School Council News

Alpharetta & Milton Cluster Advisory Council

Business Partner Collaboration

Preliminary Review

The Alpharetta and Milton Clusters met on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 to consider an initiative to increase business partner collaboration in our schools on a cluster-wide basis.  The following list represents a preliminary review of ideas offered by our principals and parent representatives during our meeting.  These ideas will be further refined at our Cluster meeting on November 15, 2006, when Mr. Brandon Beach, head of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, will be our special guest.

• Manning Oaks Elementary offered a two-year science-based program in conjunction with Cingular Corporation.
• In partnership with the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and its education committee members, the Clusters should identify specific corporations with education interests.  This identification should examine national corporate interest as well as the interest of local management in education programs.
• Individual schools should identify local corporate leadership contacts.
• Regarding financial support of our schools, corporations contacting corporations may provide large financial dollars to a cluster-wide program.
•  Incorporate business leaders into the “Learning Matters” workshops to offer education in vertical teaming, leadership, and organizational behavior.
• Ask business leaders to lead professional development sessions with teachers.
• Offer community-based instruction for our students.
• Enlist business leaders to offer grant-writing expertise/workshops to our teachers and staff.
• Offer tutoring opportunities in our schools: Math, Reading, Foreign Language, Science and ESOL.
• Invite business leadership to offer sessions in our schools for students to prepare them for “real world” experiences:  Interviewing skills, teamwork models, etc.
• Business partner collaboration on behalf of health, fitness and nutrition in conjunction with the FCSS wellness policy initiatives.
• Discuss the job market opportunities and entry-level positions for non-college bound students, who may “stop out” before continuing higher education after high school.
• Service learning opportunities.
• Share ideas on curriculum in our schools and/or specific science labs and experiments.
• Consider local hospitals and the variety of partnerships within the departments.
• Consider business partners offering extra-curricular or supplemental curriculum opportunities in such fields as media, film-making, etc., that may be underrepresented in the traditional school subjects.
• Consider preparing a videotape library to distribute corporate presentations on a cluster-wide basis.  Through this library we can share among many schools the expertise of few.
• Explore the opportunities for collaboration between business partners and special needs students in our school communities, and find creative ways to integrate corporate support in these classrooms.
• Arts collaboration through special performances, professional workshops, and visiting artists.

What can our school community do for our business community? 

• We need to be mindful that a partnership represents a two-way street between schools and business leaders.
• Parents and students should be supportive to businesses that enrich our schools and educational opportunities.
• The quality of our school system attracts qualified employees and their families to our local school district, so our high standards in our schools are vital to maintaining a strong recruiting profile for our business partners.
• The quality of our school system increases the quality of life in our communities, thereby attracting a qualified workforce to our area.
• Individual schools can approach business partners to display artwork in their building, or provide a musical performance at their offices during the school year.