Sharon, Shady Grove schools to close soon

By Steve Sanders, countyreporter@laurelleadercall.com

May 09, 2008 10:00 am

— Two longtime Jones County schools will close out their final school year in just a couple of weeks.
The Jones County School District announced last year the closure of both Shady Grove and Sharon Elementary Schools for the creation of North Jones Elementary School. The new campus is scheduled to be complete by the next school year, so the current school year will be the last.
Shady Grove School will hold a reunion and school celebration Friday night from 5-7 p.m. in the auditorium.
Johnny Burnett attended Shady Grove School from the first grade through the 12th grade, graduating among the last senior class in 1965. After 1965, Shady Grove students attended what was then the new Northwest Jones High School, now West Jones.
His older brother graduated from Shady Grove in the early 1950s. “It’s just been a family tradition,” Burnett said Monday following the Jones County Board of Supervisors meeting. Burnett represents Beat One on the board.
“Shady Grove has been an asset to our community, and it’s sort of a part of me,” he said. Burnett had a business across from the school for nine years, and helped the school.
The school annual was dedicated to Burnett in 1990. Two years later, Burnett and Coach Morris Brown were honored with the only Proud Eagle Award ever given by the school. On top of that, Burnett was inducted into the Shady Grove School Hall of Fame.
Burnett’s wife, Carolyn, attended school at Sharon, beginning in 1955 in the first grade. She ended school at Sharon after the eighth grade, when students then went to Shady Grove. She graduated among the first senior class at West Jones in 1966.
“We had some really good teachers at Sharon,” she said. “They really cared about the students. There were a lot of close friends there, several of us who went to school together for 12 years, and we still know each other today. There are classmates from Sharon who still meet once a month from West Jones, and a lot are some of the original Sharon bunch.
“It’s a little sad to see the school close,” she said. “Years ago, when they first tried to close the school, my dad fought to keep it open. I really hate to see it close.”