Proud
Gillsville Elementary Serves Two Counties
Gillsville
Elementary is sort of unusual-well, as far as that goes, so is Gillsville
itself.
The
school, once a high school-elementary school combination, sits in Banks County,
but most of its students are from Hall County, according to its principal,
Ralph White.
The
town is in Hall County and its seven-establishment business section is located
about a fourth mile across the railroad and down Ga. 52 from the school. Folks here-like Reo Frankum who runs most of
the stores-are mostly Hall Countians. “Yeah,
but out the window is the Grove River precinct voting place,” says Frankum,
pointing to what appears to be a former railroad depot.
Ralph
White, who says he has taught school at Gillsville 17 years, 10 as principal,
says the unusualness of the town goes further than that. He says when the students become high school
age they split “about half and half”
in going to either Banks County or East Hall High.
And
White is real proud of his school. He
takes visitors down to see what he says cooperative effort between Gillsville
and Banks County is doing to utilize the former high school building which
was put up about 30 years ago.
“Three
years ago the PTA paid $500 to paint it and then they spent $400 on wiring
last year. Recently Banks County Commissioners furnished $1800
and the PTA the rest of $2,600 for converting the building to a gymnasium. At present, there’s been $1,600 spent on the
new floor," White says.
The
facility, though in the process of conversion, is now being used as a practice
gym for Gillsville Elementary’s basketball team, for physical education and
a community meeting place White says.
White
can think of other ways the town and county have helped the school. He says former Mayor Roy Hooper was responsible
for getting the city commission to provide the grading, landscaping and grassing
of the school grounds. Then the PTA
and other volunteers have helped to get it done, he says.
“We
used to have a high school and elementary school here up through 1954. However, in 1955 the elementary went into the
present brick building and the high school students split up and chose either
Banks County or East Hall High, “ White explains.
White,
who has an A.B. from Piedmont College, and a M. Ed. from West Carolina, stays
busy as principal and as a teacher. He
is particularly proud of the school’s small student body of about 200 students.
He feels this gives the teacher a chance to work closely with each
student. Also, he feels the close tie with the farm country which surrounds
Gillsville means a lot to the student.
“We’ve
stayed within 10 students of having the same number in the student body for
the past 10 years. Some schools talk
about how crowded that get. Well,
we’d like to have more students,” White says emphatically.
In
addition, White says, the school has used approximately $15,000 in federal,
Appalachian, and state money in improving the school’s operation in the past
three years. He says most of the money
went for teaching equipment.
White,
who has one son at the University of Georgia-his son also attended Gillsville
Elementary-lives in Banks County with his wife Mabel.
“Yeah,
we try to do as good a job as we can preparing these children for high school
and college. We even check up on ‘em after they’ve left so we can see how
well we’ve helped them or how we need to improve ourselves.
“I
guess that’s it mostly-trying to get these children ready for high school
and college.” Coming from a man who
grew up on a farm and taught school while he completed much of his education,
the words mean a lot.
Source:
“The Daily Times”, Gainesville, Ga. Wed., March 27, 1968
Contributed
by Iris Thompson Fry
Transcribed
2005 by Jacqueline King