A group of Rome Middle School students met with Rome City Schools Superintendent Dr. Eric L. Holland on Wednesday morning in the media center to discuss concerns and possible solutions at the school.
The students comprise the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council for Rome Middle School and brought some concerns as well as some feedback and possible solutions to problems posed during the meeting.
This was the first time this school year that the middle school students met as a council without their high school peers.
“When we had the high school and middle school meeting at the same time, I felt like the high school was kind of dominating the conversation. We wanted to make sure we had time to talk about the middle school and listen to the concerns you might have,” Dr. Holland told the group of 19 students.
Among the concerns addressed during the meeting were issues about middle schoolers not being able to take Chromebooks home for school work, communications issues that left several of the students unaware of activities and some programs, and a need for more time for tutoring for some students.
Along with those concerns Dr. Holland reminded the students that they are the go between for their classmates and the council.
“Everyone here serves as a voice for the voiceless. If you are on this council you need to be talking to other students and finding out the issues they have as well, so that you can help bring those things to light,” he said.
One concern about students not knowing about tryouts for sports teams received a quick response from Dr. Holland.
“We’re going to get the coaches in to make sure that everyone in this room and the rest of the students know about all of the sports and opportunities you have at Rome Middle School,” he said.
Along with that, Dr. Holland asked anyone in the band to stand up and then praised them for the great job they did at halftime of Friday night’s football game and again on Saturday at the Peach State Marching Band Festival.
Students were also told that they could check Chromebooks out of the media center if they needed to take them home to work on assignments.
As for the other communication concerns, Dr. Holland encouraged the council and two students chosen to be spokespersons for the council to meet with Rome Middle School Principal Christian Barnes and go over them.
Students talked about possibly having text blasts sent, bulletin boards or posters displayed, and other ways to help aid with communication.
“This is why we gather all of you and spend this time together so that you can help address the problems and also help come up with solutions,” Dr. Holland said.