Minutes 06/23/1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TUESQAYI JUN~ 23, 1987 .- Council also unanimously reappointed Mr. Johnnie L. Jones to membership on the Martinsville City School Board for a three-year term beginning July 1, 1987; however, for the impendent vacancy because of the expressed wish of present-member Mr. Ronald A. Brugge that he not be reappointed, three local citizens were nominated. The first of these was Mrs. Agnes M. S. Hairston, being nominated by Vice-Mayor Williams who, in so doing, presented the following prepared statement: - I sincerely wish to thank all who have called and all who have written to me concerning appointments to the Martinsville City School Board. It really has been a tough decision for me to make because of all of the intelligent and interested persons who want to be involved. When we have more sincerely concerned persons than positions to be filled, as is now the case, some one must take a back seat for the time being. Whoever that must be, just remember that this same situation will come around again, and I sincerely hope that your enthusiasm will remain just as high. I, therefore, wish to nominate Mrs. Agnes M. Hairston for appointment on the Martinsville City School Board. I have known Mrs. Hairston for more than forty years......we attended and were graduated from the same college and we taught together in this (i.e., the Martinsville) school system for twenty-five to thirty years. Mrs. Hairston has an advanced degree from Indiana University; she works with several church and civic organizations; she is "her own boss"; and she will take the time necessary to work for the betterment of all children of our fair city. The second citizen nominated was Mr. Charles M. Russell, being nominated by Councilman Cole who, in so doing, noted that public schools and teaching have always been one of Mr. Russell's basic interests, being the basis for Mr. Russell devoting ,,- the past six years (since his retirement in 1981 as an Industrial Engineer from E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company) to tutoring Martinsvil1e High School students on a gratis basis in mathematics, during which six years (in association with staff, teachers and students) Mr. Russell gained first-hand knowledge not only of the strengths but also of areas for potential improvements in the City's public school system. Some of the areas in which improvements can be made, as have been pointed out by Mr. Russell, involve (1) sharpening comprehensive reading skills, (2) strengthening the foundation in basic arithmetic functions (such as multiplication and division), (3) re-evaluating the letter grading system in order to provide finite data to substantiate instructors' judgments, and (4) insure that there is