We had learned from a survey that parents wanted to be more present in our school. To find different ways for parents to be involved, we organized “Fairview Family Night” to draw parents to the building. Information on many fronts was easily available at different stations, and this design also provided an easy way to talk and connect with one another, parent to parent or parent to teacher.
The new fall event we hosted was a back-to-school gathering aimed at improving overall engagement between families, school, and our community. Families were invited to mingle with school staff, visit informational booths, and enjoy food and activities. A fun movie was available for the children to engage them while their parents visited with teachers, support staff, special area teachers and PTO representatives. There were also stations to access desired information like community sports and organizations, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and family resources. We even had a booth to get clearances, which removed another known barrier for families hoping to be involved in the school. We held the event on a fall night. Overall, it was well attended and was a great way to kick-off the school year with a positive community vibe.
Perhaps the best evidence of spread is that Fairview Family Night will become an annual event. Part of that will be offering it as a free event, and not fee-based as happened initially. We will also find and develop roles for parents who want to be engaged, but in different ways. This will truly get to the heart of family and school engagement. Importantly, we will also find opportunities for families to meet informally to help them lower the barriers that limit their reach to teachers.
There are always people whose perspectives we are missing. We expanded our reach through a needs assessment and distributed our survey to third grade families. We asked about their priorities (academic, social-emotional, economic, civic), what we needed more of, and what event we should add to the calendar. We believe our excitement about parent participation inspired others to join in!
