Putnam Community School Study Circles: Finding Ways for the Community to Work Together

When dramatic change comes to a community, it can bring people together or drive them apart. Opportunities for improvement can be lost. Putnam is looking for a better way to grow.

Putnam County had a population of almost 19,000 in the 2000 census and has seen dramatic growth over the last seven years. Its county seat is Eatonton, founded in 1808. It is the birthplace of two widely known writers, Joel Chandler Harris (who wrote the “Uncle Remus” folk tales) and Alice Walker (who wrote “The Color Purple”) 

Once known as an agricultural center in the state, Putnam County is now a community feeling the effects of regional growth. People from around the region and the country have been moving into new, upper income lake-side and golf communities. Along with growth have come the challenges of infrastructure and the competition of new ideas.   Long-time residents and new-comers at times have different viewpoints about the future of the community.

Study Circles began its work in Putnam in partnership with Laura Reilly of the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) and the Putnam County Board of Education and Superintendent Jim Willis. GSBA has an ongoing commitment to creating stronger connections and dialogue between local school boards and their communities. Jim Willis, who knew about Study Circles, was faced with major decisions that affected the entire county and wanted to create the broader involvement of community residents.

On Saturday May 13, 2007, in spite of busy end of school year schedules, a broad mix of 100 community residents joined for the first formal Putnam County Conversation. Participants met in small conversation groups with neutral volunteer facilitators from Putnam County and from GSBA. From 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. the participants listened to short presentations of data and strategic information and then offered their own ideas and viewpoints.

These important questions were at the heart of the May Summit:

1. How We Hope to Grow: Centralized or De-centralized Growth?
2. How We Hope to Grow: Elementary or High School First?
3. How can we best keep the community engaged? What Issues are most strategic for community consideration next?

What was the format for the Community Conversation?

Participants were divided into table conversation groups. Each of the groups had a volunteer facilitator who agreed to help keep the group focused, make sure every person had a fair opportunity to be heard and ensure that what was said was fairly written down. At the end of the day all of the notes were collected and typed up in one document.

The Study Circle Resource Center combined the notes from all of the groups, grouped the responses into common themes and looked for the viewpoints, questions and suggestions most useful for thinking about the future of the Putnam County Schools.

During the conversation, one important issue was raised. “We have a number of key issues that require the three governing bodies, working together, to resolve but we have few opportunities to listen to the other elected bodies in the community. We need to find a way to sit down with each other.

Barbeque and Conversation:  The Putnam County Commissioners, Eatonton Council Members and School Board Member?

Relationships among elected bodies are not easy. Tax pressures, conflicting ideas and in some cases constituents with very different needs and demands, make meeting and working together difficult.

Three types of questions shaped the evening conversation.

1. What is it about Putnam County and the City of Eatonton that motivates your work for its future? What do you most care about and appreciate about this community.

2. Communities positioned to be healthy and competitive in the world find ways to solve problems across lines of even strong disagreement. Make a list of the issues and actions that the three boards could do better together than apart? How can community members become more engaged in community conversations and volunteerism?

3. What would open the door to future productive conversations among the elected leaders and their staff members in Putnam County? Are additional conversations important? Have all of the possible issues or questions for those conversations already been listed? What issue or action had the most energy in your small group? What are the challenges?

One outcome of the first round of Circles in May 2006 was an invitation from the school board to the elected leaders of each of the three elected groups (city council, county commission and school board). The plan was to have a relaxed evening around good barbeque with important conversations about working together.

The table conversations were spirited and honest. They discussed important issues. Together, could they find a way to preserve and make productive use of the historic Butler Baker School? Could they strengthen communication and cooperation among the governmental bodies? By the end of the meeting, a common theme emerged,   “We need to communicate more effectively and to find common ground for actions that help our community and that enable each elected body to be more effective.”

The concrete ideas included scheduled meetings for the chiefs of staff, creating opportunities for listening to the community, creating agreements about how elected officials communicate and creating inter-governmental work groups when needed. Examples of cooperation included a shared transportation facility, future plans for the Butler-Baker School and planning for common infrastructure needs.

A September Step Toward Planning Together

Months later, on an early fall night in September, residents of Putnam County joined together for another dinner to start their planning for three important issues.

Members of the local governing bodies sat around tables with community volunteers willing to build a better community together. The questions they considered included:

1. How do these issues touch you as parents, educators, citizens or elected officials? What is most important about the work of these committees that represent the City, the County and the Schools?
2. How can we build support for our schools through engaging the larger community? How do we get people who feel connected to the city, county and school board to come out to a community conversation?
3. How are these issues linked? What does each of the committees need from the other committees at the meeting on the 20th and beyond? Are there other issues the groups should discuss?

Building on Successes:  What Next?

The work of citizens and leaders in Putnam County and Eatonton is worth celebrating. No, it does not mean that conflict ends. Conflict after all is just proof that people are passionate about the place they live and about its future. It does mean that the community is becoming stronger. The ability to seek common ground for action (even in the middle of conflict) raises hope for increased trust, better decisions and a more competitive community in the future.

Is the purpose of the work to create a good plan? President Dwight Eisenhower, a mastermind behind the invasion of Normandy said, “A plan is nothing, planning is everything.”  The plans to address issues confronting the community have value, but time and changing conditions make plans obsolete before their completion date. The real power in a community is regularly coming together, listening to each other and acting together.

In Putnam, the work continues. Another community summit is being planned – another step toward a better way to grow.