Namena Bojang’s self-portrait is a Congressional Art Contest winner. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – At its Feb. 28 meeting, Madison Board of Education issued a resolution to endorse Alabama College and Career Readiness Standards.

House Bill 254 and Senate Bill 190 recently were filed in the Alabama State Legislature that would repeal these standards. Sen. Bill Holtzclaw of Madison is a bill co-sponsor.

The Madison board contends these bills “are detrimental to public education … by seeking to remove power inherent to the Alabama State Department of Education.” The resolution also states local educators will decide on implementation methods, and teachers will customize classroom instruction.

Board member Connie Spears spoke to the legislature this week in defense of the standards.

“The business and education community have been working … on tougher standards for years. It’s way too early to change it. We’re doing well,” board member Phil Schmidt said.

The district’s instruction committee is considering measures to prepare elementary students for rigor of high school study and believe College and Career Readiness Standards are important, elementary instruction coordinator Judy Warmath and at-risk coordinator Sharon Willis said. Next year, algebra I will be offered to eighth-graders.

Namena Bojang, a junior at Bob Jones High School, is a winner in the 2013 Congressional Art Contest. Bojang’s artwork will hang in the U.S. Capitol for one year, Bob Jones High School Principal Robby Parker said.

Kyle Campbell from Bob Jones will represent Alabama in the 51st annual U.S. Senate Youth Program in Washington D.C. from March 9-16. “We’re thankful that Kyle moved here from Enterprise,” Parker said.

Leann Martins and Yuyun Chen’s three-dimensional renderings were among winners in Siemens Corporation’s Global Imaging Contest. Bob Jones engineering teacher Jessye Gaines said most contestants are software professionals but some high school and college students do enter.

Four seniors at Bob Jones are interning with Siemens to design the next release of Solid Edge software, Gaines said.

The board approved summer camps at Bob Jones and a new camp for music at James Clemens High School. Bagby Elevator Company won the bid for elevator maintenance.