choices "on a
site-by-site basis"
between school campuses
where masks are required
and others where they're
optional.
This
week's report from
the school system
on COVID-19 infections
(posted at 9
a.m. Thursday): 163 active
cases among students and
staff (down from 202 last
week) with 665 students and
58 staff members quarantined
(a week ago 842
students and 52
staff were
quarantined).
Smithfield-Selma High
reported 11 active cases,
the most of any school in
Johnston County.
Schools with the most
students in quarantine as of
Thursday morning: Polenta
Elementary with 40,
Thanksgiving Elementary with
36, and Benson Elementary
with 31. Locally, Selma
Elementary reported
25 quarantined, South
Smithfield Elementary
20, Smithfield-Selma
High 16, Selma Middle
11, Wilson's Mills
Elementary 6, and West
Smithfield Elementary 2.
Incentive
pay attacks
substitute-teacher
shortage
At
a special
virtual meeting late
Wednesday afternoon, the
Board of Education gave
unanimous approval to a
plan offering extra pay
for substitute school
teachers. That action
followed a disturbing
report from Brian Vetrano,
the school system's
personnel manager, that
fewer than half of
day-to-day teacher
vacancies this academic
year are being filled by
qualified substitutes.
On Wednesday, he noted,
just 125 substitutes were
found to replace 268
absent
teachers. "Principals,"
he said, "are having to
make do" by assigning
office staff, pulling
teacher assistants out of
their classrooms, even
filling in themselves to
cover the vacancies.
Mr. Vetrano then offered
an incentive-pay proposal
that board member Al Byrd
suggested wasn't
"aggressive enough." As a
result, he and the
other board members
approved an expansion of
Mr. Vetrano's proposal to
offer $25 per day
additional pay for
substitutes who work at
least five days a month,
$30 a day for at
least 10 days monthly, and
$35 for 15 days and more.
Basic substitute-teacher
pay in Johnston County is
currently $103 per day for
licensed teachers, $80 for
unlicensed substitutes.
Chief of Finance Stephen
Britt estimated cost of
the incentive pay plan
this school year would
likely exceed $300,000, to
be paid by federal
COVID-relief funds.
In other action following
a closed session, the
board approved a two-year
contract assigning Tiffany
Long to Smithfield-Selma
High School as
an assistant principal.
JOHNSTON'S
VIRTUAL ACADEMY HAS A
LOGO AND A MASCOT
The online,
stay-at-home option for
1,479 of 37,941 students
enrolled in Johnston
County's public schools is
technically a "campus"
with its own identity,
along with its
own principal and
support staff.
Now it has its own logo
and mascot as do all the
county's traditional
schools.
No, it doesn't field
interscholastic athletic
teams. But it can show
some school spirit.
CORONAVIRUS REPORT
45%
of Johnstonians are
now fully
vaccinated
The
number vaccinated is
93,185, according to
Wednesday's report from
the N.C. Department of
Health and Human Services.
Johnston's 45% rate of
residents fully vaccinated
continues to lag behind
North Carolina's 52% and
the nation's 55%.
Meanwhile, the national
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's
COVID Data Tracker
continues to show Johnston
County as a place of "High
Community Transmission"
based on numbers
reported September 14-20:
826 new cases, 9.82%
positive testing rate, 17
deaths, and 38 new
hospital admissions.
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 |
29,973
(29,148) |
303
(296) |
65
(55) |
93,185: 45%*
(91,441: 44%) |
| NORTH CAROLINA |
1,356,985
(1,315,427) |
15,941
(15,405) |
3,400
(3,630) |
5,491,901: 52%*
(5,408,292: 52%*) |
| UNITED STATES |
42,432,561
(41,439,256) |
678,919
(665,282) |
|
182,012,343: 55%*
(179,289,983: 55%) |
| WORLDWIDE |
229,775,845
(226,142,621) |
4,712,741
(4,655,116) |
|
5,982,326,431
total doses given |
* Percentage of total population (all
ages)
Data provided by: County
of Johnston at
5:12 p.m.
September 21
N.C.
Department of
Health and Human
Services at
11:55 a.m.
September 22
Johns
Hopkins
University at
1:20 p.m.
September 22 |
Johnston hospitals
recognized for
stroke treatment
From Johnston UNC Health Care
Johnston
Health has received the
American Heart
Association’s SilverPlus Get
With The
Guidelines-Stroke Quality
Achievement Award for its
commitment
to ensuring that
stroke patients receive
the most appropriate
treatment according to
nationally recognized,
research-based guidelines.
Hospitals receiving the
Silver Plus Achievement
Award have reached an
aggressive goal of
treating patients with 85
percent or higher
compliance to core
standard levels of care as
outlined by the American
Heart Association/American
Stroke Association for one
calendar year.
Additionally, Johnston
Health received the Heart
Association’s Target: Type
2 Honor Roll
award. To qualify
for this recognition,
hospitals must meet
quality measures developed
with more than 90% of
compliance for 12
consecutive months for the
“Overall Diabetes
Cardiovascular Initiative
Composite Score.”
