Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992 TAG: 9202150334
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A6 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
PARTNERS URGED FOR EDUCATION
Educators and business people are natural allies but, unfortunately, do not speak the same language, the state superintendent of public instruction said Friday."Sometimes I think we talk to one another but we don't hear one another," Joseph Spagnolo told the 9th District Business-Education Partnerships Conference.
Business people and educators do not know enough about each other, but they must get acquainted, he said.
Spagnolo said educators need to know what kinds of skills business leaders will be seeking in the years ahead. A common comment from business people, he said, is: " `We can teach them how to weld; but we can't teach them to read, write and how to solve problems.'
"None of us alone can solve the problems we face, not teachers, not parents and not business people. . . . The only way we're going to get to the point where we need to be is if we recognize that change is important and not to be afraid of it."
An increasing number of school divisions are getting together with businesses in various ways. Spagnolo said 85 percent of the state's school divisions have some kind of partnerships with businesses.
The more than 300 people at the conference heard or read reports from some of them.
Smyth County School Superintendent Marvin Winters recalled how the county Chamber of Commerce worked for five years and raised more than $300,000 - much of it from industry - for the Smyth County Educational Center, which opened last year near Atkins.
Smyth County also organized an Educational Foundation that focused on vocational and adult education. "We are now on target to graduate 90 percent of those seniors who entered the ninth grade four years ago," he said, compared to a state average of less than 75 percent.
Dr. Linda Lastinger, president of the Galax Foundation for Excellence in Education, said organizers of that group noticed in 1985 that only 45 percent of the high school graduates in Galax went on to college, apparently due to financial problems.
The foundation has raised $315,000 and has $4,500 more pledged toward its goal of a $500,000 endowment for scholarships, she said, with much of the money coming from the business sector. It already has provided scholarships totaling more than $53,000 for 52 graduating seniors, she said.
"Many people did not believe that this could happen or we could do it. But we did it anyway."
In Washington County, Amy H. Smith told of a volunteer one-on-one tutoring program for elementary schools backed by the county Chamber of Commerce and now expanded by support from Central Fidelity Bank.
John Welmers, pupil personnel services director for Bristol schools, said business support allowed the school system to place a laser disc program in middle-school classes for remedial work in science and math. Of the 88 students initially involved who were getting poor grades, he said, 79 had become "A" and "B" students.
Carroll County schools established a partnership with Sara Lee Knit Products Inc. to build a child-care center in the county's industrial park. Sara Lee contributed $150,000 to build it, the county donated a site and another $125,000, the Appalachian Regional Commission provided $125,000, and the school system provided a teacher and equipment for the program. First- and second-year occupational child-care students get clinical experience.
In Grayson County, the Emory Bryant Educational Foundation was set up in late 1990 to raise money for county students to continue their education.
Donnkenney Inc. has furnished Wythe County's vocational school with industrial sewing machines for a commercial sewing class for seniors. Wythe schools also are increasing linkages with business and community college programs through a Tech-Prep program.