HARSH CRITIC TURNED PUBLIC EDUCATION ADVOCATE TO SPEAK

What do blueberries have to do with public education? Everything, as respected businessman and attorney Jamie Vollmer learned after being taken to task by a teacher after he vocally condemned public schools.

Once a harsh critic, Vollmer is now an award-winning champion of public education and author of the highly acclaimed book, "Schools Cannot Do It Alone," and creator of the video series "The Great Conversation." He will be speaking at 8 a.m.

Monday, Jan. 7, at the CenturyLink Center in Bossier City, and the public is invited to attend.

Every person, no matter if they have a child in school or not, is a stakeholder when it comes to public education. Why, you ask? Because we all pay taxes. Property values are impacted by the caliber of the local public education system, and an educated workforce is critical to businesses locating to our area and job creation. That means your support is needed to create a community-wide climate that reinforces student achievement.

It is no secret public education is under attack. The increased expectations and federal and state mandates heaped onto today's public school educator are mind-boggling, especially when compared to just a decade or two ago. It is no wonder fewer are going into the teaching profession, and others are making early exits.

Using his own transformation as a backdrop, Jamie Vollmer will speak directly to civic and elected leaders, business owners and community stakeholders about the challenges facing our children and schools and make a powerful case to increase community support.

Bossier Schools welcomes everyone to attend Vollmer’s 45-minute community presentation, as well as the entire duration of his talk when he speaks to every employee of Bossier Schools during an in-service.

Admission is free. RSVP requested; send to Public Relations Liaison Sonja Bailes at Sonja. Bailes@BossierSchools.org by Jan. 4.

EDUCATORS AWARDED $50,000 BIEDENHARN GRANT TO START NEW YEAR

Thanks to the generous support of the Biedenharn Foundation, two dozen classroom grant submissions were funded as part of the Sydney Biedenharn Educators Endowment, established five years ago in memory of the late educator and heir of Coca-Cola Bottling Operations in Shreveport. Sharing the $50,000 grant were 29 teachers in Bossier Schools.

This year marked 77 classroom grants totaling $155,000 that have been awarded to Bossier Parish teachers by the Biedenharn Foundation. Sydney Biedenharn’s daughter, Reina Walker Bailey, said it was especially exciting to hear the recipients’ plans of how they will put the grant money to use in their classrooms to further encourage student learning.