A school never stands on its own. There are pillars that complete its metaphorical structure, its intent to provide children with the guidance, the inspiration, and the tools they need to be successful and to thrive. When a community invests in its schools, it only strengthens and reinforces that structure on which academic intent stands.
Through programs like iFOCUS, Main Elementary School intends to work with their community and families to strengthen structure and lift their students up to the potential that they all inherently have, when nurtured.
“It’s been one of my goals since becoming principal,” Main Principal, Dr. LaRoyce Sublett, said, “to create partnerships and get the community more involved with Main Elementary in any form or fashion, whether it be volunteerism, mentoring, monetary donation; anything we can do to show that we’re forming a relationship and a bridge between the parents, the community, and the school. I believe in us being all as one, as a team.”
Assistant Principal, Dr. Eric Robertson, established the iFOCUS program 12 years ago in South Carolina, and it has followed him from there, to Cobb County, and now to Main Elementary.
“The approach for iFOCUS is from the perspective of an equilateral triangle,” Robertson explained. “When you think of an equilateral triangle, you have three sides. As Dr. Sublett mentioned, you have the parents, you have the teachers, and you have the students. But the thing about that equilateral triangle, is the interior angles only add up to 180 degrees.”
“It’s impossible for Main Elementary School to complete the village approach without the help of our community,” he explained further. “It takes a village to raise a child. We need that other 180 degrees, we need the community to meet us so that we can close those achievement gaps when the students take the Georgia Milestone test in May. We have time, we want to be ahead and really help to close these gaps. But it’s going to take the community stakeholders to make sure that we have everything that we need to help our students succeed.”
Sublett said that, through the program, they have established partnerships with leaders within the community such as Gregory Shropshire, former president of 100 Black Men of Rome-Northwest Georgia, and Reverend Derrick McDaniel of Holsey Sinai CME Church.
There are meeting days planned for the students and their families to kick off the program with members of the community; third through sixth grades will each have their own day of gathering next week from September 27th to the 30th, respectively.
“We’re asking for stakeholders to come out on those particular days to show their support, to support the families as a whole,” Robertson said. “We’re looking for community leaders to serve as supporters. We’re looking for faith based supporters as well. We’re also looking for student volunteers and parent volunteers. I believe parents should mentor parents, those that have walked the walk and talked the talk, to walk alongside these parents that need assistance.”
This is a plan for the long haul, with a goal of embracing the students, supporting them through their academic years, and bringing efforts full circle as they enter the community in adulthood.
“That’s the beauty of it,” Robertson said. “Even when these sixth graders graduate from Main Elementary School, we want those mentors, those relationships, to follow them at the middle school, to follow them at the high school, and back into the workforce. It’s a circle.”
Sublett said that Main is just the starting point for the iFOCUS program. He said he sees the program extending further into the community.
“I am very excited about this program,” Sublett said. “It matches with our core values of us all being in a partnership together. Having everyone who has invested in the meeting and the planning to come and get this kicked off is very exciting, because now our community members get to see that it is going to take the entire village. No one can do it alone; we need to invest in each other. We’re going to lift each other up, because that’s the way it should be.”
Robertson explained that iFOCUS was born out of his trauma; growing up an at-risk student raised by his mother in government housing. He said that being raised by a dysfunctional family led him to seek solutions for his pain, to figure out what he needed to thrive.
“Through my research in undergrad and grad school,” he explained, “I was able to formulate these principles and these concepts of what, first of all, I needed to be better. I’m able to use those same principles on students who are actually going through what I went through.”
The goal is well-rounded, reinforced support for students and their families.
“So it won’t be a mom on her own anymore,” Sublett said. “She’s got us here at the school, she’s got the pastors at the church, she’s got mentors, and volunteers; there’s going to be somebody there for her child or children.”
Roberson said that when he implemented iFOCUS in Cobb County, 87 percent of at-risk ninth graders, at the time, were able to be promoted to the next grade level. iFOCUS has been implemented at the primary level all the way up through college, and even in alternative schools.
“When families come out, they’re going to be able to meet stakeholders within the community, and the families are going to be paired up,” Robertson explained. “These stakeholders will mentor the families; they will provide them with resources that they may need to thrive as families. Once families are able to thrive at home, students will be able to thrive at Main Elementary School. We’re actually bringing the village back, to close the gaps, because we’re looking for a complete circle as students transition from this level and into the workforce or college.”
Please see the announcement below for details and times scheduled for each grade.