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Mott, USF Are Good News For Schools

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 3, 2008

Here's some good news about our schools for a change. I know you've read enough about failed schools and blundering school boards in recent weeks to get a headache wondering what's next.

So here's a good story; a solution-oriented idea that could have an immediate impact on learning.

It's only a pilot project, but it will begin in 10 Hillsborough County middle schools this month. If successful - and it will be - it's a program that is going to make a real difference for the positive in our schools.

He doesn't want the spotlight but, as usual, it takes one person to get these things off the ground. It is 86-year-old Olin Mott. You might know the name from his tire dealerships, or maybe that he was a hero Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, but Olin has been involved with helping young people for decades.

This project arose from a program at Joshua House, a shelter for abused and neglected children. Using monies from his Michelin Golf Tournament, Mott brought in people from the University of South Florida College of Education and the school district and organized a mentoring program using donated laptop computers. The results were impressive. Out of that came a USF pilot program in three Tampa middle schools using teaching students earlier this year.

Olin's Plan

Olin has rounded up enough private and public interests to insert the program into 10 selected middle schools when classes start this month. It's a tutoring program, hardly a novel idea.

But this program has the potential to grow as much as we want. Ten organizations, including the Michelin Gold Classic, which first financed the Joshua House project, Tampa Kiwanis, TECO Energy, New York Yankees Foundation, Bright House Networks and others have taken individual sponsorships of the schools: Adams, Buchanan, Greco, Ferrell, Franklin, Jennings, Memorial, Sligh, Van Buren and Young.

The USF College of Education is supplying tutors from its Suncoast Area Teacher Training program, made up of older honor students. All participating students will get scholarships. The schools will use laptops and software designed for the program and the students will be in the schools a couple of times a week.

The Winners

There are a lot of wins here. The College of Education sees it as a plus as it gives its teaching students one-on-one experiences in the public schools. "They will ultimately be better teachers," said Diane Kroeger, who will evaluate the program for USF.

The students and public schools involved will be huge winners. The students are not being selected because of failing grades, but because they are seen as having untapped potential. Even the sheriff's department, which is a sponsor, sees this as a win if it salvages students at this critical point in their lives.

I think the sponsoring organizations will benefit. It gives them a chance to make an immediate, measurable impact on our schools.

What I like is that it brings together so many elements of the community and has the potential to expand as other sponsoring organizations come on board and the project spreads from 10 middle schools to the entire school system. It's going to work; how it grows is ultimately up to you.

Keyword, Otto Graphs,

to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

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