City School Superintendent updates Rotary Club
Gallipolis Rotarians received a special update on the progress of the construction of the new Gallia Academy High School by Superintendent Jack Peyton and his staff. Visiting today were Jack Peyton, Jim Craft, and Lance Clifford from Gallipolis City Schools. Our other special guest for the meeting was Evans Smalley.
Club President Deb Rhodes called the meeting to order promptly at 7:15 am and the invocation was provided by Matt Willis. VP Bonnie McFarland just returned from this past weekend’s PETS training. Bonnie will give the club an update next time as she had to leave for an appointment in Columbus. President Deb also welcomed PDG Mel Simon back from his Operation We Care medical mission to the Philippines. Mel displayed a banner from one of the six clubs he visited during his trip. Mel also turned in four makeup certificates to keep his perfect attendance continuing. We’ll hear more from Mel about his trip, but one of the highlights was attending the Macao District Assembly held at the Macao Venetian Hotel which included clubs from Macao, Hong Kong, and Mongolia.
Fellowship—Gordon Amsbary ran club fellowship for the meeting on this St. Patrick’s Day and Gordo immediately launched with a few facts about Ireland. Paul Koch was debited for arriving a wee bit late this morning. April 17th is the Birthday of Campfire Girls and is also ‘Evacuation Day’ in 1776, for the British leaving Boston. Today is also ‘National Common Courtesy Day’ and ‘National Doctor-Patient Trust Day’. (Who writes your stuff, Gordon?) A few words of wisdom concluded club fellowship.
Happy Buck$—Margaret Evans spent a buck to plug the upcoming GAHS production of Annie Get Your Gun. Marlin Rose bought a buck to say that he just took the last dose of his medicine!
Split-The-Pot—Jim Morrison ran STP for the meeting selling a boatload of tickets and raising the small pot to $10.00! Our lucky ticket holder today was Paul Koch! Since the large pot grew to $260, Jim ceremoniously demonstrated that indeed the Queen of Hearts was included in the remaining cards. After a thorough shuffle, Paul carefully selected a card which turned out to be the QUEEN and took home the pot of $260! Club members gave Paul a number of excellent recommendations for spending his winnings, but to no avail. Paul did, however, assess the Foundation Fine against anyone ‘who was NOT late for Rotary!’
Program—Our program chair for today was Cleeland Willis who introduced City Schools Superintendent, Jack Peyton, who spoke to the club about the district’s construction projects. Mr. Peyton showed a video to help provide Rotarians a guided tour through the new high school. The superintendent pointed out the stone entrance and masonry blocks which were removed from the original 1916 high school (now the current Junior High School) which have been included in the new building. This building will be completed in July and students and faculty will be moving in for the first day of school in August.
The Superintendent also reviewed the other district construction projects that will include renovation of Washington Elementary as well as the new schools for Green and Rio Grande. He highlighted the arrangements that have to be made this fall to accommodate the Washington students in the vacated high school building while the remodel takes place. Eventually, the 7th and 8th grades will occupy the old high school and the older Junior High building will be razed. A new ‘cafetorium’ will be constructed for lunchtime and assemblies. All in all this is a challenging and exciting time for Gallipolis City Schools!