Calling all faith leaders
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| CMS school board member Tom Tate (left) discusses the faith summit with area faith and community leaders. |
Increasing community involvement in CMS is one of seven goals set forth in the CMS Strategic Plan 2010: Educating Students to Compete Locally, Nationally and Internationally, which CMS Superintendent Peter Gorman announced in late 2006. He called for an expansion and addition of partnerships with area houses of worship to provide support for CMS students, especially those considered at risk.
Gorman began working toward that goal March 19 during a two-hour faith summit. The superintendent addressed a packed auditorium at E.E. Waddell High School, urging more than 600 educators and representatives of local houses of worship to unite for student achievement. “Much has been made of the separation of church and state,” said Gorman. “I think it’s time we talk about how we can join together.”
“CMS is fortunate to have many houses of worship that take an active role in schools through mentoring, tutoring and other activities. We’d like to expand that involvement and we hope this meeting will be a first step,” said Gorman.
One can make a difference
Gorman told the story of the Grameen Bank, a Bangladesh-based institution that specializes in loans to the world’s poor, to illustrate how great initiatives often begin with small steps. The bank has grown from an initial investment of $27 to a multibillion-dollar business that still focuses on helping those in poverty. Many of the bank’s customers are women who have used the loans to help educate their children. The bank’s founder, Muhammad Yunus, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
“The story of the Grameen Bank holds important lessons for those of us in this room today,” said Gorman. “It is impossible in 21st-century America for any educator to ignore poverty. Poverty holds back educational achievement, and poverty is widespread in the public schools.”
CMS has more than 133,000 students, nearly half of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, the federal standard for measuring poverty. The 62 schools represented at the faith summit are FOCUS (Finding Opportunity; Creating Unparalleled Success) schools, many of which have a high-poverty student population.
Another lesson from the Grameen Bank, Gorman said, is that one person’s action can have enormous impact. “We are asking you for the volunteer equivalent of $27 to help us meet the complex needs of our children in poverty,” he said.
Three principals whose schools have partnerships with area houses of worship also addressed the crowd. Duane Wilson, principal of Shamrock Elementary School, talked about the successful support the school has received from the 150-member St. Luke’s Methodist Church. A small church committee held a fund-raiser for the school and a celebration for staff and teachers and now routinely supports the school’s music program.
Charlotte, often called the City of Churches, has more than 700 houses of worship, some of which have been active in schools as mentors, tutors and sponsors. Mecklenburg Ministries reports that currently 33 area congregations have official partnerships with CMS.
“Let me quote David Hornbeck, who was the superintendent of schools in Philadelphia for six years: ‘No important social change has ever happened in America – the abolition of slavery, the abolition of child labor, establishment of the eight-hour workday, Social Security, OSHA, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the end of the Vietnam War – without the leadership of the faith community,’” Gorman said. q
Want to help?
For more information, contact Samantha Evans at samantha.evans@cms.k12.nc.us or call 980-343-0954.
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