Business Education Roundtable will address need for, retention of teachers

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Partnerships between businesses and schools are vital to the future success of public education in the state of Missouri, according to Missouri Gov. Bob Holden, who addressed attendees at last month's first meeting of the Business Education Roundtable. |ret||ret||tab|

"Businesses need schools to prepare a highly-skilled work force to compete in this global economy, and we see remarkable results in individual schools when business gets engaged and local business-education partnerships are formed," Holden said. |ret||ret||tab|

Jan Newton, president of Southwest-ern Bell-Missouri, and Karen Pletz, president and chief executive officer of the University of Health Sciences in Kansas City chair the approximately 40-member task force. |ret||ret||tab|

Area representatives on the task force are: Sen. Roseann Bentley; Marie Carmichael, president, Coordinating Board for Higher Education; Pamela Holmes, principal, Nixa Century Elementary School; Michael Palmer, vice president of commercial operations, Empire District Electric Company; and Patti Penny, president and chief executive officer, Penmac.|ret||ret||tab|

Roundtable members will examine and address several issues, including the current and projected needs for teachers in public schools, the quality of teacher preparation at Missouri's colleges and universities, and the effectiveness of current policies and programs for the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers.[[In-content Ad]]