Excerpted from the Federal Way Mirror Reporter
By KYRA LOW
It was a grand success at this year’s Communities in Schools Annual Breakfast. The event brought in $47,000, more than was collected last year and $12,000 above the group’s goal. The 11th annual breakfast brought in more than 400 community members and educators.
The event was emceed by Superintendent Tom Murphy, who is nearing the end of his long career at Federal Way Public Schools. Murphy received a long standing ovation during the breakfast.
The speaker for the event was Washington State University President Elson Floyd, who spoke of the changes in education over the years. Teaching was once only about the education, he said. However, that is no longer the case, as schools have expanded to many social services.
“Teaching has almost become secondary to everything else,” Floyd said. “Teachers have to deal with so many of the other social issues.”
However, through programs like Communities In Schools, schools are able to fill the voids and help all children.
“They represent our future,” Floyd said. “And our future will be incredibly bright thanks to your philanthropy. It’s all of our responsibilities. Thank you for what you do to produce the leaders of tomorrow.”
Murphy confirmed what Floyd said: That schools face many needs nowadays that aren’t related to education, but social services — and only with CIS are they able to reach those needs.
“Schools are not social service agencies. We cannot be social service agencies,” Murphy said. “Communities in Schools does that, and it’s only a click away,” he added, referring to CIS’s new online system that created a district wide resource contact list.