Johnston
Health operates
hospitals at Clayton and
Smithfield (formerly
Johnston Memorial) as part
of the UNC Health Care
System.
Retail
sales jumped 20% in
2021's second quarter
Monthly
reports from the N.C.
Department of Revenue show
Johnston County with
retail sales totaling
$692,583,414
during April, May,
and June – up almost $116
million, or 20%, over
sales of $576,596,859 for
those three months a year
ago.
At the same time, retail
sales statewide totaled
just over $50.8 million
this past spring – a gain
of 24% over sales of $40.9
million during last year's
second quarter, which
included the first few
months of the coronavirus
pandemic.
Even with the pandemic's
restrictions, Johnston
County retail sales have
grown 33.4% over the past
two years, based on the
state's second-quarter
reports.
VIEW the
N.C. Department of
Revenue's month-by-month
statewide reports>
SSS
drops conference opener
to South, 21-14
Smithfield-Selma's
Spartans,
battling the
undefeated Trojans from
South Johnston High School
during a rainy-night
contest at Charles Tucker
Stadium, fell a
touchdown short of
victory. The loss puts the
Spartans' season record at
2-2.
After trailing 14-7 at
halftime, SSS came back to
tie the game in the third
quarter, but South scored
the only TD in the fourth
quarter for the 21-14
final score. The Trojans
gained 158 yards rushing
and 208 passing for a
total of 366. The Spartans
had 141 yards rushing and
70 passing for a total of
211.
Next up for SSS is this
season's Homecoming
game Friday
evening versus
undefeated James B. Hunt
High from Wilson
County. Hunt beat
winless Charles B. Aycock
High 49-0 last Friday.
SSS and Hunt as well as
South Johnston and Aycock
are members of the new
Quad County 3A Conference
that also includes West
Johnston, East Wake,
Wilson's Fike High, and
Southern Wayne. MORE SSS
football details on
MaxPreps website>
COUNTY
OKs FUNDS FOR
CLAYTON-SMITHFIELD TRAIL
STUDY
Johnston's
County Commissioners
approved spending $7,500
during their third-Monday
meeting this week to take
part in a
feasibility study by
the N.C. Department of
Transportation for a missing
link in the Mountains-to-Sea
Trail along the Neuse River
between Clayton and
Smithfield.
READ MORE
about that and other
matters before the board
Monday evening>
END
OF THE LINE FOR
AN ICONIC LOCAL
EATERY
Saturday
was the last day of
restaurant service at Holt
Lake Bar-B-Q and Seafood,
a popular stopping place
on US 301 South over the
past four decades. "It is
time to retire," owner
Terry Barefoot announced
in a Facebook post last
week.
"Thank you
(customers) for all the love
and support over the past
42.5 years. I have gained an
extended family that I will
be forever grateful for!"
The restaurant rebounded
twice from destructive fires
– one in 1981, the
other in 2010.
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
Johnston's
fall festivals are
making a comeback
That
includes Benson's
Mule Days this
weekend (Friday-Sunday), Selma
Railroad Days
October 1-2, and Clayton's
Harvest Festival
October 27-31. Here
are links to their
complete rundowns of
scheduled activities and
entertainment:
BENSON MULE
DAYS>
SELMA
RAILROAD DAYS>
CLAYTON
HARVEST FESTIVAL>
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
Click
on the name to read an
obituary, usually posted
by the funeral home
ROBERT HENRY
BEACH JR., 77 –
died September 22
TERESA JO
WARD BAILEY, 73 –
died September 17
LINDA FAYE
BENTON, 67 –
died September 17
ROBERT
(ROBBY) MELTON LAWHON
JR., 60 – died
September 15
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Schools
endure
shameful social-media
threats
This
announcement received
yesterday afternoon from
Johnston County Public
Schools is worth sharing
with readers of the Sun
not so much as an alarm
but as a piece of our
current history in the
making:
Administrators at Smithfield-Selma
High, Corinth
Holders High, Princeton
Middle/High, and South
Johnston High schools
were made aware of
separate threats made on
social media Wednesday
afternoon. Each school’s
administration acted
promptly, investigated
immediately, and
involved law
enforcement.
The students and staff
at these campuses did
enter an exterior
lockdown while our local
law enforcement
investigated these
situations thoroughly.
Students and staff at Smithfield
Middle were
placed on a brief
perimeter lockdown due
to the SMS’s proximity
to Smithfield-Selma
High. Our students and
staff at all locations
were safe at all
times....
The Johnston County
Sheriff’s Office
investigated each of
these threats
separately, and each one
was considered
non-credible. Johnston
County Public Schools
will work with the
Johnston County
Sheriff’s Office to
investigate these
threats, and will
prosecute to the fullest
extent of the law....
Abuse of the pervasive
technology known
as "social media"
will surely find a place
in history books yet to be
written about this
tumultuous era. While it
does an amazing job of
keeping us connected with
one another, its abuse
does a disgusting job of
keeping us divided with
rampant misinformation and
made-up "fake news."
The long-term question is:
Will "social media" prove
to be worth nothing
more than a footnote,
or an entire chapter, in
the narrative of our
times?
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