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Rockdale County School Board Meeting
February 15, 2007
Clevis Jones
Gretchen Gault, 4th grade school
teacher at Hightower Trial Elementary in Conyers, GA has asked us to
again be part of their annual Space Camp Friday evening, March 9, 2007.
This will be the third year in a row for us.
In her request, she made mention that the school had applied for a grant
from United Way and plans to give our Charlie Elliott Chapter a donation
from those funds.
She asked me to attend the Rockdale County School Board meeting on
Thursday evening February 15th.
Here is my account of the meeting:
The Rockdale school board meeting was interesting, about 8 school board
members and about 150 people in the audience. One of the ways it was
interesting is they did the PowerPoint presentation, about 30
certificate of achievement awards, and the United Way award first, then
took a break - the kids and parents got to go home at a decent hour -
then the board did the school business. That way, the only people left
at the meeting after the break were the ones interested in doing school
business. Very smart way to do it.
The Hightower Trail principal was up first, she introduced the 4th grade
team (one of whom was Gretchen Gault). Gretchen then gave a quick
PowerPoint about Space Camp that included a couple of slides showing
kids looking through our telescopes (They do a LOT of pretty neat stuff
before and during our part of Space Camp). Gretchen told the board and
audience that a big part of Space Camp's success were the volunteer
astronomers from the Charlie Elliott Chapter, "one of whom is with us
tonight, Clevis Jones and his lovely wife." She turned and faced me, so
Debbie and I stood up, and waved - Debbie got a big round of applause
:-)
After Gretchen was done she introduced a 6th grade girl who was at the
1st Space camp two years ago as a 4th grader. The girl talked about
several of the space related activities that went on inside. Then, her
voice got all excited as she started talking about looking through a
bunch of telescopes at Saturn and the Moon. With her excited voice
almost trembling, she concluded, "and we'd ask the astronomers all kinds
of questions, and they answered them all! Plus some!" That got a big
laugh, and round of applause for her. After she finished the Chairman of
the board addressed a man standing in the back of the crowd and said,
"Did you get that? It sounds to me like we have the potential for a
bunch of NASA astronauts." Another round of applause.
Next were the 30 or so certificate presentations to the kids who were
1st in region or state for this and that. Finally was the United Way
lady. In her talk she said she's, "normally out asking for money, but
tonight I'm here to give some money back. We reviewed many programs from
all over. This went all the way to region. It is my pleasure to announce
the award goes to the 4th grade team at Hightower Trail Elementary for
the most innovative and educational program that brings the school,
community, children and parents together. The grant is for
[substantial]." BIG applause.
At the break in the meeting, and after having congratulated Gretchen and
her team, Debbie and I headed for the door. The school board chairman
angled over and intercepted us at the door. He shook our hands and said,
"Thanks for taking the time to work with the kids".
No word yet on the amount of their donation to us, not that it really
matters - it was pretty rewarding to know that what we do there does,
really count a great deal - even two years later.
Clevis Jones
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