The Golden Age: Flint Community Schools Artwork

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The Golden Age: Flint Community Schools

January 07, 2023 • Skip Harbin • Season 4 • Episode 2

Good school districts are more than a function of how much money they collect from taxpayers. Schools must connect with the community where they are located in ways that go beyond math, science and reading.

Flint, Michigan at one time was the envy of America. Flint leaders developed and funded the concept of the Community Schools Program. The Flint School District and its Community Schools Model drew people from across the nation and the world to study the educational model. The concept was replicated in thousands of school districts in the United States and abroad.

The product of that district's efforts were after-school programs that enriched the community and provided learning experiences for the whole family after school was in recess.

Skip Harbin, a life long native of Flint, as well as a former teacher, school administrator and school board member shares with us the "golden years" of the Flint Community Schools. Skip provides context and insight to the devolution of on of America's great industrial towns. He discusses the effects of economic changes that resulted from GM's globalization, the breakdown of family structure and the growth of Charter and private schools.

This interview is part of a series of personal histories that showcase the people of Flint, Michigan. They provide a tapestry from which to view the dramatic economic and social change that has come to the heartland of America.---

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