Procter & Gamble recognized as Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s Partner of the Year

ALBANY — More than 300 business, community leaders and Dougherty County School System representatives crowded into the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center Tuesday morning as the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and the school system recognized their Partners in Excellence at a Rise N Shine Breakfast.

Procter & Gamble was honored as the program’s Partner of the Year for 2015.

The Partners in Excellence Program, celebrating its 29th year, is the school system’s premier school/business partnership program which pairs businesses, community organizations, and civic organizations with individual schools to promote excellence in education.

DCSS Superintendent Butch Mosely thanked the assembled partners for their support of education, then laid out the system’s three major priorities for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year.

“We are excited about our 1-to-1 Technology Initiative in our schools,” Mosely said. “We hope that by the end of December we will have either computer laptops or tablets in the hand of every student in the system. These devices will go home with the students and will help close the technology gap many of our children are currently facing. We know we will lose a few of them along the way, but this is a worthy effort.”

Mosely then pointed to the establishment of the new Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy.

“We are also excited about the college and career academy,” he said. “It will give some of our youngsters the opportunity to go directly into the workforce after graduating from high school.”

The superintendent said that the DCSS is also forging ahead with the transition to a charter school system, which will feature local school governance teams at all 23 individual local schools.

“If our community is to succeed we have to get our parents involved in their schools,” Mosely said. “The charter system will allow more localized control over neighborhood schools and encourage more parental involvement.”

The Partners in Excellence Program also ushered in 32 new partners Wednesday, pushing the total number of participating organizations to 242.

The primary goal of the Partners in Excellence Program is to strengthen and enrich the instructional programs in schools thereby ensuring that all students graduate with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required for life-long learning and successful functioning as members of the workforce, community, and society.