Dr. Camille Cooper introduced the Comer School Development Program model to twenty-five community leaders, educators, policy makers, and education advocates at a workshop in Jackson, Mississippi in December 2013. Participants included staff from the Mississippi Department of Education, Jackson State University, the Mississippi Association of Educators, the Mississippi Justice Center, and community organizing organizations working on education issues.
The purpose of the event was to consider how the Comer model might support the goal of creating a quality, first-rate education that addresses the needs of all students in Mississippi's public schools. Southern Echo, Inc., a leadership development, education and training organization working in the African-American communities in rural Mississippi and the surrounding region, hosted the event.
Dr. Cooper, the Comer School Development Program's Director of Teaching and Learning, told workshop participants that the SDP is committed to the total development of children and adolescents by helping parents, educators, and policy makers create learning environments that support children's development along six critical pathways. "Children who develop well, learn well. Our vision is to help create a just and fair society in which all children have the support for development that will allow them to become positive, successful contributors in family, work, and civic life."
Southern Echo's Executive Director, Leroy Johnson, agrees with the principles of the Comer Model. "Introducing the Comer Model is a necessary step in combatting the arbitrary and capricious student discipline policies and practices that push students out of school and ultimately toward the schoolhouse to jailhouse pipeline that plagues our public schools, with particularly negative consequences for children of color, low wealth, or disabilities."
"The Comer Process is transformative in that it values what each of us brings to the table and utilizes each persons expertise as an equal partner to improve both our schools and communities," said Ellen Reddy, the executive director of the Nollie Jenkins Family Center in Holmes County, MS and a public education advocate.
Beverly Brahan of the Mississippi Association of Educators said that "the Comer Model supports creating a true partnership in shared decision making with educators, parents, and community to provide a comprehensive plan to make sure that individual student needs are met allowing them to become well-educated citizens."
Workshop participants will introduce and implement the Comer Model as a part of their education organizing work. "The Comer Process requires that community education stakeholders come together to work for the kinds of revisions identified in the Model, which may not be achieved all at once, but which over a period of time can vastly improve and transform the culture and quality of education in local schools," said Helen Johnson, Southern Echo's Education Coordinator.
"I was very impressed with the dedication and commitment of the education stakeholders who participated in the workshop," said Dr. Cooper. "We look forward to exploring how the Comer School Developmental Program can support their efforts to make a high quality education a reality for all young people in Mississippi."