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Chamber Education Initiatives
Driven by the goal of 100 percent student success for Metro public schools, the Chamber's education
department works closely with the school system on education initiatives.
The Progress Report on Metro Schools is issued annually by the Citizens
Panel for a Community Report Card, a group of concerned citizens convened by the Nashville Chamber.
The Citizens Panel examines various factors related to the performance of the school system, and issues
a "grade" for that school year that reflects the needs of the community at large, rather than the
agenda of the Nashville Chamber. Panel members are selected to represent a wide spectrum of the community, and as such are racially diverse and come from all geographic sections of Davidson County. The group includes members of the business community, social activists, parents and non-parents, as well as both married and single people. Despite this diversity, a commonality among panelists is that all of them have a stake in the success of Nashville's public school system. The 2002-2003 school year marks the 11th year that the Chamber has convened the Citizens Panel.
Click here to read the Progress Report on Metro Schools for the 2002-2003 school year.
The Visit to Metro Schools was created to give community leaders a firsthand look at Davidson
County public schools. Working closely with Metro Schools director Pedro Garcia, the Chamber organizes
the Visit annually. Participants meet at a school in the morning for opening remarks, then split into
groups and travel via bus to tour other schools in the Metro system. Participants' observations from the day spark dialogue between business leaders and school officials, leading to fundamental improvements for schools and students.
The Mayor's First Day Festival is an annual event created in 2000 by Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, who calls the first day of school "the most important day in our city's civic calendar." The festival is held in August at the Gaylord Entertainment Center and features free activities for students and their parents. Business contributions and in-kind donations underwrite the costs of the event. By encouraging member businesses to host activity booths or donate money in support of the event, and by hosting their own activity booth for students, the Chamber has been a leading participant in the festival since its inception.
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