Thomas Harrison compares the Yes We Can Dothan organization to a rollercoaster that’s climbed to the top of its first peak and is ready to roll.
“We sense that progress is being made and that many things are happening that are going to pay off in the long haul,” Harrison, education director for the Wiregrass Foundation, a major sponsor of the organization, said.
The organization just marked its first year of operation, a time Harrison said has been spent on building support, laying plans and building a framework for how the organization will both support and pressure the Dothan City Schools to improve.
Now that this work has been done, Harrison says it’s implementation time. The Yes We Can group is moving forward with plans to soon present a community agreement to the city school board. The agreement will ask the city school board to take into consideration several things local residents want from their schools.
These items were identified in a series of more than 40 meetings held last year. The plan generally calls for improvements in the areas of graduation rates, communication between the schools and community, accountability, parental involvement and funding.
“We may not do it all, but we’re going to do some of it,” Morris Slingluff, organization co-chair, said. Also, the group is moving forward with an accountability plan which will include regular inspections of each Dothan City School that will encompass all aspects of school operation, including items as disparate as student performance and school cleanliness. The results of these inspections will be made available to the public.
The group has already chalked up some accomplishments, completing a data survey comparing the Dothan City Schools to other systems and helping to sponsor several community involvement events. The Yes We Can group has been criticized by some as being a cover for efforts to raise taxes.
Harrison said before Yes We Can would ever exert its influence to ask for a larger funding commitment from local taxpayers, the city school system would have to show significant improvement. “We’ve got to show results before we can ask for anything,” Slingluff said. Yes We Can is funded by $60,000 from the Wiregrass Foundation, $6,000 from the Education Foundation for Dothan’s Future Inc. and $22,000 from the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement