Parents speak out at ONE by ONE conversation
1/23/2012
As ONE by ONE moves into its second phase, the planned conversations are taking center stage.
Here at JPEF we had been anxiously awaiting the Parent Voices event on Saturday, when we gathered a very diverse group of about three dozen parents for a ONE by ONE conversation. Find out more about conversations here.
Like all of our large conversation gatherings, the group was split into smaller roundtables so that the discussion would include every person present. The Ritz Theatre and Museum, where the associated ONE in THREE exhibition will remain until the end of January, hosted the event. And our partners - the Duval County Council of PTAs, War on Poverty, and Northside Community Involvement - all helped out in recruiting parents to attend.
On this Saturday afternoon, parents from all over town - with kids in very different schools, and living in distant neighborhoods - came together to talk about the important issue of what we as a community need to do to ensure that ALL of our children graduate from high school ready for college and the workforce.
It didn't hurt that we had lots of kids in attendance, including Gabriel, the son of ONE in THREE featured student Lynkoya.
Ultimately, the day reminded us of one of our favorite ONE by ONE slogans: Face to face, voice by voice and ONE by ONE - we will transform the future.
-- Deirdre