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Councilman Greg Stanton's
North Central News Column
August 2004
What's Right With Public Education
In North Central Phoenix, we are fortunate to have one of the very best school districts in Arizona. As chairman of the City Council's Education Subcommittee, I appreciate when our local schools reach out to the community at large. I want to take this opportunity to commend one local school for its efforts to cultivate a community partnership that will help our schools stay strong.
Madison Number One Middle School has taken the challenge to help their students and community succeed-literally. Over the past year, the school's Site-Based Management Team, made up of school administrators, teachers, and parents, developed the SUCCESS project: Support, Understanding, and Community Commitment Ensures Students' Success. The project is designed to encourage students, parents, teachers, school officials and community members to work together to build a stronger community through the school.
The benefit of a successful school is far greater than just smarter kids and stronger families; successful schools encourage children to be fully engaged in their education and in their community. Higher education achievement leads to greater economic productivity, a stronger tax base and a more attractive business climate.
The SUCCESS Project Team (administrators, teachers, parents, students and community members) is taking a comprehensive approach to student success. It has surveyed parents, students and teachers to compare the expectations of each group. This data, along with test scores and patterns of parent participation and student involvement in extracurricular activities will all be discussed school-wide and with all stakeholders to better understand what is needed to ensure the academic and social success of each student. These community dialogues will lead to a strategic plan that will guide the development of school programming and community partnerships.
"Public schools are a focal point of a community's development; at Madison we're trying to bring the community in whether people have children in the school or not," said a Madison school parent and Site Based Management Team Member, Merle Lustig. "When the community is involved in the school and the school is involved in the community," she said, "then success is ensured for each student and the community as a whole."
What's right with public schools? Programs like SUCCESS and the Madison Number One Middle school are one example. I commend the previous Madison School District Superintendent, Dr. R. Robert Jones for his contribution to this project and welcome new Superintendent Dr. Fred Maiocco to this outstanding educational system. Our schools and the way the children are encouraged to develop and achieve has a long-term impact on our community and our economic development, so let's work together to encourage more programs like SUCCESS.
If you have any questions about this or any other issue, as always, please feel free to call my office at 602-262-7491, send an e-mail to greg.stanton@phoenix.gov or visit my Web site at phoenix.gov/district6.
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