Attend the summit

— Rollie Atkinson
One of the very best economic stimulus packages, we believe,
comes wrapped in a high school or college diploma.
In good or bad economic times, a well-educated populous and
strong support for quality learning programs like those provided by
the Healdsburg Unified School District are essential cogs to our
greater prosperity and social well-being.
Being so, it is now our turn to add some stimulus and
encouragement to our local public schools and their leadership.
The entire community is being invited to take part in an
Education Summit to be held on Saturday, Oct. 24 at Healdsburg High
School. The summit is a partnership project between the school
district and the Healdsburg Education Foundation.
Organizers hope the summit will lead to the development of
“Healdsburg 20/20.” This plan will identify the essential building
blocks of curriculum, finance, leadership and volunteerism. School
leaders want as many community members as possible to help develop
the “Healdsburg 20/20” plan and then turn that vision into
reality.
The summit, and the words used by its leaders to describe its
goals, are very bold achievements even before the summit is
convened. This is because it was just two years ago that
Healdsburg’s public schools faced a fiscal crisis, a threatened
state takeover and a demoralized staff and volunteers.
To go from near bankruptcy to making positive plans about
immediate and long term quality improvements in such a quick time
span is quite a coup for the leaders of the Healdsburg Education
Foundation, school district trustees and second-year Superintendent
Jeff Harding.
“Community involvement is key to a thriving public education in
Healdsburg,” Harding said in inviting the public to the Summit.
“Each child in Healdsburg deserves the finest education we can
offer. It takes a collaborative effort.”
Our local schools, students and staff are recent recipients of
some great contributions by the Healdsburg Education Foundation,
including specific grants from Henry and Holly Wendt and from
Ricardo and Luz Navarrette. While HEF continues to raise funds to
support local schools ($310,000 last year) the non-profit
foundation is also leading this new long term strategic planning
effort, partly supported by a city government grant of $2,500.
Education Summit chair Henry Hersch, a member of the HEF board
of directors, also encourages community participation. “It’s your
chance to show up, have your say and talk about what the next steps
are going to be,” he said.
Specific community leaders have been invited to a pre-summit
gathering next Saturday, Oct. 10 at the Villa Chanticleer. Harding
and Hersch mailed invitations late last month and are hopeful of a
good response via RSVPs.
Healdsburg’s schools have always enjoyed the great support of
parents, classroom volunteers and booster club members. The schools
can take pride in a dedicated and talented teaching staff. The
schools also have benefitted from broader community support with
successful parcel tax and school bond elections.
But at the same time there have been some extra challenges from
ill-timed and recurring turnovers in leadership and administration.
The financial troubles from declining enrollment, state budget
takeaways and under-funded retirees’ benefits has limited any
school leaderships ability to look too far ahead and make long term
improvements.
Has the Healdsburg Unified School District turned a corner? Is
the specter of the recent fiscal crisis now fading for good? Do we
have the right leadership to implement whatever vision a Healdsburg
20/20 plan might create?
The most visible and telling answers to this set of questions
could very well be found in the size and scope of community turnout
for the Oct. 24 Education Summit.
The more stimulus the better, right?