8614 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS April 10, 1984 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS TEACHER OF THE YEAR LEADS schools, the loss of teachers, the firing of In 1981, it was decided to expand the pilot THE WAY one superintendent and the hiring of an­ project to other schools in the country. other. Budget cuts left little money for Junior League volunteers, as well as the salary increases or improving school activi­ Chamber of Commerce, again went to work, HON. GENE SNYDER ties. School morale sank, and the negative this time at Fairdale and Iroquois High OF KENTUCKY image of the school system was pervasive. Schools. New projects continue to be devel­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Many saw the public school system as a fail­ oped. ure. Tuesday, April 10, 1984 As a direct outgrowth of the Schools-Busi­ In 1977, the education arm of the Junior ness Project's involvement in computer edu­ e Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, for League, of which Mrs. Sherleen Sisney was cation, the Junior League of Louisville re­ sometime now we have all been talking a dedicated member, felt something should cently announced a "partnership" with the about what we need to do to improve be done. So did many others in the commu­ community's Westport Middle School. our Nation's school system so that it nity including the Chamber of Commerce. A Under the terms of the partnership, the can more adequately prepare our League committee, chaired by Mrs. Sisney, inner city school will receive a $75,000 grant felt there was no alternative other than for and volunteer support to bring computer young people to meet the challenge of the business community to step in and help. training to its students over a three-year the future. While we have been talk­ The committee's initial effort was to period. It is hoped this will encourage simi­ ing, one of my constituents, Mrs. Shir­ survey other cities such as St. Louis, Boston, lar partnership projects with other schools leen Sisney of Louisville, KY, has been Baltimore and Dallas, which had developed and civic and business groups throughout doing. Mrs. Sisney, working through a successful working relationship between the county. the Junior League of Louisville, in schools and business. The committee also Today, all the groups involved in the conjuction with the Louisville Area interviewed about 100 business men and Schools-Business Project are trying to get Chamber of Commerce and the Jeffer­ women in Louisville concerning the extent funding so that a permanent staff of profes­ son County Public School system, de­ of their interest in helping the local schools. sionals can keep the program going All expressed some degree of interest. throughout the entire county school signed a program to get the local busi­ Following a presentation in 1978 by Mrs. system. A major bank has already agreed to ness community involved in the educa­ Sisney to the Chamber of Commerce re­ work with an inner city school and parallel tional process. It works. garding the proposed project, a manage­ everything that is being done at Westport For her pioneering efforts, Mrs. ment consultant firm agreed to survey Middle. With a permanent staff, the Sisney has been recognized as the "Na­ teachers at Ballard, selected for the pilot Schools-Business Project could be an inte­ tional Teacher of the Year," an honor project, to find out their needs and get their gral part of all of the more than 20 high she justly deserves. I congratulate her views as to how business could help. At the schools in Jefferson County, and Mrs. for that achievement, but even more same time, Mrs. Sisney and others met with Sisney foresees the time when all of the individual business leaders to solicit their schools in the state of Kentucky will have importantly, I thank her for proving help. By the spring of 1979, 14 major busi­ Schools-Business Projects of their own. what can be done when we get the nesses had made commitments, and some "The Schools-Business Project has en­ business community involved in the $50,000 had been raised for use in the couraged a renewed focus on education, one education process. schools in such subject areas as computer that is positive and confident," Mrs. Sisney I would like to share with my col­ technology. notes. "It has proven that with help from leagues a brief summary of the school­ The Schools-Business Project, as it was the business and volunteer community it is business project that Mrs. Sisney was designated, did two things: it brought busi­ possible for teachers to use unlimited re­ so instrumental in designing. ness people into the schools and it took stu­ sources to benefit young people and educate dents out of the classroom for a first-hand future members of the work force not only The summary follows: look at how businesses operate. Some of the in terxns of skills, but also in personal, pro­ SCHOOL-BUSINESS PROJECT business people admitted they had never fessional and social values.''• before been inside a public school. In 1979 Ballard High School in Louisville served as the pilot project for what became If a teacher needed help in explaining banking, for example, a banking executive a highly successful program to merge local DR. MAPLES RETIRES business interests with those of the Jeffer­ volunteered to answer questions. Some ex­ son County public schools which, with ecutives chaired seminars and roundtable 90,000 studentS, make up the 17th largest discussions, even graded written material on HON. JAMES H. (JIMMY) QUILLEN subjects they were familiar with. Useful dis­ school district in the United States. Called OF TENNESSEE cussions were held in math, journalism, his­ the Schools-Business Project, it has proved IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES so effective that it is being planned for all tory, economics and other classes. One busi­ nessman came in during a discussion of the Tuesday, April 10, 1984 schools in the county, and the program has Civil War to throw light on the problexns of been studied by other schools in the state. the era and described how the war had af­ e Mr. QUILLEN. Mr. Speaker, this The Schools-Business Project was initiat­ fected business on both sides. When materi­ past Sunday marked both a happy and ed by the Junior League of Louisville work­ als for an industrial arts class proved to ex­ a sad occasion in my district. ing in conjunction with the Louisville Area pensive, students were instead taken on a Happily, it was a day when a large Chamber of Commerce and the Jefferson tour of local design labs and held discus­ County Public School System. The Project number of residents from the Great sions on innovative design with experts. Smoky Mountains region in and involves the use of loaned executives from Other business people demonstrated to a local businesses to provide an enrichment of math class the need for basic math skills, around Gatlinburg gathered at the the school curriculum, enlargement of stu­ and participated with the students in "simu­ First Baptist Church of Gatlinburg to dent experience and knowledge, and the op­ lated" business games. Help was given to an hear the words of their pastor, Dr. portunity for those outside the school advanced English class in producing a Charles C. Maples. Sadly, it was their system to contribute to the improvement of school-wide humor magazine. Another class last time as a congregation under Dr. the quality of public education. was assisted in the making of a videotape of Maples' leadership, for Sunday was The genesis of the Project was the 1975 the project, which is now being shown the day he retired after 50 years as an merger of all schools in Jefferson County, throughout the state. All in all, some 15 dif­ an event accompanied by court-ordered bus­ ferent classes, ranging from economics to ordained minister. sing for desegregation. The schools were un­ the humanities, were involved in the Dr. Maples, who is a native of Mis­ prepared for the merger, which resulted in project. Important local industries such as souri, has been the guiding light at the disruption of classes, even occasional vi­ General Electric and Brown & Williamson First Baptist Church for 27 years. olence, the defection of students to private lent people, time and even money. Prior to arriving in Gatlinburg, he pas- e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. April 10, 1984 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 8615 tored churches in his native Missouri, and university students and are con­ While their main targets are Turks, in Georgia, where he married his dear tributors to the Long Beach children's no one is safe from the savagery of the wife, Mildred Scarborough Maples, in clinic, the capitol classroom, and the Armenian Secret Army for the Libera­ 1937, and in Memphis, Tenn. junior blind campership programs. tion of Armenia <ASALA> and the Jus­ The service of Dr. Maples has been a Equally important to the Soropti­ tice Commandos of Armenian Geno­ beacon of inspiration for all who have mists, as it should be for us all, is rais­ cide. They claimed credit for 68 terror­ come to know him, and a source of ing the status of women. I proudly ist acts, in 31 cities, in 18 countries. In great comfort to the many who have share the Soroptimists commitment to addition to murdering 30 Turks, they needed him in the course of his minis­ eliminating the social, economic, and have killed many innocent bystanders, try.