East Ridge Education Committee Lauded

By Mike O’Neal, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Jan. 12–East Ridge City Council members praised the East Ridge education committee during Thursday’s meeting.

“We want to recognize their contributions to the children of East Ridge,” said state Rep. Vince Dean, a former East Ridge mayor.

The committee was cofounded 10 years ago by Debbie Colburn and David Roden while Chattanooga City and Hamilton County schools were merging into a single system. The committee offers college scholarships, free classroom supplies to teachers and an annual teacher appreciation dinner.

“We thought schools are an indicator of the health of a community: The stronger the schools, the stronger the community,” Mr. Roden said. “We don’t compete just with schools down the road; we compete with the world.”

The committee’s original goal was to improve the kindergarten-through-12 th-grade learning environment by providing citywide support of learning.

Vice Mayor Jerry Petty said the education committee is not supported by tax dollars.

“We support it strictly as individuals,” he said.

The group’s latest effort is to have 95 percent of kindergartners from the three public elementary schools read at or above grade level by the end of third grade, Gail Phillips, education committee president, said.

E-mail Mike O’Neal at moneal@timesfreepress.com

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.