Implementation of Meet the BFMS Staff
Schools
Educators
Students
The Big Beaver Falls School Area team wanted to find ways to involve families more and promote parent engagement among middle school parents and staff. We learned that families didn’t feel wanted nor did they feel like they were being heard by the school staff. Our hack intended to introduce families to a more comfortable way of connecting with parents and school staff.
What did you do in practice?
Our mini-hack, “Snack and Chat,” had been a meet and greet for the 6th grade staff and families. The bigger fall hack used the same idea but undertook it with the entire middle school on “Meet the BFMS Staff” night. All school staff, including support staff, were outside in front of the middle school at various stations. Parents and families could walk along the street, closed to traffic for the hour, and chat with their children’s teacher or teachers. Grade-level informational brochures were available for parents to take, as well as other easily available parent resources, music and food.
Why did you do this implementation trial?
Typically teachers and parents talk in formal ways, with the agenda prepared and guided by the teacher. In a trial run in the spring our mini-hack brought together the 6th grade staff and the incoming students and parents to encourage connections in a more informal and fun way. A guiding question was: How can we do this and make it fun not only for the students but our parent/school Parents as Allies team? We learned from that trial and it was the experience we needed to introduce the snack and chat idea to the entire middle school in the fall.
There was no pressure on teachers to follow a prepared agenda or to limit conversation to academics or issues of student performance. The short, one-hour event was easy, relaxed and organized for easy navigation, information-exchange and getting to know eachother better.
The Big Beaver Falls Area School District is a midsized, suburban public school district in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. We serve the City of Beaver Falls, the Boroughs of Big Beaver, Eastvale, Homewood, Koppel and New Galilee and White Township. The district encompasses approximately 22 square miles.
