Guest speaker Tim Lochhead speaks at?Rotary Club
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The March 23rd meeting was called to order by President Danny James at the 'Ol Farm House Café and Bakery at noon on March 23, 2011. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the prayer was said by Member Ralph Kipp. There were 13 members present.
Guest speaker Tim Lochhead was introduced by Gwendy Garner, March Program Coordinator.
President James presented Vickie Baxter, with a "Welcome to Rotary" packet. Vickie is the area's scout representative and the club's newest member. A hearty welcome was extended to Vickie!
Gwendy Garner passed out a flyer with information about Memorial Hospital working with the Randolph County All-Health Coalition and the American Cancer Society in observance of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month.
Program
Tim Lochhead, a native of Chester, is the principal at Chester Community Grade School. He lives in Chester with his wife and 3 sons. His wife is a teacher at St. John Lutheran School.
Tim is very proud of the many accomplishments at the Chester Grade School and said the school has had a lot of positive changes in the past few years. Many schools have visited the Chester School to see the many programs offered. For the last 8-9 years scores have continually gone up.
The Chester Grade School, thanks to the E2T2 grant, is on the cutting edge of technology. Every class has a "smart board". The Chester Grade School is one of 12 in the world that has a "smart table". Teachers have been involved in extensive professional development to help integrate the new technology tools into their curriculum. Students benefit greatly from the state of the art technology equipment.
Tim talked about the school's development of a television studio. Information about the school, city events, etc., is on local television channel 10 which serves as a community pipeline. Businesses may also advertise on the channel. The channel runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Chester Grade School offers an innovative intervention tool to students through a "math room" that may be the only 1 in the state. There are 4 groups, and students are tested to determine their strengths and weaknesses and are placed in the appropriate group.
There is also a reading room, which has 4 groups in the room. The students work in a small group setting at their own level. Reading assessments are administered frequently to determine each individual student's growth.
The Right Tract Truancy Program is another project that the Chester Grade School started about 10 years ago. It now covers two counties.
An outdoor pavilion, that Tim calls the "outdoor classroom" is an addition to the school as the result of an Eagle Scout Project. There are plans for a multi-purpose gym and a new cafeteria. The current cafeteria is very small. The school and city are also looking at ways to facilitate traffic in and out of the school in a safer and more effective manner.
The Chester Grade School is very fortunate to have Tim as the principal. His enthusiasm will certainly allow him to realize many future goals and have definitely helped to make the school a wonderful learning center! Thank to Tim for a very informative and intersting program!
Next month's programs, coordinated by Gary Buatte, are:
April 13 - Scout Leader Vickie Baxter
April 27 - County Commissioner David Holder
The winner of the $7 50/50 drawing was Bill Rabe.