What
do you get when you mix a huge group of second graders with a tour of City
Hall, the Veterans Museum and the police and fire departments? One busy
morning!
Second
graders from Randall Elementary School stopped for a lengthy visited on
Thursday, May 31. As any City official will tell you, the chairs of the City
Council Chamber are rarely filled during government meetings. When this group
visited, we ran out of room.
The
capacity crowd of pupils learned about municipal government and their community
from Mayor Rick Sollars and City Councilwoman Caroline Patts -- who happened to
be on the tour, because she is the paraprofessional librarian at the school.
The
children and their parents, teachers, had plenty of questions for the mayor and
councilwoman. A member of pupils took seats on the council dais and conducted a
mock vote under the watchful eye of the mayor.
The
children also visited the Veterans Museum, located inside of City Hall, and
toured the Police Department.
Officer
Hopper, one of the school's liaisons, talked to the group at length and took
them on a tour of the 9-1-1 dispatch center, which overlooks the jail. The
children tried on SWAT gear and got to meet Atlas, one of the TPD's canine unit
dogs. They also checked out patrol cars and SUVs.
The
ended their tour with a stop at the fire department, where they checked out
some of the largest vehicles in the City's fleet.