All-Star Panel Stresses It Takes All To Produce Successful Students
The link between public education and the economic future of Fort Worth was the theme of he 15th annual State of Public Education Luncheon, Wednesday, October 31. And, an all-star panel reiterated that everyone has a role to play.
FWISD Superintendent Dr. Kent P. Scribner, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, and Read Fort Worth Executive Director Anel Mercado took the stage for the annual event, hosted by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Anthony Edwards, Senior Vice President for Talent Retention for the Chamber, moderated the panel at the sold-out event hosted at the Cendera Center.
“We cannot do it without you,” Dr. Scribner said. “We can import smart people, but we cannot export poverty. Children are the best investment we can make.”
More than 300 attendees heard the panelists discuss the importance of collective impact, the use of data, and the importance of public education to the very future of Fort Worth.
Without the city’s support of the District, Fort Worth does not succeed, Mayor Price said. She talked about the importance of the city developing a talented workforce but also “growing our own.” Read Fort Worth, which the mayor partners with Dr. Scribner and BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose in leading, is just the tip of the iceberg in that partnership, she said. “It takes a city,” she said. “We are all going to have to step up and do our part.”
At the luncheon, the Fort Worth ISD shared its new annual report and a short video, both entitled “You Belong Here.”
Commissioner Morath, who oversees pre-kindergarten through high school education for more than 5 million students, says most don’t understand the demands teachers face on a daily basis.
“If there’s not a great deal of time spent walking the halls and seeing teachers at work, it’s easy to forget how difficult the work is,” he said. He compared teachers to brain surgeons who enter operating rooms daily. “A teacher is responsible for 22 brains on a daily basis.”
“I love the quote, it’s a flashlight not a hammer,” Ms. Mercado said of data. “It’s going to show us what’s working, what we can potentially scale and where the areas of focus are going to be.”
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