By Kristina Dufresne
Paris, Tenn.-At Tuesday night’s busy session, the Paris Special Schools District board recognized the district’s Spelling Bee winners, watched a demonstration on a student project, heard about the ‘Bulldog Pride’ project at Paris Elementary and approved the school calendar.
Winners of the Spelling Bee at Paris Elementary and Inman School were recognized: Canaan Barrow, 5th grader, was the winner for Paris Elementary. Runner up was Malachi Snipes, also a 5th grader. They were both awarded with gift certificates at the meeting. The Inman winner was Kolby England, 7th graders. Andrew Green, 7th grader, was the runner up. Both of the winning students have qualified for Regionals.
Teacher Karen Goodman presented a project performed by her students thanks to grants from the Plus Endowment program and the Tennessee Stem Innovation Network. They visited the Paris Board of Public Utilities and were taught about the substations and energy.
Goodman said Owen Wade, Sadie Thompson, and Hudson Massey have all been working very hard making Wind Turbines and the students discussed with the board the construction and demonstrated how the turbines worked. These are 4th and 5th graders doing a 9th grade lesson. Goodman said she is very proud of her students and their achievement. Goodman teaches grades 3-8.
Dr. Gray presented the project, Bulldog Pride, he has been working on. He and other staff have teamed up with the University of Memphis for this project. It is geared toward promoting positive behavior in the school system.
The Pride points are: Productive, Respectful, Invested, Dependable, and Ensure Safety. Students hear the Pride points each morning on the announcements. These are the expectations the staff has for all students. Students are rewarded for exceptional behavior with a Bulldog ticket.
Approximately 320 students out of 500 were rewarded by being taken to a Bethel basketball game recently.
In other business:
–The board approved the calendar for the next school year. The City school calendar is very similar to the Henry County Schools’ calendar, as far as start/end dates and holidays. The only difference is some parent/teacher conference days the city will be taking vs the county’s are doing theirs in the evenings after school. The wording in the school calendar policy will be amended from vacation to holidays to prevent confusion for the school staff as they are paid for so many holidays and do not take vacation time off during the school year at their discretion. The Inclement Weather policy will stay the same.
–In the report from Director of Schools Dr. Norma Gerrell: Eighth Graders teach lessons at Rhea Elementary for STEAM classes. Dr. Gerrell said she was happy to see students who may want to be teachers for their careers. A STEAM team from each building at Paris Elementary comes together and talk about what they do, how they want to proceed, and what they want to teach from K-8. They want to add more programs for education.
–March 17th is the next meeting at Rhea Elementary.
Top photo: Students Owen Wade, Canaan Barrow (who assisted with the demonstration), Hudson Massey, and Sadie Thompson; bottom photo, Principal Chip Gray with Bulldog Pride poster. (Photos by Kristina Dufresne).
