Doug Mitchell said school systems should pay attention to corporate America because it spends billions of dollars, with a capital B, on finding out what is the will of the people.

Mitchell, president of the marketing firm The Mitchell Group, gave the introductions at the Helena Education Foundation's fifth annual leadership institute, Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The Business Model in Public Education at Carroll College Thursday.

A group of leaders from Helena and beyond spent part of the day in small groups discussing which aspects of the typical business model -- including assets and liabilities, shareholder relationships and responsibilities, and marketing -- fit public education. They tried to determine how these models can be used by communities to enhance and promote public schools and therefore businesses within the communities.

There are no funds available to market public schools and there isn't going to be, said Billings businessman Todd Buchanan. He suggested focusing on school successes and using them as leverage to gain support.

Each group took an in-depth look at a fictional school district and the potential threat of a new school that announced its intention of coming into town. Attendees were charged with thinking about ways to show the public that this fictional public school is better comparatively.

Individual groups took different aspects of the schools such as keeping up with technology, impact of poverty, chemical issues and employee retention.

One group focused on post-secondary education and the fact that about three-quarters of graduating high school seniors go to college, while only one-fourth finish. They suggested a five-year plan beginning in eighth grade preparing students to graduate and go to college.

Students need to know what skills they need as they leave high school, said Josh McKay, vice principal at Helena High School.

Tim Burton, city manager, said schools need to think long-term and not in two-year increments.

Another group said that although administrators know the schools are safe, the students don't think so -- a mind set that needs to be changed.

The group focusing on reducing the school drop-out rate said there should never be throw-away kids.

"It is a tragic loss of human potential," Deb Jacobsen, principal of Hawthorne Elementary said.

Jacobsen said there needs to be a change in the system so schools and businesses are more flexible and not so rigid.

No group was asked to provide definitive solutions to these challenges, but merely to get their brains thinking about the challenges faced by the district through business model eyes.

Cindy Lewis, HEF executive director, said the leadership institute not only gives educators a way to collaborate on ways to be more effective in making students successful, but also gives business leaders an opportunity to learn how schools are run.

"In some ways, the foundation has been the marketing for public schools," Lewis said. "But we know there is a lot to do on their own."