Nine Business Leaders To Work With County Schools

By Sherri C. Ranta
Nine local business executives will be paired up with school principals in a program designed to bring private leadership skills to Miami-Dade County’s "C"-rated public schools.

The business leaders will share successful practices applicable to school settings under the Executive Partnership Program, said Elaine Liftin, executive director of the Council for Educational Change, a statewide non-profit group administering the program.

Studies show that the "clearly defining difference in how schools become successful is (the presence of) successful leaders. Leadership at the school site," she said, "can make or break a school."

Expected to join the program next year are Andrew Ansin of Sunbeam Properties, Robert Balough of Yale Mortgage, Bruce Greer of Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens, Steven Hayworth of Gibraltar Bank, John Kislak of Kislak National Bank, Charles Porter of Mellon Financial Services, Ed Soto of law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges, Frank M. Zohn of Ashlin Group and Sheldon Anderson of Northern Trust.

Council chairman Steve Saiontz, chairman of Union National Bank of Florida, recruited the executives, Ms. Liftin said.

The Miami-Dade Public Schools Board of Education launched the program in 2003 in 21 schools and hopes to expand it to the district’s 28 "C" schools, according to a written statement.

The executives and principals are expected to meet for the first time early in the year. The council, which replaced the $100 million South Florida Annenberg Challenge, works to develop and empower school-based leadership to improve student achievement.