STRUGGLING SCHOOLS WILL GET HELP FROM CORPORATE LEADERS
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Wednesday, January 26, 2000
Author: LESLEY CLARK, lclark@herald.com
Some of Florida's most prominent corporate chieftains will be swapping the boardroom for the classroom as part of an effort to boost grades at struggling, D-graded schools .
The three-year pilot project, backed by the statewide business group Florida Council of 100 and the South Florida Annenberg Challenge, will provide high-level executives to eight schools in Florida, including two in Miami-Dade County and one in Broward County.
The executives have agreed to devote one day a month to their assigned schools, helping with finances, personnel and management. Each company also will contribute $100,000 to the school to which its executive is assigned - to be matched by each school's district. The schools in Miami-Dade and Broward will get an additional $100,000 from the Annenberg Challenge. The money will be used to reward teachers and provide for training. Each partnership will be monitored by a coach, generally a veteran teacher or principal. The goal is to bring the schools up to a C or higher grade in three years.
The CEOs might not know much about teaching second-graders, but they do know how to run a business, said Len Miller, chair of the board of directors of the Annenberg Challenge, a public-private initiative to improve public schools.
``He knows about how to run an organization, how to do strategic planning, how to sell a school to parents,'' Miller said.
In most cases, the program resulted in new principals for the participating schools. Miller said the organization didn't want to work with principals who were not interested in trying a new approach.
In Miami, Armando Codina of the Codina Group will work at Bent Tree Elementary with Principal Bart Christie, and Stuart Miller of Lennar Corp. will work at Riverside Elementary with principal Coralio Yglesias.
In Broward, Bob Moss of builder Centex-Rooney Construction will work at Croissant Park Elementary with Principal Cheri Zahn.
The three-year pilot project, backed by the statewide business group Florida Council of 100 and the South Florida Annenberg Challenge, will provide high-level executives to eight schools in Florida, including two in Miami-Dade County and one in Broward County.
The executives have agreed to devote one day a month to their assigned schools, helping with finances, personnel and management. Each company also will contribute $100,000 to the school to which its executive is assigned - to be matched by each school's district. The schools in Miami-Dade and Broward will get an additional $100,000 from the Annenberg Challenge. The money will be used to reward teachers and provide for training. Each partnership will be monitored by a coach, generally a veteran teacher or principal. The goal is to bring the schools up to a C or higher grade in three years.
The CEOs might not know much about teaching second-graders, but they do know how to run a business, said Len Miller, chair of the board of directors of the Annenberg Challenge, a public-private initiative to improve public schools.
``He knows about how to run an organization, how to do strategic planning, how to sell a school to parents,'' Miller said.
In most cases, the program resulted in new principals for the participating schools. Miller said the organization didn't want to work with principals who were not interested in trying a new approach.
In Miami, Armando Codina of the Codina Group will work at Bent Tree Elementary with Principal Bart Christie, and Stuart Miller of Lennar Corp. will work at Riverside Elementary with principal Coralio Yglesias.
In Broward, Bob Moss of builder Centex-Rooney Construction will work at Croissant Park Elementary with Principal Cheri Zahn.
Memo: FLORIDA
Edition: Final
Section: Local
Page: 7B
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 0001270073
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
Section: Local
Page: 7B
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 0001270073
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
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