GAINESVILLE -- After more than a full month of discussion and gathering community input, the Hall County Board of Education has made a decision on the name for the new middle and high school coming to the south end of the county.
The board voted 3-1 at their Monday meeting to name the schools after the Cherokee Bluffs park in the area, choosing to leave officials in charge of starting the new schools to decide whether to name it "Cherokee Bluff" or "Cherokee Bluffs" once the full branding of the schools, including a mascot, has been determined.
Both the new middle and high school will be housed together in the building that currently holds Flowery Branch High School on Spout Springs Road, carving its district from parts of both Flowery Branch and Johnson High School. The move will see Flowery Branch High School, C.W. Davis Middle School and South Hall Middle School all shuffle back to buildings they previously operated in prior to a series of building moves in the late 2000's.
Board Chairman Nath Morris said that no concrete ideas for a mascot or school colors have been decided on, saying that will left up to the staff starting the new schools. The schools are set to begin operation at the start of the 2018-2019 school year.
Morris was the only vote against the name.
Superintendent's contract renewed
The board also unanimously approved a renewal of the contract of Superintendent Will Schofield that will sign him with the system through 2020.
Schofield, who is beginning his thirteenth year with the school system, said he was looking forward to continuing to work in the county.
"It's an honor to work in this community, we've got an incredible team and I just want to thank this board for your continued support," Schofield said. "I just pledge to do everything within my ability to serve the boys and girls of this community."
Morris said Schofield was under contract through 2019 and the new extension added an extra year to that deal. He said the decision was made after a series of meetings between the board and Schofield.
"We all sat down and talked to the superintendent about where we felt like our strengths are, and weaknesses," Morris said. "Good marks came out of it...so that in turn led to the extension."
