Story by Donna Thornton

The DeKalb County Commission welcomed Dr. Farrah Hayes and Dr. Martha Lavender of the Challenger Learning Center of Northeast Alabama, a STEM learning center being constructed in Rainbow City to serve students from 12 Alabama counties, including DeKalb.

Lavender said ground was broken on the center in September and she expects builders to begin pouring concrete next week. The building should be dried-in by July and work will begin to develop the inside after that.

“Half of our building will be a spacecraft simulator,” she said, with a transport room, a spacecraft, mission control and a briefing room. It will be fabricated with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education out of Washington, D.C., Lavender explained. The other half of the building will be a regional STEM Center, she said. “We’re very excited about that. When the children are in the spacecraft, we can have other children in the STEM Center working on any number of activities.”

She said the center foundation is working with teachers throughout the 12-county area to determine what those activities will be. The center will start by serving middle school students, but intends to offer programs for high school students as well.

Lavender introduced the commission to Hayes, who started in February as the center’s executive director.

“Our number one focus is our education portion,” Hayes said. “It is our goal for students from your area to come to the Challenger center once or twice a year,” or perhaps to attend summer camps at the center. Middle school age students can obtain multiple credentials in various STEM through center programs. At the end of their eighth-grade year, she said, they want to help students determine the path for their education with the knowledge and experience they’ve gained at the center, and to look at what community colleges and four-year colleges have available for them.

“We want to spark that learning,” Hayes said, in bio-sciences, geology, meteorology – in so many different fields. The center can give students a wide variety of hands-on experiences and experiments they may not have time for in the classroom.

The center is seeking sustained funding to be able to provide its programs free to all students in the 12-county area.

Commission President Ricky Harcrow said the center has come a long way, and commission members expressed interest in what the facilty will have to offer.

Hayes and Lavender said the commissioners will be invited to visit to see the center, and said they will be updating school superintendents about its progress soon.

In other action, the commission:

Approved hiring Matthew Spurlock to be the county’s tire man after Luke Jones resigned. Approved transfer of Matthew West to District 3 from the yard, to replace a resigning employee, and hiring of John Lampey to replace Terry Wadsworth in District 2. 

Accepted a drone bid

Accepted the resignations of jail personnel Katie Little, clerk, and John Jackson, courthouse security.

Approved the hiring of Ally Cowart to replace Little, and the transfer of Cary Munroe to full-time courthouse security to replace Jackson.

Accepted two resignations in the sheriff’s office and promoted Chase Matthews to sergeant and fill one spot and hire Ivan Nugent to replace Cary Munroe and Robin Brooks to a part-time position.

Approved hiring Tammy Goza, who works in the commission office, to fill an opening in the Driver’s License office after the retirement of long-time employee Rita Bryant.

Gave Probate Judge Ronnie Osborn the authority to appoint persons to serve as guardians.

Approved re-establishing a receptionist position in the Revenue Commission, which is needed with a new system in the Rainsville office.

Approved animal shelter personnel to attend a veterinary conference.

Approved hiring of Linda Daniel by Council on Aging after the resignations of two agency employees, and the State Health Insurance Program contract, which helps pay for an employee to help people with Medicare questions.

Approved putting 11 deep-freezers from Council on Aging up for public bid. Two of them don’t work, but nine are from 2020; they will be located at four different locations for public viewing. 

The commission’s next meeting will be May 13.