CHURCH HILL — Hawkins County third-graders will have an opportunity to spend a day at Laurel Run Park on Friday while learning about recycling and the environment from a group of Volunteer High School students.
The Hawkins County Board of Education approved a request from the VHS RAIN Club on Tuesday to host an Earth Day event Friday at Laurel Run Park. The club invited all third-grade classes in the county school system.
Director of Schools Charlotte Britton told the BOE on Tuesday the program is a gift from the RAIN Club to the school system and students, and it was limited to only one grade because there would be too many students for the RAIN Club to manage if all the grades were included.
“The invitation will be open to all the (Hawkins County) schools, and whether they participate is going to be entirely up to them,” Britton added.
Among the activities planned are trash sculpting, trash barrel painting, face painting, seed planting and nature walks.
There will also be a fire safety program conducted by the Goshen Valley Volunteer Fire Department.
Everyone who attends will receive free hot dogs.
The VHS band will perform during the event.
In other business Tuesday the Hawkins County BOE:
• Heard a report from Britton that school maintenance director Bill Shedden was named the National School Plant Manager of the Year at the National School Plant Manager’s Association national conference in San Antonio, Texas. Shedden wasn’t able to attend Tuesday’s meeting and the BOE will formally recognize that achievement at its June meeting.
• Recognized the 2012-13 BOE student representatives who attended their last meeting before graduation. Among those honored were Jeremiah Marshall and Ally Jennings from Volunteer High School; Sarah Woolridge and Mary Grace Winegar from Cherokee High School; and Breanna Nichols and Samuel Long from Clinch School.
• Heard a report from board member Debbie Shedden that high school students Michaela Marshall and Alexandria Harrell represented Hawkins County at the March 10 SCOPE (Student Congress on Policies in Education) Conference, sponsored by the Tennessee School Board Association in which ninth- through 12th-grade students across the state met at Middle Tennessee State University to discuss topics in education.
At the end of the event the students voted on four major issues including: should corporal punishment be prohibited in public schools, with 35 percent saying yes and 65 percent disagreeing; should students be required to perform 48 hours of community service prior to graduation, with 67 percent saying yes and 32.6 percent saying no; should the school calendar be increased form 180 to 200 days of instruction, with 46 percent saying yes and 54 percent saying no; and should failing students be required to attend Saturday tutoring sessions, with 40.8 percent saying yes and 59.2 percent saying no.