| Students participate in SCOPE program | | Posted: Thursday, March 14, 2013 1:46 pm
| By JOE LOFARO
Special to the Press
DRESDEN — Chances are Debbie Doster, the supervisor of curriculum and instruction for grades 6-12 in Weakley County has never filibustered like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul did recently.
Doster and eight Weakley County students, two from each high school, had an opportunity to deliver pseudo filibusters, explore education issues through mock school board meetings, group discussions and debates with peers Monday at the Tennessee School Board Association’s SCOPE at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. SCOPE is an acronym for Student Congress on Policies in Education.
At the end of the day, all participants met as a congress and gave a presentation on one of the topics: Corporal punishment shall be prohibited in public schools; Prior to graduation, students shall be required to complete 48 hours of community service during the junior/senior years; The school calendar shall be increased from 180 to 200 days if instruction; Failing students shall be required to attend Saturday school for remedial instruction.
Students expressed their opinions by voting on position statements late in the day, and then elected officers for the 2014 SCOPE.
The eight students included Will Cark and Dallis Lampkins from Gleason High School; Bethany Cole and Jessica Boettner from Greenfield High School; Hallie Butler and Katie Huggins from Westview High School and Amy McAlpin and Blake Stoker from Dresden High School.
“This was a great learning experience,” Stoker said.
Doster has served at the Central Office for the past 13 years and in the Weakley County School System for 24 of the past 25 years.
“This was a long day for all of us,” Doster said. “We left from the Central Office at 5:30 Monday morning and we didn’t get home until after 7 at night.” | | | | |
