FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Press Release City of Osceola 9/17/2024
Educational Task Force
The City of Osceola is announcing the creation of the Osceola Educational Improvement Task Force (OEITF). The OEITF will be led by the mayor and members of his staff, in partnership with local stakeholders from industry, education, and community development, to see what can be done to improve educational outcomes for Osceola students and parents and ultimately improving the quality of life in Osceola.
On August 27th, 2024 the City of Osceola hosted The Rural Pathways to the Global Marketplace Summit. At this summit industry leaders from around the nation and around the state spoke on the available options to attract international industry and customers to rural cities like Osceola. The City of Osceola has had great success over the last decade in attracting industry to this area. With that influx of industry have come companies and customers from around the world. But what became unavoidable were questions about our lack of community growth, and the most common opinion was that fixing educational opportunities should be the priority.
Two years ago, when this administration took office, a three-part plan was put in place to continue to grow the town:
1. Secure funding for planned infrastructure upgrades.
2. Create a quality-of-life improvement plan and secure funding to implement it.
3. Improve local educational outcomes.
With the first two parts of the plan proceeding on schedule, we are now putting a renewed focus on improving educational outcomes.
Following on the heels of The Rural Pathways to the Global Marketplace Summit, the administration has decided to launch the taskforce, consisting of community stakeholders and state leaders, to improve the educational opportunities in the City of Osceola. The Educational Taskforce will focus on these key areas1
1. Exploring all available options of school choice (Charter, private, etc.).
2. Focusing on STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics).
3. Providing educational paths for all students (College or trade).
4. Preschool Options.
5. Day Care capacity.
We only have a limited amount of time in which to make our town a Community of Choice. A ‘Community of Choice’ is the term often used to describe a place where people want to locate, even when they have other options. We cannot continue to think about Osceola only as a place where we have chosen to live, but we also need to build it up to be a place where others desire to buy homes and bring their families. We are losing the Community of Choice battle to surrounding communities, who are becoming home to our workers. While industries are growing, there is a window of opportunity for attracting new people and new families to the area. If that window closes, then we will be known as “that small town with those big industries” for decades to come. This administration is willing to explore all means necessary to achieve the goal of making Osceola a Community of Choice, and the ideal place to live, work and play.
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