COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS TREATED AS “COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP” Suffolk’s approach to partnerships is intentionally structured. Gordon refers to them as community leadership rather than casual partnerships because the expectation is not simply support, but participation in shared outcomes. The district has established community leadership levels tied to contribution, and those contributions are measured broadly.A donation is not only a check; it can include school supplies, coats, boots, holiday gifts, or essential student supports, with each item assigned a dollar value. That model creates clarity for partners and allows the district to quantify return on investment through a simple metric: how many students were impacted. At the same time, Gordon understands the brand effect. Successful organizations want to associate with success. In one of his earliest partnership moves, Suffolk signed agreements linked to Nike and Pepsi, providing brand-aligned visibility and building pride across schools and athletics. The logic is straightforward: when students feel proud of their school identity and see respected partners attached to their system, it elevates culture, cohesion, and confidence. That community leadership network extends into Career and Technical Education, student internships, and work-based learning—areas where employers increasingly recognize that the future workforce must be developed collaboratively. BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE K–12 STEM MODEL Workforce readiness in Suffolk is being shaped through a district-wide STEM strategy that Gordon believes could become the first sustainable K–12 STEM model in Virginia, and potentially one of the most comprehensive in the broader region. At the high school level, Suffolk has already built strong Project Lead the Way programs. Nansemond River High School offers Project Lead the Way engineering, while Lakeland High School offers Project Lead the Way biomedical. At the elementary level, Suffolk launched its first STEM Academy this year through a lab school partnership with the Virginia Department of Education. Gordon’s STEM approach is intentionally developmental. In elementary school, it is exploration. In middle school, it becomes identification as students begin to see interests forming. In high school, it becomes specialization, with students developing clearer direction toward workforce entry or higher education. This model is being driven by workforce signals. Partnerships with organizations such as Amazon, 440 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 07, ISSUE 01
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