On August 5, 2021, Manatee Elementary held its Open House for our students and families. And what an incredible success it was! Hundreds of parents, families, and students attended.

Principal Gonzalez and the administrative team were thrilled and honored to be on hand to greet our children as they and their families visited the campus and met with teachers and school staff. Raffles and prize drawings were held throughout the evening. Live music was played, backpacks were given away, and free food was served for our children and their families. It was a great day to be a Mustang!

Principal Gonzalez was asked about the tremendous turnout and said, "Our Open House is really the beginning of our relationship between our school, our children, and their families."  She continued, "It’s the beginning of our commitment to a partnership focused on our students and their education. As a staff, we understood that this was our first chance to engage parents, and therefore, we wanted to make our Open House a warm, collaborative event."

According to Mrs. Gonzalez, "educating children is a community responsibility; families are a welcomed part of our team at Manatee Elementary." "This sense of working together," she said, "comes from developing a relationship. When we as educators partner with parents in their children’s education, our students do much better and are more likely to succeed in school. We also wanted to make it clear that each family is valued." Mrs. Gonzalez pointed out that "many of our students do not speak English at home. We have many that speak Spanish, or Haitian Creole and we wanted to use our Open House to help make all families feel comfortable and welcome, and to build strong and lasting relationships. We also used our Open House as an opportunity to explain what their children will be learning and the many other services we can provide them as a community partnership school."

Manatee Elementary thanks our Community Partners, including the Children's Home Society of Florida, Manatee County Rural Health Services (MCR Health), University of South Florida (USF), and especially, Mr. Conrad Szymanski, our Community Partnership Chair. Special thanks are also extended to the Manatee High School JROTC Battalion under the direction of Command Sergeant Major Thomas Zock, Books for Kids, Boys and Girls Club, the Bradenton Police Department, The Dream Center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Early Learning Coalition, Parenting Matters, Publix, Soar in 4, Step Up Suncoast, Take Stock in Childen, 21st Century, Unidos Now, and United Way of Suncoast. We also thank Bradenton Kiwanis International for donating their time and outstanding cooking skills! You rock! To all our partners, on behalf or our children, their families, and community - Thank you!!!

It takes a village to raise a child ~ African Proverb