The School!
Paulette Elementary
Week 21
|
|
|
I have mentioned him before but I want to introduce him to you. His name is Jason Bailey. Jason is the son of J.M. Bailey and has lived his whole life inside Union County. I want to say I don't work for Jason because what I am about to say I want you to know I am not compelled to do by employment. Jason Bailey is a good man and in my opinion the perfect choice for a Principal of any school. But with that said multiply it by two for Paulette. Now how can he be that good for Paulette? |
|
 You
have to know Mr. Jason. I hope the school system has the time to have a
couple of community meetings to introduce him before he takes the helm
at Paulette. The people of Luttrell know him from his time as a teacher
over there. he ran for office a few years back and I honestly had
people tell me they couldn't vote for him. The reason? The people were
afraid if he took office they would lose him as a teacher.I've known Jason for quite a while and find him to be meticulous. I helped him load some things in his truck and found him to be very careful of his vehicle. What does this tell me? That he takes pride in what he has or does. This is something I want to see in the Principal of a new school. I want to know that after we spend several million dollars I have someone there who will take care of our investment. I have talked with his co-workers past and present and they all tell me his is the most organized person they know. Now what does this tell me? It tells me that our new school will be based on order. The kids will have a routine and everything and everyone will be in its place. Now why did I mention all of that this week?  I went to the site and parked at the office
and walked over to the
building. I saw Jason there and I don't think he saw me. I watched him
for a while and he never quit smiling. It was that look you had on your
face while the builder was constructing your first house. He walked
around looking at different areas. I could see that he was not looking
at a building under construction, he was looking at the building as it
will be a year from now.I left him alone and returned a day or two later to take my pictures. But I am convinced that our school will be in the right hands. I told you some weeks ago that Mr. Jason was buying with his own funds all the mascot graphics for the new school. I can now report that he owns the rights to the images and can finally post them here.  There seems to be a panther for every occasion! The gym floor will have one of those panther graphics. Now this probably isn't that big of a deal with most of us. But studies have shown that schools branded with a strong recognizable mascot inspire better grades and school pride in students. This week all of the membrane has been stretched across the roof trusses. This readies the steel to accept the insulation and metal roofing. It also allows the floor area to remain dry enough to start pouring the concrete. What you see in (Figure 3) are the workers hard at work pouring the floor that will become classrooms. I have also waited a few days on this article so I could show you the pour  and
in Figure
(2) the finished product.Where the concrete is to be poured the workers have spread a yellow film (Figure 1). This protects all the items under the concrete and also provides a vapor barrier against things such as radon. Any place a wall will be placed is dug out, filled with steel and poured several inches deeper. This provides a good base for the walls and will prevent some of the wall cracking we have encountered in other schools. The video above shows the hard work the crew put together by Bennie Gray are doing on our behalf. As I have said before Mr Goforth has insisted from the beginning that the work be done by local people when possible. Benny is an example of a local company getting work. And when Benny needed extra help he hired his crew from our county. Benny told me that the work had not been too bad because the site was well prepped. Unfortunately, because of the many conduits automated machines can not be used on much of the floor. This takes concrete back to the olden days using wheel barrows. All of the concrete is also being purchased locally. While I was on the site with Chairman of the School Board Brian Oaks, Stanley Boles drove up in one of the USA concrete trucks. Stanley has been a strong proponent for the schools for years both in the public and on County Court. |
|
Pouring
Concrete at Paulette!