As a educator or administrator, do you ever ask yourself, “How can I take on one more task?  What additional responsibilities will fall on my shoulders?”  Chances are these thoughts do (or have) run through your head in a typical school year.  Rightfully so.  The ongoing issues with school districts slashing budgets, requiring accountability, and all the while expecting the same or additional work output, can leave one’s nerves frazzled and on edge.

But what if a little bit of effort on your part, a sizeable commitment from your students, and a willingness to connect to the community could yield you and your school rewards, would you do it?  Would you at least consider it?

Most schools are part of a community – whether it be large or small.  Within that community are numerous businesses and organizations whose employees and members are parents or guardians of school-age children.  Schools are charged with educating children, and so too are businesses charged with providing a product or service in hopes of growing and expanding based on good word of mouth.  But what a business or organization can provide you/your school goes far beyond a product or service.  They can provide you with opportunity.

An opportunity of a partnership.  A chance to make a mutually beneficial connection that provides each party with something that they need or want.

Here are some aspects of a forming a school partnership that you should consider:

• What is it specifically that you want to do?  Are you in need of a service…a product…a commitment of time (such as a guest speaker)?  Be clear in what you’re asking for from a prospective partner.

• Do you want your students to help with the partnership?  Engaging your students in building a partnership enables them to develop crucial skills related to public speaking, writing, social interaction, and in some cases, service learning. (Besides, if kids put forth an honest, sincere, and clear request or concern, people usually have a difficult time saying ‘No’.)

• What business/organization makes the best partner?  If you someone to do a presentation on plant life and what best helps plants to thrive, you’ll do better in asking a plant store owner or landscaper in your community, rather than the nice lady who runs the plant sale at the local church.

• Partnerships are NOT about money!  Sure, money never hurts, but what you really want access to is knowledge, input, resource, experience, possibilities.  If you’re teaching the Civil War, you don’t have to take students to a battlefield.  Enlist the assistance of a Civil War re-enactor or actor to bring a ‘living’ viewpoint to a history lesson.

• Think about it from the other side…what does the ‘partner’ get out of a partnership with you?  Your school?

As schools are faced with reduced funding, stricter requirements, and the challenge of growing successful, thoughtful students, the challenge becomes in answering, “How to do it?”

Take a look at creating a partnership and see how your school can make a thriving, important community connection.

And if you do create a partnership and want to share it….email me at cliftf@gvsu.edu.  I might just feature you and your school in a future blog post.

Happy partnering!!