By Kathy Thomson
Registration for General Education Development (GED) classes will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 2 at the Shackelford County Library.
“You will need to bring an acceptable form of identification,” said local instructor Kenzie Fairchild.
By Kathy Thomson
Kids Club Activities at First United Methodist Church are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The Kids Club is designed for fourth through seventh graders. Instructors teach the children life skills and offer fun activities, snacks, and the opportunity to learn the Word.
A special account was opened last week to help City of Albany employee Julian Jones, who was diagnosed with cancer about a month ago.
Contributions to help with Jones’ medical expenses can be left with any teller at First National Bank Albany/Breckenridge.
According to city manager Billy Holson, Jones has been a loyal employee of the city for more than eight years, continuing to work this summer even after he was diagnosed.
All of one leg was amputated at M.D. Anderson in Houston last week. Holson said that Jones developed complications over the weekend.
By Kathy Thomson
Music fans only have a few more days to purchase their tickets for ResourceCare’s second annual Carefest fundraiser before prices increase on Monday, Sept. 2.
“Ticket sales are going well,” said program assistant Ragan Riley on Monday. “VIP and Preferred tickets are almost sold out.”
Carefest is scheduled to take place Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Happy Wife Happy Life venue just outside of Albany, rain or shine.
Tickets for the music festival can be purchased at www.outhousetickets.com.
By Melinda L. Lucas
With just one week since the public disclosure of Texas school districts’ accountability performance, Albany ISD administrators and staff have already knuckled down and formulated plans to improve the local ratings – dissecting the reports and breaking down the subgroups so they can see exactly where to dig in.
The ratings rolled out last Wednesday, and although AISD’s overall score was an acceptable B, Albany educators are not happy with the D attached to the elementary campus.
By Kathy Thomson
The “Albany Home of the Hereford” sign and three people selected as “Lights of Albany” will all be honored at the Albany Chamber of Commerce’s bi-annual party Friday night, Aug. 23 at the Aztec Theater.
Chamber manager Mary Beth Jones said that several nominees for “Lights of Albany” have been submitted.
“We’ve had quite a few nominations, probably 15 to 20,” Jones said. “Some of those were nominated more than once. Most likely the winners will be selected from those that were nominated multiple times.”
By Kathy Thomson
With a significant impact expected in state funding, Albany Independent School District enrollment totals for the beginning of the new school year are now sitting at 525, 39 more than last August and 14 more than at the end of the 2018-2019 school year.
Several students have registered in the days since classes began last week, but as of press time Tuesday, the official enrollment numbers were 283 at Nancy Smith Elementary School, 87 at the junior high, and 152 at Albany High, for a total of 522.
First Day Count
By Melinda L. Lucas
During their regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 19, school board trustees learned details about the Albany ISD’s “B” grade in the state’s accountability ratings, and reviewed some of the plans to make improvements during the upcoming year.
Details about the accountability numbers are included in a page one article in this week’s issue.
The board also looked over the second draft of the proposed budget and made plans to act on the numbers at a special evening meeting on Aug. 29.
Community
Recognition
By Kathy Thomson
The school year is underway and with it comes a daily commute by hundreds of children to and from the local campuses by school bus, car, bicycle, and on foot.
Drivers should be aware of the increased risk of injury or death to the community’s most precious resources that result from speeding or distracted driving, especially when combined with students who may forget to watch for oncoming traffic.
By Kathy Thomson
At least three local churches have special events for students scheduled to take place next week, and all of them have invited area youth to join in their activities.
Aug. 25 – C of C
The Church of Christ’s annual back to school pool party will be held this Sunday, Aug. 25, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Webb Park Pool.
“All of our church is invited, including all of the kids,” said pastor Sonny McCauley. “Visitors are welcome to join us.”
