Survival depends on getting along

We live in an age when going it alone in life is becoming a diminishing practice. More and more we see the need to develop high collaborative partnerships and efforts in order to be successful.
It is necessary for all of us, in public and private sector, to become proactive about the collaborative work that is needed to improve our country, community and schools. There has been some success in Marion County with collaborative ventures. Perhaps the medical profession leads the way with a host of joint ventures with all aspects of the communities.
The banks encourage collaborative ventures with customers and investors. Schools also share in the collaborative ventures with a host of school-business, community, civic and religious partnerships.
Religious organizations also have become critically important and successful in our community. I believe that most concerned individuals are very supportive of collaborative efforts. Having acknowledged that there is a significant number of organizations that share collaborative efforts, there still seems to be some major resistance to us all getting along.
In many areas of collaboration between competing organizations, churches, school districts and businesses there seems to be this ongoing of competitiveness and isolations that work to the detriment of the community at large. Often couched in personal agendas, cultural differences or just plain history (we always operated this way), these organizations are bypassing perhaps a potentially great outcome if collaboration was fully utilized.
In Marion County it is difficult most times to get churches, school districts and civic clubs to work together. Long held traditions or practices have been etched in the minds and practices of our leaders and their organization.
It is this unwillingness that continues to stifle growth, development and a spirit that could promote wellness for our county. All county agencies and organizations working well together could be a major push in our community towards a more focused and productive future for all citizens and students.
There is a tremendous need to review our education program countywide, to analyze and develop plans to strengthen our programs and provide our students a more than “Minimum Adequate Education.”
Collaboration could go far towards providing Marion County school districts with the resources needed to provide a high focused and rigorous educational experience for all children. It is with a highly creative approach to providing needed courses, experiences and opportunities that our students will be able to compete in our challenging global universe.
Pulling together resources and forging a 21st Century curriculum will assist parents in providing a substantial education for their children. There is so much that we can do together if we are willing to put children and community first.
Unfortunately, there is a lining, not silver but a lining nonetheless, in our desire to “get along.” Today our economy is taking a turn for the worst, unemployment, finance markets crashing, lack of jobs, credit slowing and manufacturing jobs in short supply. There is a gross uneasiness about the economy and the viability of rural cities, counties and school districts.
The short supply of funding for schools and community projects makes it all too clear, that we will be forced by economics to do that which we could do proactively. The reduction in the state’s sale tax, foreclosures and closing of businesses will further force us to do a better job of collaboration.
Why wait to do what we will have to do to survive when we can collaborate now and soar to new avenues of success? “Can we all just get along” should be our daily cry to do better than we have in Marion County.
“Can we all just get along” should encourage us to collaborate, create, explore and produce a more vibrant Marion County with a high functioning educational system that will prepare our children for the twenty-first century and global world in which we live. Remember together we can.
Nathaniel Miller, Superintendent, MSD3