A Slice of the PIE

by Scott Bacon
Supervisor of Business Partnerships

January 22, 2008

The Knox County Schools Partners In Education program will hold two events in the coming weeks that will impact our students and the level of engagement they receive from the community. Both events bring a cross-section of educators and representatives from community organizations together to build stronger ties between our schools and the business sector.

On January 31, Knox County Schools will host the fourth annual Regional Partners In Education Conference at the Sarah Simpson Staff Development Center. This one-day event will gather educators and community representatives around the table to share success stories where the community is actively making a difference in schools. Throughout the day, attendees from Knox County and several surrounding school districts will hear how schools are opening their doors to the community, and how specific partnership efforts are making our schools better.

Sessions will focus on everything from partnerships in the areas of science and writing skills, to career awareness efforts and building partnership with the community of faith. There will be a session on the basics of partnerships and special general session wrapped around working with area news media outlets. The day is designed to provide practical information that schools and their partners can implement quickly or use to build their own unique partnership model.

The second event is a long-standing tradition within Knox County Schools with a new twist in 2008. Schooled For Success is the school district’s careers program for all 4,000+ eighth grade students. It includes an in-school portfolio completed by every eighth grader, a county-wide career fair, and a summer internship.

The new wrinkle is the upcoming Knox County Schools Career Day on February 28. This event will still include the career fair component for eighth graders and their parents from 4:00 – 7:30 p.m. that day. This year, we are adding a high school career information event that runs from 12:00 noon until 3:00 p.m. We have invited over 200 area employers and local colleges and universities to participate in this event to provide current information about the world of work and post-secondary education options.

We anticipate over 75 employers in attendance showcasing who they are and what they project their industries to look like over the next 10-15 years. All of Knox County’s 13 public high schools will also set-up displays during the eighth grade event to distribute information and answer questions from their rising ninth grade students.

The 2008 Knox County Schools Career Day will be held at the Knoxville Expo Center on Clinton Highway. Check the home page of the Knox County Schools website for the most current list of participating employers.

My old buddy Reuben Hunter has always said that Knox County’s Partners In Education program is simply about opening the school doors to the community, while also letting our students go through those doors out into the community to learn about the world they will soon manage. Reuben nailed that one like a Chris Lofton three-pointer. It’s more important than ever before to make sure we develop stronger ties between schools and our employers. The Innovation Valley’s future depends upon it.

-Scott