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Parents in Schools
CCSD Promotes and Facilitates Family Involvement
T he Media Center at Alps Road
Elementary School boasts high
ceilings, large scenic windows and
neatly placed books stacked up to
waist height. At the front of the room, parents
sit in undersize chairs made for children no
older than 10. Dr. Philip Lanoue, the superin
tendent of the Clarke County School District
(CCSD), Clarke County Board of Education
President Charles Worthy and parents rep
resenting their children's schools at this
monthly meeting of the Parent Advisory Board
give familiar greetings, then quietly anticipate
the first order of business. Worthy gives a
report on tne Board of Education and Lanoue
gives the superintendent's report.
Parents ask questions and respond
to district initiatives. Finally, special
guest Tim Johnson, executive director
of Whatever It Takes Athens, presents
his organization's plans to work with
the CCSD. The meeting starts on time
and ends on schedule, with a total of
25 parents and school administrators in
attendance.
The Parent Advisory Board meet
ing epitomizes what may be seen as a
stereotype of "parent involvement" in
schools. Many think of parent involve
ment as attending PTA or PTO meet
ings, bringing cookies to a bake sale or
attending football games. But in today's
world, many parents are single, work
several jobs and spend time with their
children in other ways. The CCSD leader
ship recognizes the diversity of parent
hood and the challenges faced by many
parents in the county. In response, the
district has implemented a variety of
programs and strategies to increase
parent involvement not only in Clarke
County schools, but also in the lives of
all children attending them.
"In some homes, the parenting element
may be missing, so I also think [parental
involvement] means community involvement,"
explains school board member Ovita Thornton.
Thornton believes that parent involvement
goes beyond attendance at PTO meetings and
permeates other aspects of children's lives.
"We need to take every opportunity to reach
parents and create new opportunities," she
says, "because the world has changed."
And that changed world presents chal
lenges for parents. Many are single and work
ing more than one job. Attending daytime
meetings, or evening meetings overlapping
night shifts at work, proves difficult for many
parents when childcare cannot be found.
Transportation costs and the difficulty of get
ting time off from work can present barriers to
parents playing active roles in their children's
education.
-So, what does "involvement" mean for the
modern parent in Athens?
According to Thornton, "People are too
hung up on the old model of parent involve
ment, PTO meetings and bake sales. It's much
bigger than that."
tudies show that when parents are
involved with their children's educa
tion, children have higher grades and
test scores, better school attendance, lower
rates of suspension, decreased use of drugs
and alcohol and fewer instances of violent
behavior.
Through parent involvement initiatives,
CCSD has found similar positive effects in the
lives of students in the Athens community. By
January of the 2009-2010 school year, CCSD
had held approximately 144 disciplinary hear
ings to suspend students for periods of 10
school days or more. By January of this school
year, the number of hearings for such suspen
sions had decreased to 78. According to Dr.
Lanoue, "Kids are getting choices." Teacher
training changes attitudes, and recently CCSD
has focused on not only children's behavior,
but also the behavior of teachers and parents
in response to issues that may confront chil
dren during the school day.
CCSD has also seen an increase in the aca
demic achievement of students throughout
the district. The State of Georgia recognized
the Clarke County School District as the
2009-2010 winner of the Title I Distinguished
District Award for closing the achievement
gap between economically disadvantaged
and non-economically disadvantaged stu
dents. Alt elementary and middle schools in
the district made Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP), the state's measure of student achieve
ment required by No Child Left Behind. Some
individual schools have also seen better
test scores, as well as better behavior from
students.
With so much achieved in such a short
period of time, one must ask the question:
What exactly is the district doing to increase
parent involvement?
"Four or five years ago, everything was
different," explains Clara Londono, the fam
ily engagement specialist at J.J. Harris
Elementary School. "Now every school has a
family engagement specialist."
Family engagement specialists work exclu
sively with parents who require access to
community services related to their children's
educations. "The district sees family engage
ment as an important piece of a child's educa
tion," Londono says, with three main goals:
to get parents participating in school events,
to give parents tools to promote education at
home and to link community services to the
people who need them the most.
