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Parents, educators and businesspeople in and around the Kosciusko County area will have a chance to share their concerns about education by attending the eighth annual Education Summit Tuesday.
Keynote speaker will be Dr. Dennis Bumgarner. He will address this year's topic, at-risk youth, said summit chairman Larry Chamberlain.
Polls, both nationally and closer to home, name at-risk students to be one of the biggest challenges society faces, he said. At-risk kids are a "critical need in our community" that people want to address, Chamberlain said. "The primary objective of our summit is to explore ways to proactively move forward to address this."
Chamberlain defined at-risk students as "kids who are likely, because of circumstances most often beyond their control, to fall through the cracks unnoticed. ... They are at risk of being left behind, of not being able to keep up with the progress of other children."
Warsaw Community High School counselor Rick Swaim was more specific in his definition: At-risk students, he said, "are those who are at risk mainly to drop out of school or get in trouble with the law, but mainly to drop out."
Swaim said they can be "students with difficult family backgrounds with little or no support," or those with academic difficulties that aren't severe enough to qualify for special education.
They also can be, he said, "kids with attitude, kids with ability but they choose not to use it."
Chamberlain said the summit will explore ideas on reaching at-risk youth and on mobilizing additional resources, and will encourage more people to become involved.
Besides the discussion of at-risk students, summit attendees also will receive information about 40 Developmental Assets, which are being used by many communities to reach out to all kids and to include them in the life of the community.
Suzie Light, executive director of Kosciusko County Foundation, will present a video that explains and illustrates 40 Developmental Assets.
"The concept of 40 Developmental Assets will help people understand that it's not just the parents, it's not just the schools, it's not just grandparents - but it's all of us," she said recently. "The entire community has an interest in raising well-adjusted, productive, responsible kids."
Chamberlain echoed Light's theme of community involvement with youth as he talked about the summit's theme of "CARE - Children At Risk in Education": "The community should care because I believe it's in the heart of everybody in the community to leave no child behind."
The summit is open to the public at no charge. It begins at 7 a.m. at 2517 Wagon Wheel Nov. 13 and is expected to end at approximately 10:30 a.m.
