Tish Howard, principal of Washington Mill Elementary School, and her students celebrated partnership last week. With a special Business Partnership Kick-off, they signed agreements with their business partners — Dobson Remodeling and Construction, Geranio Restaurant, Roy Rogers and Army Materiel Command. For the past year or so, these organizations have given of their time and resources and Howard wanted to recognize that initiative.
On hand were Col Tom Newman, Mrs. Jean James, SGT Cassandra Barnes, Jennifer Clayton, Jeff and Jim Todd, Richard Dobson, Dan and Ann Rinzel, Dr. Jack Dale and Dan Storck.
Helping with the event was Administrative Intern Renee Miller, Assistant Principal Tim Kasik and PTA President Andrea Skudlarek.
After presentation of colors by Boy Scout Pack 1503 Color Guard and performances by Julian Pelke and Washington Mill Select Chorus, Howard thanked everybody for attending and spoke about why they celebrate partnership.
“Community and parent involvement is so important,” Howard said. “We want a mutually supportive relationship between our school partners. They provide real-life situations and real-world lessons for our students and hopefully they benefit by the exposure of their business.”
Howard spoke about how Todd provides breakfast for their overnight events; Dobson supports the running club; Clayton helps with the chef’s classes; and members of the Army Materiel Command help with homework club.
“It truly does take a village and we have a lot of village people,” she said. “We have the chef, the croissant baker and the new homemaker.”
Howard added, “Children need to know that there is another side of social reciprocity. We don’t want to raise smart, uncaring individuals.”
After the event, Howard said, “I think it went fabulously. I think we are well on our way of developing a true community school where everyone becomes a stakeholder in the success of children.”