CEAM Ice Cream Social sparks fun, school choice conversations

Nothing says summer quite like an ice cream social, but while CEAM’s recent advocate appreciation event helped over 40 St. Louis area kids kick off the summer season in style it also helped the attending parents focus on issues with their schools and plans to improve their children’s education.

On a perfect late May day, over 20 school choice advocates and their families gathered at Spanish Lake Park to play, eat ice cream and talk about the need for more school choice.

While kids enjoyed ice cream and a velcro toss-and-catch game, temporary tattoos, a bubble machine, punch balloons, and playground equipment, their families shared their education stories and spoke passionately about their personal struggles and all-around problems in education.

CEAM provided families with the most recent test scores from North St. Louis districts like Riverview Gardens and Normandy.

Although parents were shocked that only 2 percent (Riverview Gardens) to 8.5 percent (Normandy) of students were performing at grade level in math, many families shared that they have long been saying that their neighborhood schools have been failing their children.

Several families said they had escaped the horrible education in their local schools by pulling their children out to either homeschool or send them to private schools.

Some longtime volunteers shared their experiences advocating for CEAM with parents new to the movement. New families also learned about recent laws that have been passed to create the MOCAP and the MOScholars programs and also learned how to get involved in the movement to expand educational opportunities to more children in Missouri.

The conversation was so lively that a group of mothers stayed an hour past the end of the event to continue the discussion. They look forward to new opportunities to get together and fight for education options.

CEAM is planning another Ice Cream Social in Kansas City on June 25. To learn more and RSVP please click here.