Take Stock In Children

Don Gaetz 
05/17/05

This is the time of year when I say a lot of good byes.

The end of the school year means graduation and that means leave-taking. If I time things just right I'll be able to attend the graduation ceremony or baccalaureate services for each of the six high schools in my county.

The protocol on the graduation stage puts me in a unique position to look into the face of each student the moment he formally ends his high school career. The principal hands the graduate a diploma and I shake his hand. So I'm the first to see what often is pride, sometimes is relief, and occasionally is downright surprise in the eyes of those who now clutch their proof of finishing high school.

It's harder to graduate from high school in Okaloosa County today than it was five years ago. It should be harder. Even though our school district has risen from the middle of the pack academically to the highest performing in the state in 2003 and 2004, the soft underbelly is in the secondary schools - grades 6-12.

We've made fundamental changes that have produced historic learning gains - the first school district to end social promotions, the first school district to embed literacy coaches in schools to teach teachers how to teach reading better, and, beginning August, 2005, the first school district in Florida to require reading courses in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The Governor has said Okaloosa is "a shining example of what's right in Florida education today." But, as I say goodbye to the 2005 graduating class, I know there's so much more we must do to add rigor and relevance to the education that 2006, 2007, and 2008 graduates will receive in our schools. We also have to do better at motivating students to want to reach inside themselves for strength of character and commitment to academics.

One of the most inspiring signs of hope is something called Take Stock in Children.

Here's how it works: promising middle school students who have limited to little to no economic resources are identified and screened. Businesses, families and individuals are recruited to fund scholarships-on-the-come for these students. The cost is about $7,000 per donor in private funds. The Legislature matches those dollars.

The students sign a performance contract to get good grades, maintain good citizenship in school and in the community, remain drug-free, and be models to their peers. If they honor their end of the deal during grades six through twelve, then they receive a fully-paid four-year scholarship to attend any Florida public college or university to which they are accepted. The scholarship can also be converted to pay for out-of-state or private school education.

During the six years they are earning their Take Stock in Children Scholarships these students are assigned a mentor, often from the company or family that funds the scholarship. The adult mentor meets with his student weekly, sometimes more often, to keep track of progress, deal with problems, provide encouragement, and occasionally offer what my father called "Dutch Uncle" advice.

Last week I said goodbye to Take Stock scholars I first met when they were sixth graders. They kept their performance contracts, despite some tough issues, family problems, personal temptations, and the daily struggle of living at the margins of the economy. They're not just graduating - they're graduating with high honors.

One Take Stock Scholar will study theology in college and prepare for a lifetime of helping others. Another plans to become a physician and shows every sign of being able to do so. Each one is a story of earned success, helped by an adult who cares enough to invest years and dollars in someone else's child. My goodbyes to these poised performers were accompanied, I'm afraid, with a few tears. Lives were changed. It's not an overstatement to say that lives were saved.

That same day I met seventeen new Take Stock Scholars, sixth graders who solemnly shook my hand and promised to perform in return for a chance at a college education. The circumstances of some of these children would make your heart ache. But they want a shot at a better future and we've found corporations, civic and service clubs, and families willing to put up the money and the mentoring time.

I'm especially proud that each year our own family gives a Take Stock Scholarship in honor of my wife, Vicky, who personifies the come-from-behind, over-the-odds, bootstrap story that is common to these students. If you'd like more information about being a Take Stock in Children sponsor, email me.

May is a month when, as Superintendent of Schools, I confer diplomas on children I've seen grow into confident, accomplished young men and women. The ones I admire the most are those who have faced down the greatest obstacles. It's heartening in this time of farewells to welcome our newest Take Stock Scholars.

As they stretch forward to earn their futures I'm inspired to work harder myself to build more integrity and more rigor into our schools.

Don Gaetz 

Don Gaetz is Superintendent of Schools in Okaloosa County and a regular Gulf 1
columnist. His co-author for this column is Dr. John Cavanaugh, President of
the University of West Florida.

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