Sims to hold legislative town hall meeting at West Town
State senator to discuss the recently completed legislative session
State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, left, and State Rep. Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, are shown during a recent legislative meeting in Albany. Sim will conduct a town hall meeting at West Town Elementary Thursday to discuss the past legislative session. (Herald File Photo)
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — The West Town community will host a town hall meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The event’s speaker will be District 12 state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, who will discuss the various bills passed during the recently completed legislative session.
“It promises to be a very informative session on the Campus Carry Bill, the Carlton Building at Albany Tech, the Opportunity School District and other noteworthy bills, besides the budget, which will have an effect on the people of this district,” West Town Neighborhood Association President Mattie Wright said.
One of the items Sims is sure to discuss is the general assembly’s passage of HR 338, the so-called “School Turnaround” bill. The bill is an obvious response to last November’s general election defeat of Amendment 1, which would have allowed the state to take over chronically failing schools. Gov. Nathan Deal signed HR 338 last week.
Sims said passage of the Turnaround Bill will help some struggling school districts.
“I have 11 school districts in (Senate District 12), and each of them has different needs. And each entity in those school systems matters,” she told The Herald recently. “Because when we say we want business and industry to move into our region, we have to understand that they’re not going to come unless we can supply them a well-educated work force.”
Thursday’s meeting will be held in the cafeteria at West Town Elementary School at 1113 University Ave.
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