DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports both DHS teams who participated in Park Renewal Day at Dearborn Park this morning won cash prizes.  I’m sure the good folks at Renewal will also report back soon with a full list of the winners, but few can match Chris in shear speed of turn around on a story!

He writes in…

More than thirty DHS students participated in the Dearborn Park Renewal Day. Most of the students belonged to either the DHS Close Up Club or the DHS Bulldog 13 (made up of 9th grade students). The DHS Bulldog 13 team, led by Mr. Beau Dominguez, won $100. This will become part of the 9th grade donation to be given at the end of the year to a local charity.

The DHS Close Up Club won $200 that will be used to help pay for a day trip to the Gettysburg battlefield during our week in Washington, D.C. The DHS Close Up Club dedicated their efforts in memory of Allan Calloway, a DHS and GA. Tech graduate who volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War. Mr. Calloway lost his life in that conflict. Through our work today, we honored his sacrifice and the sacrifice of all the veterans from the City of Decatur.

Most of the pictures are of the Close Up Club. Mr. Dominguez will post pictures later.

After the jump, you can view a few pics of the students hard at work, again courtesy of Mr. Billingsley. Read the rest of this entry »

The DeKalb History Center arranges it so you don’t have to engage in any breaking-and-entering to see the inside of one of Decatur’s most cherished downtown buildings.  However, you gotta make a reservation!

Have you always wanted to peek inside the Pythagoras Masonic Lodge in downtown Decatur? Here is your chance! Join the DeKalb History Center for a rare opportunity to tour the interior of this historic Lodge designed by architect William Sayward and learn about the building and the Mason’s history in Decatur.

Location: 108 E. Ponce de Leon Ave, Decatur, Georgia 30030.

November 18, 2009 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Members: Free / Non-Members: $5.00

Reservations Required

Just released by CSD’s Maria Lewis…

Decatur, GA (2009) – State School Superintendent Kathy Cox recently recognized 27 schools from across the state as Georgia Schools of Excellence for the 2009 school year. Among these schools, Carl G. Renfroe Middle School was honored as one of 13 schools that have exhibited the greatest gains in student achievement over the past 5 years. Student achievement was measured through assessments in the areas of reading and mathematics.

“I am so incredibly proud of the teachers, staff and students of Renfroe Middle School for their good hard work that gave us the opportunity to be named a Georgia School of Excellence!,” said Renfroe Principal Bruce Roaden. “Only eight middle schools in the state were awarded with this honor. I am so pleased that the things we do on behalf of our students every day have been recognized.”

Georgia Schools of Excellence winners are honored in two categories, “Greatest Gains” and “Top 10%”. All of the 2009 Georgia Schools of Excellence will be honored at a banquet on February 5th at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.

Michael Wall at Georgia Organics posted this video of CSD’s “nutrition staff” taking a cooking class on working with more local and organic products at Cook’s Warehouse in Decatur. [h/t:Decaturfm via Twitter]

This class is just one of many steps in the Farm to School program’s aggressive strategic plan to improve school nutrition in Decatur’s schools by incorporating more local, natural foods in school lunches.  The full Strategic Plan and its many, many steps can be viewed as part of the School Board’s agenda for next week, when they will vote on its approval.

Susan at the Decatur Preservation Alliance forwards this announcement…

You are invited to the annual Veterans Day Memorial Service next Wednesday, November 11, at 11 a.m. in Decatur Cemetery presented by Friends of Decatur Cemetery (FODC) and Harold Byrd American Legion Post 66. The service will take place in front of the American Legion Memorial at the Bell Street entrance to the cemetery off Commerce Drive.

Read the rest of this entry »

Please use this post to ask questions and comments on local issues not discussed here this week.

Comments are closed Monday.

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports in…

I want to let you know that Decatur High School is planning on having two teams at Saturday’s Dearborn Park Renewal Day, a DHS Close Up team and a FX (9th grade) team. The CU team will use any prize money to provide scholarships for our Washington, D.C trip. The FX team will donate any prize money to a local charity.