O ne of President Barack Obama's pri
mary educational initiatives focuses
on creating more programs like the
Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) in New York
City. With its origins in a truancy prevention
project founded in 1970, HCZ has grown into
an organization that takes on neighborhoods
one block at a time, connecting families to
services that will increase positive outcomes
for children in the community. "The founder
of HCZ sought to change the 'thug culture' of
Harlem into an education culture," explains
Johnson of Whatever It Takes Athens, "and the
key is to involve parents, community partners
and the school district."
Whatever It Takes Athens (WIT) plans
to implement a similar program in Athens.
The WIT organization includes six teams: an
Early Childhood Education team; a Safety
and Juvenile Justice team; a K-12 team; a
Post-Secondary Career team; a Health and
Wellness team; and a Family, Neighborhood
and Community Engagement team. WIT will
work not only v ’th the schoot district but also
with parents, community groups and volun
teers to help increase positive outcomes for
students by connecting children and families
with resources tailored to their specific needs.
Johnson emphasizes that WIT'S parent orga
nization, Family Connection/ Communities
in Schools, has already undertaken several
initiatives in Athens, such as teen pregnancy
prevention and early childhood education
projects, which have proven successful and
served as model programs statewide. WIT is
one of 21 organizations and institutions in
the nation to have been awarded a federal
planning grant under the Department of
Education's Promise Neighborhoods initiative;
further funding for implementation of qualify
ing programs will be awarded later this year.
WIT will add invaluable benefits to the
family engagement programs already in place
in the school district. At J.J. Harris, where 69
percent of the student population identifies as
Latino, Londono has already implemented sev
eral programs to increase parent involvement.
Every month, the school offers a coffee event
for parents with Principal Xernona Thomas,
bi-weekly English lessons for Spanish-speaking
parents, and Family and Children Together
(FACT) nights, where parents can learn reading
and math methods taught to their children
and how to reinforce their education at home.
In addition to school programming and
parent education, family engagement special
ists in CCSD offer computers for parents to
access at any time in relation to their child's
education and to help connect parents with
community resources.
"For example," says Londono, "a parent
may say... 'my child needs glasses, but she
doesn't have insurance. She's not completing
assignments, and her head hurts. What do I
do?'" Family engagement specialists like
Londono point parents not only to med
ical resources, but also to community
programs that provide food, clothing
and other basic services that parents
may not otherwise know how to access.
the beginning of the
2009-2010 school year,
ACC elementary schools
changed from apparent choice" policy
to "neighborhood schools," meaning
that children new attend schools in
"zones" near their homes instead of
enrolling in schools that may be on the
other side of town. The change in policy
may have increased parent involvement
in schools. "Parents involve other par
ents," notes Adam Kurtz, principal of
Chase Street Elementary School. "There
is a comfort level in seeing what people
around you are doing. Initiatives grow
more organically."
Kurtz recognizes other benefits of
neighborhood schools, such as the abil
ity of faculty to visit homes easily and
the ability of parents to attend school
events with fewer problems finding
transportation. "Informal, regular interactions
help make the school more of a community
hub and increase parent involvement."
Parent involvement in Athens-Clark County
extends far beyond attendance at traditional
after-school events and test score results.
Parent education initiatives, collaboration
with community programs and other outreach
by schools and the Athens community at large
increase the ability of parents to play strong
roles in the academic lives of their children.
"Parents need incentives to come to meet
ings," says Londono. "Many cannot afford
gas to get to meetings or may need childcare
services for their children in order to increase
[their] involvement in school and community
programs that benefit their children."
Even though more could be done to
increase parent involvement in education,
Thornton, of the school board, believes that
the district is headed on the right path. "We
need to look at the tools that we do have and
measure them to see whether or not they are
effective. However, I feel really good about
where we are right now. We have created ave
nues to involve parents in a positive way and
will continue to do so as we learn what works
and what doesn't."
Emma Hetherington
For more information on how to get involved in Athens
community schools, contact your neighborhood school
or Whatever It Takes Athens at www.witathens.org.
FEBRUARY 9,2011 • FLAGPOLE.COM 9
