Chamber Supports Schools with Superintendents Roundtable

Posted on | July 21, 2009 | No Comments

Catherine Mayorga

And, as they do every year, the school administrators continue to plan their annual budgets. They debate and deliberate (and often lose sleep) over what will be cut, what must be included and what needs to be changed. The schools will plan bake sales, car washes, candy sales, book drives and more to earn a bit more money in the hopes of covering their wish list.

There is always a driving desire to provide more benefits and opportunities for the districts’ students and schools often find themselves competing with each other for attention, resources, and help in any way that they can receive it. Last year the Tempe Chamber of Commerce decided to take a more proactive role in ensuring that the students in the city’s three school districts were able to take advantage of every possible opportunity. 

We met with elected officials, parents, district administrators and leaders of the business community to identify the best and brightest minds and invite them to join the newly-created Superintendents Roundtable.  We met during the academic year to identify and assess the best ways that the districts could become even more successful and we created talented committees to work on the most pressing needs.

The committees focused on creatively finding and developing resources to assist the schools and discovering new ways to most effectively work together.  The three major  areas of concern were  Fundraising/Grants,  Joint Bid/Purchasing, and Marketing/Education/Communications.

Halfway into the summer, we’ve made progress.  We accomplished one of our goals by establishing additional times and locations for free Youth Transit Pass distribution prior to the start of the 2009 – 2010 school year

Fundraising/Grants
We accomplished one of our goals by establishing additional times and locations for Youth Transit Pass distribution prior to the start of the 2009 – 2010 school year.  We continue to seek grant opportunities and partnerships to obtain funding that can be used by all three school districts.

Joint Bid/Purchasing
We are reviewing the spectrum of vendor contracts with cities and school districts, similar to those for the purchase of fuel for the school and city buses. We are exploring tri-district contracts for technology, cable, cell phones and more in the hopes of economically and effectively enhancing communications. We also are researching fee waivers with the cities of Phoenix and Tempe in exchange for joint use of facilities.

Marketing/Education/Communications�
We continue to explore all forms of social media to maximize exposure through cooperative values. We are learning about possible methods of advertising and communicating information through government channels and are contacting the employers of our students’ parents to discover partnership opportunities.

Having accomplished so much, but with so much yet to do, we are in many ways like kindergartners. We begin this new academic year like them – full of hope and wonder and ready to learn and grow.

We ask that you also take a moment to wonder. Wonder what and how you can contribute and share so that the students in our city be the best that they can be. Whether it is a donation of your time, money, skills or support, you can help in ensuring their success, and by extension, yours and ours as well.

As a former Tempe mayor often said, “Together, we’re better!”

Catherine Mayorga is the Vice President of Public Affairs at the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and may be reached at catherine@tempechamber.org

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