Author: Lisa Deffendall • First Posted: Monday, February 01, 2010

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Superintendent Stu Silberman visited Athens-Chilesburg Elementary for the launch of Kids@CityHall, the city's new interactive Web page for students.

Students at Athens-Chilesburg Elementary were among the first kids in Lexington to try out a new Web page designed to help familiarize the city’s youngest citizens with their government.

Kids@CityHall, the latest addition to the city’s Web site, is an interactive page that presents the world of local government with bright colors, cartoon caricatures, videos and games.  Designers hope the site, which is patterned after similar initiatives in other cities, will engage students, families and teachers in a new way.

“You can learn a lot about local government and city hall,” Julian Little said after exploring the Web page. “I think kids should know about that stuff because we’re going to run the government when we grow up.”

Mayor Jim Newberry said that in visiting with young people around the city and talking with school groups, he has realized how curious students are about their hometown.

“You are interested in what local government is all about, what we do and how we try to make our city better,” he told fifth-graders gathered in the computer lab at Athens-Chilesburg.

Fifth-grader Olivia Ault played a role in the development of the new site and stars as the mayor in the year 2030 in an online video feature.

“It was fun once it all got put together,” she said. “It was really cool to see the games and be able to see about the mayor and different people and what they wanted to be when they grew up.”

Children might be surprised to learn that Councilmember Kevin Stinnett read Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid, or that Wonder Woman was Councilmember Andrea James’ hero growing up. If anyone knows where to find a nice dog, Vice Mayor Jim Gray is looking for one. Councilmember Linda Gorton has a brown belt in taekwondo. And Mayor Newberry dreamed of becoming a zookeeper.

The page also includes:

• Interactive educational games.
• Children’s letters.
• A “Dear Mayor” space where students can submit questions.
• Safety tips.
• Photos of young people who visit City Hall.
• “Did You Know” information about Lexington’s history and other fun facts.
• Information on several government divisions including police, fire and parks.

Visit www.lexingtonky.gov and click on the Kids@CityHall logo.

“We want you to be good citizens,” Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman told the kids at ACE. “And one of the things that’s important is that you know about city government so that when you get older, you can make informed decisions.”