The Power of Parents

 I have wanted a parent committee for our pathway for the last 6 years.  We have had a few attempts throughout the process and for the first time, it is actually working. I realize now what didn't work before and thought I would share with you the power of using parents and their connections at the high school level.

Along with being a part-time TOSA, I am also the Department Chair for a choice driven, cross-curricular, project-based pathway at our high school. Six years ago, when we started this pathway, we had parents who were very supportive and would offer to help.  The problem was that all of us in the pathway were still developing our projects and we couldn't look far enough ahead to actually utilize a committee.  They were interested in helping us fundraise or supporting the classroom, but the problem was, we didn't know what to ask for.

So, like any good life-long learner, I decided to visit numerous schools to get ideas and gather my own "data" to bring back to my team.  How is it possible to create projects and get support?  Here are just a few of the schools I visited:

1.  Da Vinci Charter Academy (Davis, CA) - This school has an Internship Coordinator.  Their job is to help place students in their internships during their Junior and Senior years at the school.  They would also help support teachers when panelists and visitors came to the campus.  This is what first gave us the idea that bringing others in to be panelists could be a job in itself.

2.  Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (Goleta, CA) - This school involves parents throughout the entire process.  Parents are asked to serve as mentors and help on subcommittees.  The DPEA also has a parent organization called the CIA (Community In Action). This group meets monthly to plan various activities and support the DPEA students, staff, and Foundation.

3.  New Tech High School (Napa, CA) - This school has an entire Community Partnership established with local businesses who serve as partners for projects with teachers and as opportunities for internships.

4.  The Ron Clark Academy (Atlanta, GA) - This school was an experience. As for parents, all parents were expected to give back 40 hours per school year.  They would help with teacher training, field trips, fundraising and more.

5.  High Tech High (San Diego, CA) - Parents at this school help by volunteering and supporting the teachers so that teachers can really work on innovation. 

So now that we are finally in a position to now know what to ask for, how did we start?

SURVEY
First, we had a Welcome Night for our incoming 9th-grade students.  At that meeting, I surveyed the parents and asked who would like to be a part of our parent committee. I also asked parents to tell us their fields of expertise, so even if they couldn't be a part of the committee, we would have a bank of parents by field.  I also asked if anyone was interested in leading the committee.  We have 9-12th graders so you may wonder why I asked the 9th-grade parent to be the lead. With this launch, I wanted to give a person the opportunity to really refine being the leader and be able to train others to help them and take it over.

FORMING THE COMMITTEE
Luckily, we found an amazing Dad and a group of 9th-grade parents to get us started.  I reached out to two 10th grade parents who had been very active the year before.  Those parents helped reach out to 11th and 12th-grade parents to help form the committee.  They decided to have 2-3 parents per grade level would allow the parents to have enough support.  Some grades decided to assign a particular parent to a teacher and others have us message the coordinators.  Whatever the method, the parents on this committee, commit to helping us get guests into our classroom, and we as teachers commit to giving them at least three weeks of lead time.

TEACHERS MUST SHARE NEEDS
This is the essential take away. If teachers cannot open up their classroom to guests, you will not have a need for a parent committee and they will feel underutilized and quit.  I asked all the teachers in my department to map out their needs for the year, as best as they could.  I am including a copy of the actual list so you can see the process.

ROLES OF PARENTS
Our parents serve as panelists, speakers, or can connect us to speakers and expert panelists. This can mean bringing a Scientist in to watch a presentation on BioSpheres or a Psychologist to be on a panel related to a Social Experiment.  There are some that involve specific knowledge but for others, it might focus on Oral Communication and being an effective speaker.

I have been so impressed with the parents and their commitment. I have also realized that they have become much more understanding of what is happening in the classroom and can be the best ambassadors for the future of our pathway and its future success.  Yay for parents and yay for teachers being open to teaming up with them for support.


Wonderful parents helping as panelists for a History Presentation

 
AP Journalist Janie McCauley spoke to students about the power of Journalism.  The parent committee found this expert presenter.