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Members of the Bainbridge Rotary Club gathered at the Kirbo Center for their weekly meeting. Before the guest speaker took the podium, two new members received their Rotary pins: Kyle Staples and Ty Smith. After the pair’s induction, the speaker for the day was Dr. April Aldridge. Having previously worked in the Decatur County School System, Dr. Aldridge now works as the Instructional Specialist in the Office of Rural Education and Innovation with the Georgia Department of Education.

“Most of you know me as just April, and I am just April who happens to have an extreme passion for kids,” Dr. Aldridge said, “and so everything I’ve done in my life’s journey has been about making education and opportunities better for students.” Aldridge went into extensive detail about developments and changes occurring with education at the state level; These include a reduction of emphasis on standardized tests such as the CRCT, replacing it with smaller assessments; a greater focus on practical financial courses for high school students; as well as new math standards, to name just a few of the items.

Aldridge concluded by taking questions from the audience.