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2 - The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, September 21, 2011
SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
Dionne Hoskins Appointed District
Two School Board Representative
Dionne Hoskins
The City of Savannah
has been named a 2011
Playful City USA for its
efforts to increase play
opportunities for children
and its outstanding dedica
tion to play.
For the second
straight year, Savannah was
selected as one of 151
Playful Cities in the United
States by the national non
profit organization
KaBOOM! Savannah main
tains 57 playgrounds, 661
acres of parks, nine public
swimming pools and 14 com
munity centers. Savannah
also encourages play to be a
part of neighborhood and
business development plans.
According to the
American Academy of
Pediatrics, play is important
to healthy brain development
and allows children to use
their creativity while devel
oping their imagination, dex
terity, and physical, cogni
tive, and emotional strength.
Today’s children spend
less time playing outside
than any previous genera
tions in part because only 20
percent live within walking
distance of a park or play
ground. This play deficit is
having profound conse
quences for kids physically
as well as mentally and
socially because children
need a place to play every
day in order to be active and
healthy.
“The play deficit con
tinues to harm our children
and stifle their mental and
physical development, while
directly facilitating the
ongoing childhood obesity
crisis,” said Darell
Hammond, KaBOOM!
Founder and CEO. “These
151 Playful City USA com
munities have joined
KaBOOM! in making a col
lective statement that we
will no longer accept the
misconception that play is a
luxury when the reality is
that play is an absolute
necessity for children.
Savannah is committed to
the well-being of children
and serves as an outstanding
role model for the rest of
America as we continue to
strive toward the KaBOOM!
vision of a great place to
play within walking distance
of every child.”
A key platform in com
bating the play deficit is
Playful City USA, a national
program advocating for
local policies that increase
play opportunities for chil
dren.
KaBOOM!, the national
non-profit organization ded
icated to saving play, created
Playful City USA in 2007 to
help local governments
address the Play Deficit by
ensuring their children have
the time and space they need
to play.
The designation makes
Savannah eligible for sever
al grant opportunities.
On Wednesday,
September 14, 2011, during a
special School Board meeting,
five candidates were inter
viewed for appointment to fill
the District Two School Board
vacancy.
The candidates included
Ellis Daniel Frazier, Malinda
Hodge, Dionne Hoskins,
Monifa Johnson, and
Raymond Rouse.
At conclusion of the
interviews an open delibera
tion was held with a motion by
Julie T. Gerbsch and second by
Irene G. Hines that Dr. Dionne
Hoskins be appointed to the
District 2 Board of Education
seat. In a 7-1-0 vote the final
resolution was made and the
motion passed.
Dionne L. Hoskins,
Ph.D., will now act as the
appointed District 2 School
Board representative and will
officially be sworn in after
state approval.
She will also have the
opportunity to ran for the seat
during the July 2012 election.
Hoskins came to
Savannah with her family in
1980. Starting with the third
grade at Gould Elementary,
she was educated in the
Savannah Chatham County
public schools until her gradu
ation from Beach High School
in 1988. She enrolled at
Savannah State College as a
Marine Biology major that
same year, graduating with
honors in 1992. Ms. Hoskins
finished her schooling at the
University of South Carolina
where she earned a Ph.D. in
Marine Sciences in 1999. She
had been selected as a cooper
ative student training program
by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
in 1996, and upon graduating
in 1999, was recruited back to
Savannah to start a similar pro
gram for NOAA at Savannah
State. Since then, she has over
seen training and education
programs for undergraduate
and graduate students in the
Marine Sciences degree pro
grams. Dr. Hoskins has volun
teered with the Savannah
Black Heritage Festival com
mittee, Coastal Jazz
Association Board of
Directors, Tybee Island Marine
Science Foundation, Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and
the local Beach High alumni
association. She teaches
Ziunba in her spare time and
lives in midtown Savannah
with her two dogs.
She worked briefly as a
postdoctoral fellow in the
newly established Marine,
Environmental Science, and
Biotechnology Research
Center at Savannah State
University in 1999 but was
tasked in 2000 by the
Southeast Fisheries Science
Center (SEFSC) of NOAA
Fisheries to develop a
Cooperative Marine Education
and Research (CMER) pro
gram at the university, the first
of its kind at a historically
Black university.
Since then, Hoskins has
worked as a Fishery Biologist
through the Galveston
Laboratory of NOAA
Fisheries and as an Associate
Graduate Professor in the
Marine Science program at
Savannah State University.
Integrity. Tradition. Commitment
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