Northgate High School on Fischer Road in northeast Coweta was honored as a Georgia School of Excellence, one of 29 schools across the state that have achieved the greatest continuous gain in student achievement for the past three years as measured by reading and math tests.

Students return to school Dec. 1 for two and a half more weeks of the first semester.

Unlike the controversial embryonic stem cell research, adult stem cell research involves extracting cells venally (from marrow) or from cadaveric or live adult tissue, such as the skin or muscle. They are the cells many scientists believed didn't exist when Young started his research 30 years ago.

"For the wonderful gift of freedom, Lee Middle School gives thanks to the American soldier," Naima Cook, assistant principal at Lee Middle School, said at that school's Nov. 6 program.

The entire student body and more than 50 veterans and active servicemen and women -- including five veterans from World War II -- were present for the morning program. Guest speaker was Lt. Col. Les Dyer.

In contrast to the street clothes and battle dress uniforms worn by other veterans at Newnan's and Verona Rosser's Head Start program this week, Nash stood at the back of the preschool's cafeteria at parade rest, dressed in crisp Army khakis.

That process involved recruiting 13 new board members from across metro Atlanta and further outlying counties. The Joseph Sams School is a private, not-for-profit, special needs school in Fayetteville.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, Superintendent Blake Bass said the first proposal reflects a school year that begins later in August than usual.

The state grant reimburses local governments for homestead exemption tax credits given to property owners each year. The grant is typically reinstated each year during the adoption of the state budget, but was held back this year because of the state's budget crunch. It's up for a vote during the 2009 General Assembly session. If it's not granted, the county -- which has already extended the credit on recently mailed property tax bills -- will have to send out another tax bill to homeowners to recover the approximate $6 million budgeted to be refunded by the state to Coweta, of which $4 million is intended for the school system.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, Superintendent Blake Bass indicated the state Department of Education may seek an additional 1 percent budget cut. This news coupled with whether the state legislature will vote to support the Homestead Tax Relief Grant could lead to such drastic measures as layoffs.

The funding for the renovation projects will be from the Special Local Option Sales Tax collections approved by voters in 2002 and 2007.

"I don't want anyone to get excited, but there'll be a fourth high school in the five-year plan," he said.

Expect the Coweta Board of Education to adopt a resolution tonight to re-prioritize its capital needs next summer to allow for $2.7 million in renovations as planned for Arnco-Sargent Elementary, but expect the board to postpone some of the $11.7 million in renovations for Evans Middle School and Newnan High School.

Some students at Smokey Road Middle School were surprised to see a familiar teacher identified as a veteran at the school's annual Veterans Day assembly. John Boren, director of student support services for the Coweta County School System, spoke to the students about his experiences in Vietnam and encouraged them to "always, always support the military."

Brooking's No. 35 East Coweta High School jersey will be retired in a ceremony just prior to the East Coweta/Newnan showdown. The ceremony will begin around 7:15 p.m., before fans settle in for the 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Garland Shoemake Stadium. Brooking, a 1994 East Coweta High graduate, went on to play four seasons at Georgia Tech before being a first-round draft pick of the Falcons, where the five-time Pro Bowl linebacker is in his 11th season.

The remodeled branch of the GYSTC has moved from Shenandoah Industrial Park in Newnan to facilities at 121 Brown School Drive in Grantville, next to the West Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency. It operated for 18 years at what is now the University of West Georgia's Newnan campus, but was relocated in June when UWG needed the room for expanding programs.

"This is not your dad's technical school," CEO Mark Whitlock told the crowd.

Bruce Jones, director of NuLink, and Coweta Schools Superintendent Blake Bass announced the newly formed partnership before a group of business, education and political leaders who were visiting the charter school as part of Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education's "Bus Trip Across Georgia" tour.

The school has not only made "adequate yearly progress" every year since the No Child Behind Act was enacted, but it also ranks as the top school in Coweta County this year for its fifth-grade writing.

AYP is the cornerstone of NCLB's accountability mandate.

Today's celebrations kicked off with students dressed in tacky garb for Tacky Day. By homecoming, students will be glammed up for "Coweta Celebrities, Hollywood-style," the theme for the homecoming parade and pep rally.

Both candidates are in favor of the innovative ideas charter schools bring to the educational table, and they're making efforts to encourage public school systems to embrace them.

"While we have soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, I don't think it's the right thing to do," said Mary Page. "I also don't think it's an appropriate use of tax dollars. If they want to do something like that in the classroom, that's fine, but to put it on public display, I think that's inexcusable."

Absolutely, say students at Coweta's Performance Learning Center (PLC) who have organized a public awareness campaign aimed at educating area citizens on carbon footprint reduction.

The Coweta County Board of Education in September voted to request that the Georgia Board of Education waive the state's 180-day student attendance rule for the general election date, said schools public information officer Dean Jackson. The Coweta school board made the request because state and local election agencies are predicting very high voter turnout on Nov. 4.