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Welcome!
A letter from Rita Ferrandino, ESC Executive Director
March 8, 2008
Hello:
I’m delighted to welcome you to the beginnings of the Elementary Science Coalition.
Two weeks ago, a new report from the Center of Education Policy, a national, independent advocate for public education and school effectiveness confirmed that science in the elementary Classroom is truly disappearing.
We are building this Coalition because we as a nation, as a workforce, as educators, as citizens can no longer sit on the sidelines as we watch the teaching of elementary science disappear from our children’s classrooms.
We are a growing community from science and tech corporations, the national defense industry, federal agencies, publishing companies, associations, and universities.
Through our membership, our Elementary Science Coalition needs to broaden and intensify our national voice. This Coalition seeks to bring new faces, fresh energy and new-found resources into the conversation that America faces a critical problem due to the lack of elementary science education.
Our Elementary Science Coalition needs to amplify the important work currently being spear-headed by our colleagues within the science community and the STEM education community. We have a responsibility to magnify and support the critical work being accomplished by groups such as AAAS, ACS, NSF, NSTA, National Digital Science Library, NASSMC, the Triangle Coalition and many others not able to be with us today.
At our inaugural meeting, in the spirit of bringing together a diverse group of new faces and established faces, I invited participants to provide us with a brief introduction and the reason for your attendance. I will do so again, here, and welcome your responses in kind.
...I’m Rita Ferrandino, founding partner at Arc Capital Development. I’m investing in this Coalition because I’ve got an 8 year old who we lovingly refer to as our own little Dennis the Mennis. Christopher attends a public school in Sarasota, FL which is exclusively for gifted children. Now that he is in third grade, he finally gets science education taught to him every other day every other semester.
How do we expect to have a thriving workforce and community when we are only teaching our gifted children science every other semester every other day after they reach the third grade?...
I hope that you will join us in re-imagining science education for our children. Together, we can truly affect change.
Sincerely,
Rita Ferrandino
If you would like to become involved as a sponsor or a member of the Elementary Science Coalition, please contact Rita Ferrandino at rita@arccd.com or (941) 921-1663.
The Elementary Science Coalition is a select group of educators, educational publishing companies, and corporations with a vested interest in a strong scientific workforce, 
