MayoràTask Force Meeting
MayoràTask Force Meeting
Program Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SIDE CONVERSATION]
MAYOR KELLER: Welcome. Hi, everyone. I want to say, first off, thank you all
for your service to our community and for agreeing to participate on this task
force. And special thank you to Superintendent Fuller for hosting our kickoff
meeting today.
Compared to many other cities, we’re fortunate that we’re experiencing
population growth and strong economic trends, related in part to the growing
number of refugees from RRISA in our community. With this growth, we also face
crowding in our schools, the need for additional community services, and a
demand for a wider variety of educational approaches for our students.
I am proud of our community’s response in welcoming those from RRISA. We
now need to ensure that we’re meeting the needs of all children and families in
our schools and our community. Each of you brings a unique perspective to this
team, and you’ve been asked to serve on this task force to help us develop
community plans for addressing these issues.
Now, prior to this first meeting, I asked each of you to assemble data from your
schools, your employers, your institutions, related to your areas of expertise for
use in analyzing our situation. As we meet and work together over the next few
weeks I ask for your support in helping us to understand this data and to
collaborate in finding strategies to address the changes needed by our
community.
At this point, I’d like you each to introduce yourselves and give me a snapshot of
the potential issues you want to see addressed by this task force.
SAMANTHA GROVES: Hello, everybody. I’m Samantha Groves, and I’m a social
worker with Grand City’s Human Services Agency. Now, for the last five years,
I’ve found that new families arriving to Grand City have an increased need for
practical support– counseling, general information, and emotional support,
especially the families arriving from RRISA.
Currently, our limited staff and the need for special skills training keep us from
supporting the community as well as we should. I look forward to gaining your
support and your collaboration with you to help bridge those gaps.
DR. TANYA FULLER: Hello, everyone. You may know me already. I’m Dr. Tanya
Fuller, Superintendent of Grand City schools. As you pointed out, Madam Mayor,
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MayoràTask Force Meeting
the growth in Grand City has led to crowding in our schools and the need for our
teachers to be more open about new and different approaches to teaching and
learning.
Over the last five years, the school district has seen declines in test scores, lower
rates of high school graduation, and more requests for student services within
the schools. I’m hoping that this task force will have an impact on the challenges
faced within our schools, and offer some support on direction for helping our staff
and faculty.
DR. CAROLINA REYES: Hi. My name is Dr. Carolina Reyes, and I am the
Director of Special Education for Grand City schools. I would like to mirror
Superintendent Fuller’s sentiments regarding the needs of the teachers and
students in our schools. The number of students qualifying for special education
services has increased without a comparable increase in training or technology
for our general education or our special education teachers.
One of the goals I have in this task force is to ensure that teachers and families
have the resources they need to meet the diverse needs of Grand City’s children
and students.
BARNEY LEONARD: Hi, everyone. For the few people I haven’t met, my name is
Barney Leonard of So New Solutions. While our manufacturing plant in Grand
City has traditionally offered opportunities for young people with a limited
education, that is no longer the case. We, as well as other employers in the city,
have seen an increased need for higher levels of education and technology skills
in our employees. I would like the task force to consider it a priority to expand
workforce training.
Businesses in the community like mine need a better educated workforce in
order to maintain our presence in Grand City and continue to offer advancement
opportunities for the local workforce.
BRENDA STEPHENS: Hello. I’m Brenda Stephens, Director of Grand City Early
Childhood Center and the Chairman of the Early Childhood Program Association
here as well. One of the biggest issues facing early childhood programs in Grand
City are the number of families who can’t afford preschool or child care. The
population of children we’re serving in early childhood programs will be the same
population of students in K through 12 schools, and eventually the Grand City
workforce before too long.
The question I pose to the task force is, how can we work together to meet the
needs of our community’s youngest members now, to support community growth
in the future?
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MayoràTask Force Meeting
GARY KEPPLE: Hi. My name is Gary Kepple. I just want to thank you, Mayor
Keller, for inviting me today. I am the Associate Director of Grand City
Community Outreach Center.
As I work closely with social worker Samantha Groves, I notice that some of the
issues that she has noted have actually been evident in some of the data that I
collected here today. You know, the Outreach Center office has just been
overwhelmed lately with families and individuals who need support in everything
from early childhood services to help with school forms to finding employment to
support their families.
As a person who works with members of this community on a daily basis, I just
really want to thank everybody in the task force for coming together and helping
the community, because I know that our collaborative efforts will be a positive
impact on those that we serve.
MAYOR KELLER: Well said, Gary. Thank you. All right. Well, with that being
said, I think it’s time to turn to our agenda. And let’s see what kind of progress we
can make.
MayoràTask Force Meeting
Additional Content Attribution
MUSIC:
WAL_SOCI4080_AnneBrunson_MEDIA-BACKGROUNDMUSIC_4A
Music created by Annie Brunson under contract.
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