17
Mrs. Harvey has retired several times. She
states, “When I retired the rst time, in
1995, there were many teachers who left
at the same time because of retirement
incentives. My mother had Alzheimer’s
and it made sense for me to leave wor to
spend time with her. But I was only retired
for a short time. Parents were calling on
us teachers to help them with parentteacher
conferences as consultants, to
help advocate for their children or explain
things that were confusing.”
That’s when the four teachers, Mrs.
Harvey, Doretha Pratt, Cleveland Pearcey,
and Mae Johnson along with attorney .D.
Rodgers, Jr. and Seymour Sailes started
the Education Consultants Consortium
(ECCI), whose motto is “Helping Parents
Keep Their Children in School.”
By 1997, many members of the community
were calling on Mrs. Harvey to apply her
nowledge and willingness to assist the
community by running for an elected
seat on the school board. She finally
agreed. With the help of Seymour Sailes,
a pioneer businessman in the Palmetto
community and part of ECCI, as well as
countless families who new and trusted
her, she won and maintained a seat on
the Manatee County School Board for
16 years.
Over the years Mrs. Harvey has helped
Manatee County students received the
best possible quality education, in a
variety of ways. She is probably most
proud of the wor she’s done with the
Education Consultants Consortium.
Through this organization, students
can not only receive free tutoring from
certified teachers, they also receive
much-needed guidance on the issues
of health, family life, and sex education.
Another facet is free music lessons as
part of the Truly Blessed Youth Mass
Choir. This choir presents, on average,
three times a month for local, state, and
national gatherings.
Most impressive to me, however, is the
Career Development Club. The 110
students enrolled in this summer program
go through employee sills training and
receive a stipend for participating in
employment opportunities. The club was
sponsored by Area Health Education
Center, ManateeSarasota Worforce
Development, Manatee County School
Board, and ECCI.
“Now, by spending their summer helping
the custodial staff at our local schools,”
Mrs. Harvey explains, “My children learn
employability sills as well as life sills.
Their day might consist of cleaning a
school between am and 1pm, followed
by a provided lunch. Then the afternoon
is lled with summer-slide prevention
class wor in subjects lie Language
Arts, math, teen pregnancy prevention,
and integrity planning. In addition,
the student earns close to $1500 by
summer’s end.”
Opportunities lie this mae a tremendous
impact in our community. And as long as
she is maing a difference, it doesn’t loo
lie Barbara Harvey will retire again, truly
retire, any time soon.