Blount County Education Initiative

The Hilton hosted a gathering tonight for a combination of educators, business professionals and community leaders who were present to learn about the Blount County Education Initiative. Two things really sunk in for me. First, this group is dedicated to a forward thinking vision of the educational needs of the children of this community. Let's make sure we do whatever it takes to help our children become productive citizens in tomorrow's global economy. Second, the statistics we have been using to assure ourselves that our children are doing well in school may not be accurate. In fact, some of the statistics offered were down right scary. If over one third of high schoolers are dropping out, not only won't they have decent jobs but quite a few of them will end up in our criminal justice system.