BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has been intrinsically involved in the health and reading education of Greenville County public school students because “it’s the right thing to do to help the children of South Carolina,” said president and CEO David Pankau.
Involvement of the business community in education should go beyond the obvious benefit to the state’s workforce, Pankau told a group of business and education leaders gathered at the Public Education Partners of Greenville County’s annual luncheon.
The non-profit group, which works in coordination with Greenville County Schools to assist teachers through technology grants and students at lower-income schools, named BlueCross BlueShield its Partner of the Year on Monday.
Never has supporting teachers and attracting teachers been more necessary than now, said keynote speaker Dan Brown, executive director of the Future Educators Association and a teacher and author who served a year as a teacher ambassador under U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Each year in South Carolina, 4,000 teachers leave the profession, but just 2,200 graduate with teaching degrees from the state’s colleges, he said.
Education could attack its looming teacher shortage by changing the public perception of teaching versus other professions, looking at teachers as professional educators and allowing them to focus on their work in the classroom versus extra duties, and improving salaries, Brown said.
Students in general have a negative view of teachers because they’ve experienced uninspired or ill-prepared teachers. But if students have competent teachers with structured, engaging lessons, their perception of the profession would change, he said.
Encouraging students to pursue teaching while in middle and high school can pay huge dividends locally because 60 percent of teachers end up teaching at a school within 20 miles of their own high school, he said.
Teachers often get non-teaching management or supervisory responsibilities heaped on them every day, which takes away from their true focus of educating students in the classroom, he said.
“We’d never say to a doctor, ‘You are incredible at diagnosing and treating patients, now go spend 45 minutes every day in the hospital cafeteria,” he said.
BlueCross BlueShield of S.C. initiatives have allowed Greenville County Schools to create a new Culinary Creations menu to improve healthy, scratch-made meals at elementary schools.
The company has also helped Public Education Partners establish a reading instruction program and book fairs at the county’s 29 highest poverty schools, said Dick Riley, former S.C. governor and U.S. Education Secretary.
Past Partners of the Year include Michelin, General Electric, Greenville Health System and Fluor Corporation.
Date: November 24, 2014