The Great Schools Partnership has a lot to celebrate: its 12th anniversary, the fifth anniversary of the Community Schools Initiative and the addition this fall of another school, Maynard Elementary, to the initiative.
But perhaps because GSP has been so busy, it has never taken the time to stop and say, “Great job!,” until this week, when it held the first of what it hopes will be an annual Partner Celebration at the Foundry.
Representatives from many of the 200 partner groups, school administrators, elected officials and GSP personnel enjoyed socializing and recognizing the achievements of the programming that is turning schools and communities around.
It was obvious that many of the volunteers knew each other. These are people who have devoted their lives to helping children and families in Knox County, long before the GSP and CSI came into being, and they enjoyed reconnecting and chatting over tasty hors d’oeuvres.
But it was also obvious how grateful GSP staff are to the volunteers and partners who work with them and how close-knit all have become.
Even before Mark Benson, GSP’s community schools field supervisor, opened the short program, a video screen flashed some of the accomplishments. Among them:
- Provided tutoring for 738 students;
- Made it possible for students participating in STEM programming to compete and win an opportunity to send research into space on a NASA mission;
- Provided vision screenings to more than 350 students and outfitted over 50 students with eyeglasses;
- Created the opportunity for over 200 students to receive support from mental-health service providers;
- Secured dental screenings for 3,000 students, with more than 500 students receiving dental services;
- Collaborated across several communities to host a multicultural Thanksgiving event for more than 300 people;
- Piloted the Delaney Project, which highlights one of Knoxville’s most prominent artists; and
- Held a leadership showcase to celebrate students’ work based on the “Leader in Me” curriculum.
Brenda Anderson and Leonia Johnson are volunteers with The Links Inc., which introduced students at West View Elementary to the Beaufort Delaney Project.
From August 2016 through April 2017, 768 volunteers from over 60 different organizations contributed to a total of 6,795 volunteer hours. Benson said, with the addition of Maynard Elementary, CSI is serving nearly 7,000 students in Knox County.
Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, whose parents were educators, praised the volunteers. He also recalled that his father was frustrated by the “waste” of school buildings sitting empty so much of the time.
Schools “used to be the center of a community, and now community schools are helping bring back our public schools in the heart of these communities across our county, and they’re helping families along the way,” said Burchett.
The Community Schools Initiative started with four schools in 2012. Maynard will be the 15th community school in the county. GSP oversees 13, and the University of Tennessee operates two University-Assisted Community Schools, at Pond Gap and Inskip elementary schools.
GSP president Buzz Thomas was unable to attend, but Stephanie Welch, vice president of operations, channeled her “inner Buzz.”
“We are working together to create the best schools in the South here in Knox County, Tenn.,” she said. “We have an outstanding school district that is doing wonderful things thanks to the hard work of teachers and parents and faculty and staff and administrators, but even on the best of days, we know that to make it to the best schools in the South, schools can’t do it on their own.
“The community schools’ strategy is a very simple one: We have buildings that are publically funded buildings. We have incredibly generous partners and volunteers throughout our community, and we have a place that community members, families and students are already utilizing and really trust in our communities. So bringing all of those things together really can make some amazing things happen, and we can see that every day.”
School board member Amber Rountree catches up with Dogwood Elementary School principal Lana Shelton Lowe.