With continued growth in the City of Gainesville and Hall County School Systems, the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce’s Partners in Education (PIE) program seeks to recruit new school-business partners. Partners in Education, founded by the Chamber in 1990, is a mutually supportive arrangement between a business or organization and a school. Some 250 businesses are partnered with local schools.
The primary goal is to strengthen and enrich instructional programs and enhance the educational experiences of students. PIE allows businesses the opportunity to contribute to the education of a well-trained future work force and provide students and teachers first-hand work exposure.
Sardis Elementary School¹s business partners, Milton Martin Honda and Rushton & Co., provide t- shirt incentives to encourage students to read. Students in the 2nd and 3rd grades who earn 50 points and students in the 4th and 5th grades who earn 100 points in the Accelerated Reader program, receive a t-shirt.
Points are awarded on the number of books a student reads as well as their comprehension of the books. At the beginning of each school year, all 5th grade students draw a t-shirt design. These designs are given to the business partners to choose their favorite design. The business partners have the t-shirts printed up with the selected design and present them to the students at assemblies during the school year.
“Investing time and resources in the development of our children pays big dividends,” said Georgia Power Company¹s Mickey Craddock, Co-Chairman of Partners in Education. “These children are our future leaders, workers and citizens. Partners in Education assists school officials in promoting programs like perfect attendance and activities that endorse success. I look forward to working with our existing and new members this school year to make a great program even better.” Steve Syfan, Turbo Tranport, co-chairs Partners in Education with Craddock.
For more information on Partners in Education, call Karen Long at the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce, 770-532-6206 or e-mail: klong@ghcc.com