By Virginia Lascara
virginia.lascara@insidebiz.com
Jane Batten believes that if you want to change the world, you start with a child at the earliest point of education.
“Education is all one piece, from early education to elementary all the way up to high school,” she said. “If a child doesn’t have that early stimulation then they have a higher chance of not doing well in school, not graduating and not being a productive member of society.”
So it’s not just a matter of education, she said, it’s a matter of workforce development. And economic development.
“You’re never going to bring businesses here without an educated workforce,” she said.
Batten, recipient of the 2014 Darden Award for Regional Leadership presented by the CIVIC Leadership Institute, has a prolific history of supporting the community.
Her role as a philanthropist and community leader grew out of her marriage to media executive Frank Batten Sr., founder of Landmark Communications, the predecessor company of Landmark Media Enterprises, which publishes The Virginian-Pilot and Inside Business.
“I was married to a newspaperman – so you have to be involved in the community, that’s just the nature of the beast,” she said. “Frank had really enjoyed early education, and I find it to be the most satisfying because you can see the product and you see the difference that a good education can make.”
Batten and her late husband supported many institutions of higher education including Old Dominion University, Virginia Wesleyan College and the University of Virginia.
At age 77, she sits on the Board of Trustees at Virginia Wesleyan, working as a leader and fundraiser on behalf of the college.
“Jane Batten has been involved with Virginia Wesleyan College for about 30 years and her impact on our campus has been phenomenal,” said Virginia Wesleyan President Billy Greer. “She is a college president’s dream. She is genuinely concerned about our youth and the quality of education they receive – from elementary school through their college years. Jane fervently believes that education changes lives and changes our world for the better.”
When her husband passed away in 2008, Batten continued their philanthropic goals of making a difference, one student at a time.
“My philanthropy is dedicated to education,” she said.
She now sits on the board of Elevate Early Education, the Slover Library Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.
As a board member of Elevate Early Education, Batten has worked to help advocate for early education among Virginia’s children.
Her interest in early education was sparked when she and her husband donated $20 million to create the Batten Educational Achievement Fund in 2003. The goal of the fund was to help Hampton Roads citizens become productive and self-sufficient by ensuring that all pre-kindergarten students have not just adequate, but exceptional, education.
Six years ago her vision for an early education school began to take shape, said Lisa Howard, president and CEO of Elevate Early Education.
Batten visited early childhood programs across the county that produced strong outcomes. The vision was to take the best elements from each and create a high-quality and cost-sustainable program that could be replicated throughout existing early education schools in Virginia.
Eventually her work with Elevate Early Education led to the creation of the New E3 laboratory school in Norfolk. This state-of-the-art early education center will open in January, with a revolutionary curriculum for children ages 1-5.
“There’s not enough emphasis on early education,” she said. “A child’s brain is hardwired at an early age, so why aren’t we concentrated on their early education?”
As a board member for Elevate Early Education, she works collaboratively with city leaders, education experts, architects and contractors to bring her vision to life.
“She has really been the driving force behind early education and the largest private investor in the state when it comes to this issue,” Howard said. “And she’s been the driving force in the region and the state in terms of changing the way people are thinking about education.”
Make no mistake, the New E3 School isn’t a charity school, Batten said. Children from all economic backgrounds will participate in the school and information about the learning process will be aggregated and then analyzed.
“One thing I like about education is that you can interpret it very broadly,” she said.
This means supporting unconventional education programs outside the walls of a classroom.
In 2012 she helped implement Sail Nauticus with a $1.5 million donation to the program that teaches disadvantaged youth through the use of sailing and maritime sciences.
She’s been on the board of The First Tee of Hampton Roads, a program that uses golf to teach life skills.
“It’s really a unique program,” she said. “It teaches you important things like honesty, perseverance, sportsmanship, character-building and so much more.”
As a board member of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, headquartered in Annapolis, Batten spends a lot of time driving back and forth to board meetings.
“I’m very interested in the environment and environmental education,” she said.
She has helped to create the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, at Pleasure House Point. The education center aims to inform and inspire the community to take better care of the bay.
In the past Batten enjoyed playing golf and tennis in her downtime, but now board meetings seem to take up most of her time. Her fervor for education coupled with an interest in history led her to serve on the board at the George Washington Foundation.
“A lot of people think George Washington grew up at Mount Vernon,” she said. “But he didn’t.”
Her efforts with the foundation help enhance the public’s knowledge and understanding of Washington and his family.
Inspired by her work with the foundation, she recently restored a house on the Eastern Shore. “The house was built in 1764,” she said. “It was really fun for me.”
In March 2013 she was named one of the Most Influential Virginians by Virginia Business for her educational philanthropy, specifically her work with the $65 million Slover Library project in downtown Norfolk.
“Some people are saying – why build a library? No one reads books anymore,” she said. “But this library does more than just hold books. It’s going to be a community center for information and for meeting with people.”
The architecture of the building interested her. The old Seaboard Building will blend into a new, modern facility, much like the outdated notion of a library will be given modern functionality.
Together, the Battens made a $40 million donation to the library. Harry Lester, who oversees the project, said Jane Batten’s involvement has been immense. With the help of community leaders, she and Lester will help create a library that will bring the community together to deal with community issues.
“Jane is a remarkable lady,” Lester said. “She’s engaged in the things that she chooses and she’s been very generous. It’s fun to work with Jane Batten, she’s so intelligent.”