GAINESVILLE – Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield has been a longtime proponent of bringing “CPR Training” into the system, saying most people will have an opportunity to use the skill at some point in their lives.
Schofield’s prophetic words were illustrated in October when Lanier College and Career Academy student Daniel Marceleno unexpectedly experienced that “opportunity."
Marceleno, a junior, was thrust into a life-or-death moment when he was travelling with school system employee Alan Moore, a specialist in HVAC systems for the district. Spending class time working with Moore was part of Marceleno’s internship training in the HVAC field.
On the morning of October 10, while enroute to handle an HVAC issue, Moore experienced a massive heart attack. Fortunately Moore, with Marceleno’s assistance, was able to bring the vehicle to a safe stop; that’s when Marceleno jumped into action, pulling Moore from the driver’s seat.
After contacting 911, Marceleno began hands-only CPR, staying on the phone with the 911 dispatcher until paramedics arrived.
Schofield said about district efforts to train as many as possible in CRP: “We have trained several hundred high school students over the last few years. What we have said all along is that the odds are that in their lifetime they’ll have the opportunity to impact a life.”
While Marceleno was not one of the students directly trained in CPR by Hall County Schools according to Schofield, he said raising the awareness among the student population of being able to save a life undoubtedly gave Marceleno the courage to do whatever was necessary in a time of urgent need.
Matt Cox, Executive Director of Facilities for Hall County Schools, said while Moore never regained consciousness while receiving CPR from Marceleno, he did shortly thereafter at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.
Cox said, “Through doctors and through hospital staff it’s been affirmed…Alan (Moore) would not be here if it were not for the quick action and quick thinking of Daniel (Marceleno).”
Moore’s wife, Diane, told school board members, “Without him Alan wouldn’t be here because they told us at the hospital that there’s only an 8-percent survival rate in what he suffered…that it’s a sudden death without immediate intervention.”
Ms. Moore, fighting back tears, said the timing of Daniel Marceleno’s action was not without poetic significance/coincidence. She pointed at a verse in the Bible describing Daniel’s October 10 action, Daniel 10:10, (“And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.” KJV) and said the hands and palms of Daniel used to perform CPR were the difference in her husband living or dying.
School board members and those seated in the audience rose to their feet as Marceleno was presented the system’s seldom-awarded “Certificate of Bravery and Courage."
BOARD TELLS GDOT: “NOT SO FAST”
The Spout Springs Road widening project continues in southern Hall County. Right-of-way needed from four parcels of land owned by the school district have received purchase offers from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Those parcels are in the vicinity of Cherokee Bluff High School.
Three of them, according to School Superintendent Will Schofield, carry respectable offers; one does not.
Schofield said the state DOT’s offer of $45,000 per acre for the 4.037-acres fronting the high school did not reflect true market value.
Schofield said an independent appraiser was being consulted to help school leaders determine a more accurate valuation.
“We let them (GDOT) know we that we plan to contest it,” Schofield said.
Schofield said if it was Hall County purchasing the right-of-way the valuation would not be an issue, but since it was the state making the purchase, and “..they’re reimbursed by the feds, we don’t think it’s fair market value, so we’re getting an appraisal.”
“We think it’s more in the $65,000 an acre range,” Schofield stated.
The board approved the sale of the three other tracts of land, but delayed the sale of the contested property until an independent appraisal could be obtained.
