School board seeks early childhood education program

Published 11:18 am Monday, July 22, 2013

The Suwannee County School Board held its first early childhood education summit Thursday at Camp Weed in Live Oak.

The school system says data shows that approximately 45 percent of our students, that are entering kindergarten, are not prepared to meet the academic and social challenges to be successful  in their future education. The summit was held to discuss possible strategies for implementation of an early childhood education program in our community targeting 0-three year olds.

David Lawrence, chairman of Children’s Movement of Florida was part of the early morning session of the summit where the group of educators and child services leaders joined together in discussions on available resources, obstacles and possible actions to make a program successful. Lawrence  said, “I came away with the strongest sense of both caring and leadership, beginning with Superintendent Jerry Scarborough and School Board Chair Jerry Taylor.”

Florida Department of Education Commissioner Tony Bennett and Lawrence, were the guest speakers during the lunch hour.

Bennett addressed the crowd of invited community leaders, encouraging each one to have “fierce urgency” in making sure children in their earliest years have the best opportunity in receiving a quality education.

Bennett spoke about an opportunity he had to speak to a group of students. In this group of young men and women was a gentleman who was born in China, but moved to the United States and attended school in this country. This 18 year old student later wrote a book titled, “Fierce Urgency: Education and future Global Competition through the eyes of a Chinese Immigrant,” which was inspired by Bennett.

In the student’s book, Bennett said the author gave this analogy, “My native country is playing chess to win; my home country is playing not to lose. We’ve got to turn that around.”

“I believe in my heart, that’s why we’re here today,” Bennett said. “I believe the reason we’re having this discussion about how we form the minds, hearts, the souls and the futures of our greatest natural resources, our children, at their youngest stages is our attempt to infuse fierce  urgency into our system. I believe that, and I applaud you for that.”

He continued, “If we’re going to have fierce urgency for all of our children, we have to think differently and our communities have to come together to give every child, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of how much money mom and dad have, regardless of what language they speak, regardless of their zip code, we have to give all of our children that same chance. We have to start at the earliest ages possible.”

Lawrence, former publisher of the Miami Herald and award-winning education leader in the state, addressed the crowd as the keynote speaker. Lawrence expressed the importance of beginning education at an early age.

“The fact that your school board chair and your superintendent thinks this meeting is important sets a wonderful example for the future of Suwannee County,” said Lawrence. “I also think this speaks to this country that we love, the United States of America, and I’m sad to report the reality: we are a very long way from being a truly educated nation. It scared me.”

Lawrence said that about half of the high school students today don’t carry the level of education that those in business would want.

“I hear so frequently in my own community and in this state, business people complaining about the quality of graduates, whether they might be high school or college, never realizing that if you want a return on investment, the wisest possible moments will be their early years,” Lawrence said. “I have failed today if you do not heed my basic message which is, you can’t leave here today if you come to think that ‘Let’s have the superintendent and the school board take care of this’. It is the entire community’s responsibility.”

Lawrence shared the quote by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services who said, “The only way America can outcompete the rest of the world is if we out-educate the rest of the world.”

“She goes on to say, ‘The only way we can do that is by making sure each child gets a healthy start and a rich early learning experience. I hope that all of us would be a part of this great cause, and that God would bless our children,” he said.