Studer Community Institute

Studer Institute town hall looks at education solutions

May 5, 2015
/ Louis Cooper
/ video

Pensacola business leaders, educators and other community members gathered Tuesday night to discuss how our area can overcome persistent obstacles to sustained prosperity. The Studer Community Institute sponsored the Education Town Hall as part of its ongoing efforts to explore the educational and job force needs of the Pensacola area. “We found there are three main issues: poverty, workforce readiness and early education,” said Mollye Barrows, an associate at the Institute who moderated the discussion. “Mentoring, volunteering, however you can help – the whole community has to help.” Barrows said the Institute took on the town hall following a discussion with Debbie Calder, executive vice president of greater Pensacola operations for Navy Federal Credit Union. “Education is the bedrock for success for economic development for this community,” Calder said. “It’s a community effort that needs to happen between the community leaders, business leaders and educators.” [sidebar] For a photo gallery from the Studer Community Institute's Education Town Hall, click here. [/sidebar] The town hall built upon a three-part education report the Institute published in February and March, and a roundtable that was recorded at BlabTV in April. It used reports by Pensacola Today reporters as starting points for discussion. The Institute, Pensacola Today and BlabTV are all initiatives of Pensacola entrepreneurs Quint and Rishy Studer. Pensacola Today reporter Reggie Dogan discussed his findings on how poverty impacts education based on his profile of the “community school” program at Weis Elementary School. All of the students at Weis qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. “Poverty is not simple. We talk about bootstraps and we talk about pulling ourselves up. Some people don’t have boots, much less straps,” Dogan said. “It’s a generational situation. People’s parents and grandparents lived in poverty. What we need is a community effort – the whole community coming together.” Tim Putman, director of the West Division of the Children’s Home Society of Florida, which brought the community school grant to Weis, participated in Tuesday’s town hall. “A community school is a strategy, not a program,” Putman said. “It really is a group of folks coming together, including all facets of the community, investing in the success of the students in that school.” At Weis, he said community partners including the University of West Florida, Sacred Heart Health System, the Escambia Community Clinic and the Escambia School District are working together. “We are actually coming together to take a look at the needs of these kids,” Putnam said. “It’s continuous feedback, them helping us understand what they need.” Shannon Nickinson, editor of Pensacola Today, spoke to Bruce Watson, executive director Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County, about the importance of early learning. “Kids with strong foundations who are exposed to lots of words learn to verbalize more. They become stronger readers. Stronger readers enter school more prepared,” Nickinson said. “There has always been, historically, this view of early education as glorified babysitting. That it’s not really real education. But, in fact, it’s the most real education we can provide for our kids.” Watson his organization seeks to be more than babysitting. “Our childcare providers don’t just babysit, they have to teach. That is the opportunity we have in this community,” Watson said. “We don’t the resources available do that. That’s because of a lack of funding available.” Joe Sims, a social worker who grew up in poverty in Pensacola, told the town hall about the benefits he reaped from the Take Stock in Children mentoring program. “I grew up in Brownsville in the ‘90s era,” he said. “I remember my parents working hard for minimum wage. I can remember them working so much they couldn’t really be there all the time to watch us like we really needed to be watched.” The mentorship provided by the Take Stock in Children program, however, provided Sims focus and direction. The panel at the town hall included representatives from some of the area's largest employers and education leaders, including: — Debbie Calder, executive vice president of Greater Pensacola Operations for Navy Federal Credit Union. — Darlene Stone, vice president and chief human resources officer for Baptist Health Care. — Carissa Bergosh, school liaison officer for Pensacola Naval Air Station and former Escambia School Board member — Dr. Martha Saunders, University of West Florida provost and executive vice president — Dr. Ed Meadows, president of Pensacola State College. Escambia School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas did participate in the original roundtable, but was in Orlando at a conference Tuesday and unable to attend the town hall. The town hall was taped at the BlabTV studios in downtown Pensacola and broadcast live on BlabTV. The town hall was sponsored by Cox Communications and supported by Hill Kelly Dodge.

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Studer Institute town hall looks at education solutions

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