Qualifying ends: Kristen Morrissey will not seek reelection to school board
Featured Stories March 11, 2022
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. – Kristen Morrissey, who served for 12 years on the Forsyth County Board of Education was a no-show as qualifying for the May 24 General Primary Election ended at noon today (Mar. 11).
Morrissey served as chairman of the Board during a turbulent 2021 when it was bombarded by complaints from parents, state legislators and conservative groups like No Left Turn in Education, and Truth in Education that claimed the School System indoctrinated students with dangerous social ideologies.
With Morrissey out, that leaves Mike Valdes, a construction engineer and chairman of No-Left Turn in Education Georgia, and Erin Knight, a retired school teacher and independent reading specialist, to campaign for the Republication nomination for the District 5 seat. Elaine Padgett is the lone Democrat to qualify in District 5.
The other school board incumbent Republican Wes McCall qualified earlier this week and will face Republican Dennis Schiedt. Janna Kregoski is the only Democrat who will campaign for the office.
At noon on Friday Mar. 11, the Georgia Secretary of State list of qualified candidates includes:
STATE SENATE DIST. 27
Brent Binion (D) learning architect
Greg Dolezal (R) (I) small business owner
STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DIST. 24
Carter Barrett (R) banker
Sheri Smallwood Gilligan (R) (I) former U.S. Intelligence analyst
Ed Solly (R) consultant
Sydney Walker (D) homemaker
STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DIST. 27
Lee Hawkins (R) (I) dentist
STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DIST. 28
Brent Cox (R) businessman
Donald Lannom (R) consultant
John Luchetti (R) business owner
Blake McClellan (R) entrepreneur
Tim Short (R) pharmacist
Julie Tressler (R) real estate
Claudia Wood (D) education director
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS DIST 1
Kerry Hill (R) IT specialist
Tim Huffine (R) retired
BOARD OF EDUCATION DIST. 1
Janna Kregoski (D) project manager
Wes McCall (R) (I) emergency manager
Dennis Scheidt (R) retired
BOARD OF EDUCATION DIST. 5
Erin Knight (R) independent reading specialist
Mike Valdes (R) construction engineer
Elaine Padgett (D) nurse
JUDGE STATE COURT OF FORSYTH
James Dunn
Rupal Vaishnav
SOLICITOR GENERAL
Bill Finch (R) (I)
School Board elects new officers
News January 21, 2022
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. – The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners elected a new slate of officers for 2022 this week. Wesley McCall will serve as chairman and 2021 Chairman Kristen Morrissey will serve as vice chairman.
Shiloh Point Elementary Principal Ben Jones and others reviewed the school’s 5-year plan which focused on reading and research with a goal of establishing “student ownership of every classroom.” The three primary pillars of the plan are mastery based learning, social emotional learning and authentic learning.
Chief Financial Officer Larry Hammel presented a monthly financial report that showed the school system began the month of December with a cash balance of $207,358,115 and ended the month on December with $213,978,388. In January 2021, the balance was just over $181 million.
At this point, 97.15 percent of the ad valorem taxes have been collected, compared to 96.43 percent collections at this time last year.
December expenditures totaled $40.8 million. Yearly expenditures totaled $251.8 million.
There was also a discussion about the future of the Forsyth Virtual Academy. Beginning with the 2022-23 school year, elementary school students will continue to be full-time synchronous learning students while both middle and high schools can be a full-tieme or part-time virtual students.
Mike Evans said the school system has received $2.2 million as part of the Emergency Connectivity Fund that is part of the federal government’s American Rescue Plan.
During the Public Comment period, several students called on the Board to implement mask mandate to prevent the spread of COID-19. A student who graduated last year, called on the Board to investigate a lession plan at West Forsyth High school that required students to spy on their parents and other students. Fetch Your News will have more information on that in a separate article.