Following a year of tremendous changes, the school district and nonprofits across our region are rallying for student success on a truly collaborative scale. The timing and urgency couldn’t be more pronounced. We’re seeing longstanding efforts and new partners take significant leadership in helping fill gaps – be it gaps in achievement or children’s needs – and ensure hard-earned gains are sustained into the summer months and beyond.

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has a longstanding commitment to ensure that this wrap-around support engages our youngest learners and families through a two-generation (2Gen) lens. For nearly a decade, thanks to the trust of donors we work with, we have invested in programs that prepare new students to enter the classroom and mitigate learning loss for returning ones, which includes our work with Summer Learning Academies and Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. In the face of a global pandemic, however, the student learning environment has drastically changed and along with it, new possibilities have emerged.

Earlier this spring, we brought together 17 local leaders representing cause-driven nonprofits, the Sarasota County School District, libraries, and other philanthropic foundations with the goal of crafting collaborative strategies for summer learning. What transpired was brainstorming and problem solving at its finest. Youth-supporting organizations shared strategies for safely approaching future stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural institutions provided the framework for arts-integrated curriculums, and the libraries supplemented the conversation with resources aplenty.

So inspired by these ideas and the potential for long-lasting partnership behind them, our foundation is investing $240,000 through the Allen Wirtz Nobbe and Jo Bowen Nobbe Fund, Advanced Leadership Initiative Fund and six other funds, each established with the generosity of donors who recognized the importance of education and all its facets. Funding will be disbursed among eight collaborative programs being offered to students, families and teachers this summer, complementing the school district’s programmatic work, during a shortened yet crucial seasonal break.

Here are some high-level snapshots of the possibilities being realized across our region:

• Summer Reading & Exploration. With a focus on students grades K-4, SOAR Learning Center is implementing a Family Literacy Program that encourages parents – aided by a Parent Facilitator – to be engaged members in their children’s reading habits. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast will build on its successful mentoring model by intentionally working with students who have been identified by their teachers as needing extra support in reading. In addition to providing books to 3^rd graders enrolled in summer learning, funding for Sarasota County Schools will enable teachers to offer experiential education to students of all ages through EdExploreSRQ during months when it hasn’t traditionally operated.
• Youth Development & Academic Enrichment. As part of its Great Futures Academy, Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties will serve 600 children across six locations, with each learner receiving at least four hours of academics with social emotional learning and physical activity. Alongside J5 Experience’s Academic Boot Camp and Girls Inc.’s Support a Girl Summer Program, these youth-supporting organizations will empower hundreds of students in only three months.
• Teacher & Parent Support. In a full-day, virtual training with local teachers and school staff, The Florida Center for Early Childhood invited experts to share insights into understanding and assisting early childhood brain development and mental health, an all-too-important topic given the context of the last year. As a long-term partner in our foundation’s 2Gen parent success strategy, the Women’s Resource Center’s parent support program – aligning resources with the whole family in mind – rounds out these undertakings.

Program by program, child by child, these partners are reinventing how to realize student success beyond the pages of a textbook or walls of a classroom. I think we can agree that should be part of everyone’s summer syllabus.

Roxie Jerde is President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. 

Photo courtesy Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties.

Let me explain how these relevant dates are linked in the stories of our nation and community.

July 4, 1776
April 23, 1635
July 22, 2021

The first date, of course, marks 245 years ago when our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence, signifying the start of what would become our cherished nation.

The second date represents a key reason America often is called the “Land of Opportunity”: It’s the day the first public school opened in the then-colony of Massachusetts— 141 years before the Declaration of Independence.

Schools quickly became such an essential part of communities that by July 4, 1776, our illustrious Founding Fathers John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson shared the idea that an educated citizenry and successful republic were inseparably connected.

And the third date? On July 22, 2021, the state Department of Education will pay tribute to those dedicated individuals who “educate the citizenry” by naming Florida’s 2022 Teacher of the Year at a special event in Orlando.

Our community will be well represented in Orlando by our own Kari Johnson, kindergarten teacher at Fruitville Elementary School and Sarasota County School District 2021 Teacher of the Year. Kari was selected to be one of just five finalists from around the state who will participate for the state honor.

Kari is the personification of the ideal teacher we have in mind when we say, “That is a really good teacher.” 

I’ve had the joy and privilege of getting to know Kari and witness as she continues to refine her craft and take advantage of opportunities to grow professionally while preparing herself for the statewide spotlight.

While she proudly and skillfully represents not just fellow teachers but also students and families of Sarasota County, Kari admits to feeling more at home in the kindergarten classroom where she has taught for 15 years. It’s the only job she ever wanted, and “mom away from home” is her favorite way to be known.

Kindergarten has changed a lot since Kari’s early days as a teacher. Then, the highlights of a kindergartener’s day were nap time, lunch time and recess. Now the emphasis is on preparing students to read proficiently in first grade and learn how to get along with others.

Kari recognizes that kindergarten is the beginning rung in the ladder a student climbs toward graduation, and she plays a key role in the shared mission of helping each student succeed. She does what it takes to make her kindergarten classroom a happy place, and her fondest wish is that everyone could see the world through a kindergartener’s eyes.

She is so good at what she does and how she does it that her principal takes new teachers to observe her classroom and student management. 

I think all of us of any age and profession could benefit by noting Kari’s skills and characteristics. Her teaching style is relationship-based and focuses on the individual. She makes each student feel valued and important and meets them where they are in their individual progress.

At the same time, Kari takes inspiration from her students, comforts them when they have meltdowns, and laughs with them at their often-humorous observations.

After all the accolades, Kari maintains her gratitude at being able to flourish in her dream job and continue honing her skills and characteristics.

Please join us in sending the full, united support of our community behind Kari as she goes to Orlando on July 22 as one of five finalists for Florida 2022 Teacher of the Year. She is representing not just Sarasota County Schools and fellow teachers but also the students and families and community at large that she serves with distinction.

Congratulations, Kari! We are proud of you.

Jennifer Vigne is president of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. 

Photo courtesy Education Foundation of Sarasota County: Kari Johnson.