The Voice of Southwest Louisiana July 2017 Issue

Reflective Light INSPIRED REVELATIONS FROM A MALE PERSPECTIVE
An investment
within our
children is an
investment within
our community
which guarantees
an investment
within the future
of the world.
PARTNERS IN
EDUCATION
By Ronald J. Blanchard
Several years ago, Hospital Chaplain
Scott Lee made a timeless and
profound statement, “The Greatest
Investment we can ever make is to invest
our life in the life of someone else.”
These words resonate with the efforts of
educators to make a difference within the
futures of every student that enters the
classroom. There must be a conscientious
effort to gain support beyond the
faculty and staff of schools and parents.
Educational systems must create effective
bonds with industry and businesses
to ensure that children are given solid
foundations that prepare them for
the globally competitive nature of
employment. This can be accomplished
through the initiation and perpetuation
of Partners In Education.
Partners In Education define efforts
of schools and businesses to develop
partnerships that support schools and
students. There is a multiplicity of specific
activities intended to benefit students,
improve student achievement and
accomplish school improvement goals.
Schools must recognize the invaluable
potentials that are available through a
viable partnership. This primarily begins
with a school’s recruitment of a partner
from the business community. This can
also be accomplished when a prospective
partner seeks to contact an individual
school or communicate with Partners
In Education statewide or nationally.
Businesses, government agencies and
community-based organizations are
eligible to become partners and do not
need district approval. If the activities
that the Partner hopes to assist with are
appropriate, there are no restrictions on
the partnership. Local, state, and federal
laws, policies, and guidelines guide a
Partner in maintaining compliance.
Considering one’s children, the life gifts
that one can nurture and cherish for
numbered moments, it is essential that
learning environments are orchestrated
that address a number of vital facets
of student growth and development.
It begins with supporting positive
academic achievements of students
through businesses that contribute to
programs and award incentives that
recognize educational excellence. In
addition, partnerships open productive
communication between schools and
businesses that greatly inform students
about the development of resumes that
create competitive advantages. Linking
industry with education programs in
schools ensure that students of today
are prepared to be the workforce of
tomorrow.
Partners In Education can provide
powerful influences within the lives
of children that dream in living color.
Beyond the limitations of black and
white, there will always be a need
to encourage and inspire. Effective
educational systems offer immediate and
long-term rewards to students through
strong foundations that successful
partnerships create. Economic stability is
assured but the shaping and molding of
independent men and women is more
significant. Fathers and mothers continue
to face the continuous challenges of
rearing children and hopefully “train(ing)
a child in the way that he should go”, but
this cannot be accomplished without the
assistance of the schools’ efforts to form
positive partnerships. An investment
within our children is an investment
within our community which guarantees
an investment within the future of the
world.
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July 2017 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 4 • Number 10