Community Education is an opportunity for local citizens, businesses and schools, to become active partners in addressing education and community concerns. It brings community members together to identify and link community needs and resources in a manner that helps people to help themselves raise the quality of life in their communities.
The Bay City ISD's Community Education Department began twenty-five years ago under the direction of Suzy Thompson. Today Assistant Superintendent, Bobby Kimball, oversees the staff of three, which includes Sally Fry, coordinator, and Margaret Laslie, Community Education Secretary.
Community Education is a unique education concept that embraces the beliefs that education is a lifelong process and that everyone in the community shares responsibility for the mission of educating all the members of the community. It also believes that citizens have a right and responsibility to be involved in determining community needs, identifying community resources, and linking those needs and resources to improve their community.
It is from these beliefs that the Bay City ISD Community Education Advisory Council was formed. The business and community members of the council serve in an advisory and support effort to the district, to address the above stated education concept. The 1999-2000 school year the Adopt.A.School Board was merged with the Advisory Council, giving the Community Education Department an even stronger and diverse community support system.
A variety of programs exist through this department which are designed to address educational/community concerns. In an effort to address adult needs in the community non-credit courses are offered at the high school, and Community Education works within a consortium with Wharton County Junior College to provide the services at the Adult Learning Center. To reach the needs of the K-12 students in the district, the following programs are implemented: Community Action Reaching Every Student (CARES), Mentoring, Bay City Scholars, Career Day at BCHS, Corporate Substitute Teacher Program, and Student Improvement Awards. In addition, the department serves as an information source, producing the Paw Prints Newsletter, the BCISD Employee Planning Calendar, and the BCISD Facts & Figures.
Staff members of Community Education are committed to their own programs but also remain active in community and state associations that support the Community Education belief. Staff members may individually be representatives on the Literacy Volunteers of America Board, Festival Arts Association, Matagorda Area Network, Educational Activities Committee, Texas Community Education Association, Texas Schools Public Relations Association, Wharton County Junior College Adult Basic Education Advisory Committee, and the Matagorda County Emergency Response Team.
The bottom line is that Community Education is about people, people who are striving to better their community, people who are seeking to better themselves, and people who are serving all of us to make these things happen.
For information on any of the above programs, contact the Community Education office located on the Cherry Elementary campus, or call the office at 245-1604.
Matagorda Area Network Contact Information
Voice: 979-245-1017
E-mail: mannet@man-net.org
Last Updated: March 04, 2008