By now I hope those of you who read PEPTalk and know me personally know that my goal is always to keep Parents and the Plainfield Community informed so that we can come to the table not asking favors, but rather negotiating equitable parental representation and involvement with regard to moving our school district forward and effectively educating our children. On a regular basis I share with each of you my experiences as I work with various district personnel in an effort to promote parental involvement in hopes that you will avoid missteps, but more to the point -- optimize your interactions and results with PPS.
Today I’d like to discuss No Child Left Behind (NCLB) - Title I Funding for Parental Involvement. This is an enormous policy with very little if any guidance for parent groups in this district. Before I begin, I’d like each of you to do four (4) things so that as I share my experiences you are better able to understand and hopefully partner with your respective school’s administrators.
First - print and read the following documents.
(One is huge, but the bottom line is – in order for us to insure our children are adequately educated, and to hold those responsible and accountable for same – we have GOT TO understand for ourselves (not what is given to us by the district – but for ourselves!) what is required of all parties – and that includes us as PARENTS.
Second – attend the Plainfield Family Success Center (Grand Opening) scheduled tomorrow from 4 – 7 PM at PHS (Old Building – Rm# 403).
Third – attend the Town Hall meeting at Evergreen School scheduled at 7 PM on the same day.
And finally - consider the information provided at the success center versus the information within the two attached documents, versus the information shared at the Town Hall meeting. Identify the gaps and begin to develop a list of what they offer, versus what you need, versus what is State supported. For now, I’ll stay away from the word “mandated” because there are certain rules that you and I must follow as parent groups to enable us to take advantage of “mandated” funding.
There’s a lot of issues surfacing about how the administration is making decisions, what decisions are being made, who’s making them, too many mistakes etc…but quite honestly they mean absolutely nothing if we do not get ourselves collectively engaged in a partnership that WE define for ourselves and OWN! It is not enough to post it in forums and expect there to be either change or accountability.
We have got to be FRONT and CENTER at every opportunity to engage in face-to-face dialog with our district administrators. We owe it to our children, to their future and to ourselves as parents who are hell bent on seeing that our children do better than we are doing.
I implore you! – take the time to read and understand these documents. Come to the Town Hall Meeting. Let your presence be your present to your child’s educational future.
I’ll post more specifics on my experience tomorrow and throughout the remainder of the next few weeks but for now – read on.
I look forward to learning; sharing and growing as we all gain a better understanding of parental involvement as supported by Title I – NCLB statutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment