February 7, 2016  SUPER BOWL DAY!

How to take the Panthers one step further…

We follow their lead. How?

We apply what they teach us to our everyday world. Follow me please, this way.

The bottom line is the bottom line. Our world is about money larger than the good works of which there are many. I want to think about long term. The days and weeks we could have where we are all talking about the team, the game, the excitement from chicken wings to flags on cars and even me in a Panthers hat. Together.

It is a big picture like the Super Bowl.

Select one elementary school with the lower scores.
Put the best pre-K and elementary teachers here.

Invest the money to make the school clean, pretty, safe, with great playgrounds, a good cafeteria with good healthy lunches for all. Engage the parents, the neighbors, the neighborhood, the nearby churches, city services. Because this is a test. An investment. It will take time maybe. Good teams take time.
And hard work, practice, defeat, disappointment, mistakes.

Are there grants available? Companies who would invest in an experiment like this? It is done for trial drugs, how about the health and welfare of our children and our communities all the while building a base for being a revenue producer,
a community enhancement, a gift to all of us?

When it works this is what can happen: the children get a better start, the teachers meet their passion, the parents get some help, the churches get more involved
and it becomes “the village”. Not easily, not without pain.

When it works, the school district gets healthier, when that happens, the neighborhood becomes stronger, the housing improves and homes are sought after and real estate values improve and the tax basis strengthens. Can you imagine if our schools were like the Panthers what our city would look like? Be like?
 And the very best part, our children get a chance, a real chance.

We start at the bottom and work our way up. Not easily, not without struggle,
not without the nay sayers, the penny counters, but with the dreamers,
the workers, the players, the coaches, the cheerleaders,
the quarterbacks and line men, the team. All of us.

We are sure to win…then watch out world!