In addition, the DHS Close Up Club is setting up another “Rake&Run” service project for November 14 from 9:00 until 4:00. A team of students and adult chaperons will come to your Decatur area home, rake and bag leaves, mulch plants, and clean gutters. This is a free service project but donations will be gladly accepted. The CU Club is trying to raise funds to take a trip to Gettysburg while we are in Washington, D.C. Our Close Up trip is scheduled for April. Please send an email to cbillingsley[at]csdecatur.net if you are interested.

In that vein, the AJC has a nice article about Park Renewal Day in today’s “paper.”

From the agenda for next week’s Board of Ed meeting (Item 4a)…

The Teachers of the Year for 2009-2010 are:

• Brooke Nation: Clairemont Elementary
• Susanna Shewan: College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center
• Beverly Beyer: Oakhurst Elementary
• Lynn Holden: Glennwood Academy
• Nancy Woodley: Winnona Park Elementary
• Patricia Solomon: Renfroe Middle School
• Teresa Cross: Decatur High School

The System-wide Teacher of the Year is chosen from amongst the school’s Teachers of the Year. The names are then given to the Superintendent who makes the selection of the System-wide Teacher of the Year. The System-wide Teacher of the Year will then go on to compete in the state competition.

According to the agenda, all “Teachers of the Year” receive a commemorative plaque, and the System-wide “Teacher of the Year” receives $1,000 to attend a professional conference.

Congrats to all the winners!

Wondering why you’re feeling a little extra weight on your shoulders this morning?

It’s because Halloween is over and the “holiday” season has just begun!  Stores are stocking red and green and putting all their shiniest merchandise on the shelves.  That goes for Decatur too.

Over on the Minute, Lyn Menne seems resigned to the noise she will hear from residents as the city’s street decorations start to appear in very early November.

OK, go ahead and vent. Get it out of your system and then just relax and enjoy the beautiful site of holiday decorations in downtown Decatur. Yes, the holiday decorations are going up and yes it’s a bit earlier than we had scheduled. As we’ve explained before, we are a relatively small account for holiday decorating installers so we are given a window of opportunity and then see where we fall in their schedule.

And while some may complain as the “holiday season” dilutes itself by climbing further up the calendar towards the 4th of July each year, few will complain that with November starts the great Decatur tradition of “Terrific Thursdays” (click the the lovely banner at the top of the page for more details).  Stores are open late and offering big ol’ discounts starting tonight!  So get out there are do what the banner says!  “Shop Local. Shop Decatur.”

Full Disclosure: The banner above IS a paid advertisement.  However even if it wasn’t, I’d still be shouting the same thing, as is evidenced by countless posts in previous years!

Pardon me while I try something new.

Soup is one of those foods, like tomato sauce and apple pie, that I would like to master.  At the mere mention of a hot bowl, I could exclaim “Clam chowder?  Absolutely!”  and without even a glance at the page, I would chop the potatoes, saute the onions, and “presto!” soup worthy of an annual Atlanta “snow day”.  But I haven’t gotten there yet.

So, as this morning’s AJC slid out of its plastic pouch and opened to the food section, I took did a bit of a double-take.  Soups!  To be more specific, Souper Jenny soup recipes! “Here perhaps,” I thought, “is the key to unlock my hidden natural soup talents!”

But then, as soon as I turned the page and found five delicious recipes (Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Barley, Horseradish Chedder Beer, etc…), I thought, why only take tips from the pros?  I bet there are plenty of amateur chefs out there, with excellent soup recipes, just waiting to share them with their neighbors!  But where to do it??  Hmmm…

OK, enough with the cheesy set-up.  Here’s the request.

Have a great soup recipe?  Post it here!  And if there’s a history to the recipe, feel free to include that too!   Recipe-sharing won’t save the world, but who wants to do that when you can eat great soup!

P.S.  Any tips or tricks are also most welcome!