The end of the school year is a time to look back at what all students have learned and accomplished during the year. This is no different for Team Redstone and its partnership with the Tennessee Valley education systems.
The Tennessee Valley Education Appreciation Luncheon held Thursday brought together members from the local school districts to discuss the successes of the past year and to look toward the next one. The Garrison hosted the final quarterly luncheon for the school year at the EarlyWorks Museum.
The event featured artwork from Huntsville, Madison and Madison County students. The Liberty Middle School Saxophone Quartet preformed, as well did the Lee High School Trouveres Chorus. Garrison commander Col. John Hamilton, AMCOM commander Maj. Gen. Jim Rogers and his wife Reba spoke at the event thanking the community and urging the importance of continuance improvements in the school systems.
"We're here because you believe all of our children deserve a great education, not a good one, a great education," Reba Rogers said. "We do a great job with our partnership but we can do a better job to bring equality to all of our schools."
She issued a challenge to the three school systems and Team Redstone leadership.
"I suggest we bring all the superintendents, key people from the local schools and Redstone education representatives together in a room and let you all brainstorm your needs and wants and what we can do to help them," she said, adding that she would like to see the meeting take place before her husband retires this summer.
Maj. Gen. Rogers spoke about the work he wants done in the future to continue improving the Tennessee Valley schools.
"Our kids are our legacy, it's important that we build all the schools up and make them all great," he said. "We should have the best schools in the country. That's what our superintendents are trying to do every day with the cuts they keep getting."
The schools budgets have been reduced by 22 percent over the last two years.
"That's not the right approach to take care of our children," Maj. Gen. Rogers said.
Programs like Mathematics Integration through Systematic Strategies and Interactive Learning Environments (MISSILE) and Math Achievement Rocketing Skyward (MARS) give Army grant money to local schools to improve math and science education. Team Redstone offers a variety of grants, programs and outreach to improve the local schools but Maj. Gen. Rogers wants to see more.
"Wouldn't it be more powerful if we had all of our programs together?" he asked while echoing his wife's call to action for a community-wide meeting.
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