Superintendent's Roundtable Discussion

November 6, 2008
Parent Notes
The School District of Philadelphia
440 Education Center

---

Table 1 - Keeping our Children Safe

1. Have parents/volunteers in the school as monitors
2. Safety Committee/Team in every school that includes parents
3. Formalize parent participation on school safety team
4. Post names of safety team members with their pictures.
5. Identify leaders of safety team and other staff members
6. All adults wear ID
7. Develop a formal parent complaint reporting system where incidents are fully investigated and outcomes reported to the parent. All incidents should be taken seriously and fully investigated.
8. Improve training and accountability for staff and volunteers in matters of cultural relevance, ELL and special needs students.

Table 2 - Parenting Programs: Opportunities to Get Involved

1. Schools should be a resource for assisting parents & educating parents
2. Parents need to reach out to other parents
3. Parents need to help out other parents
4. Parent's responsibility to get their children ready for school; to work with teachers continuously; as tax payers to use their money wisely/make sure money is spent wisely
5. Being a 100% advocate for your child (stay in touch)
6. Schools responsible for respectfully working with parents in all schools the same way
   • They should provide teachers' email addresses; responses by paper, phone and in a timely manner (3 days)
7. Advocates to assists parents (community officer - Parent Ombudsman)
8. Parents in schools to do work for the community in school
9. Parents Day: Teachers in playground before school starts - how to get teachers to know parents?
10. Email list for Home & School (1,500 parents)
11. Staff needs to be respectable
12. Teachers need to find was to get to know parents (by phone, write down expectations)
13. Find a way to team up with other parents (knowing how to be a good listener to get their children involved)
14. Speakers
15. Equity - it should be the same, governed by the PFT
16. Articulate the responsibilities of the teacher
17. Articulate the responsibilities of the parents

Recommendations:

• Professional development
• Parent education
• Parent involvement
• Respect for both parent & child

Table 3 - Resources for Parents & Youth

1. Resource Center in library for parents at 440
2. School-based parent resource centers
3. Family net & school net training
4. Entrepreneurship/job training/career/vocational education

Table 4 - After-School Programs

1. Debate Team
2. Chess Club
3. Technology classes for parents
4. Daddy University
5. Parent/student reading club/workshops
6. More effective after-school programs
7. Young men development class
8. Etiquette classes
9. Creative arts

Table 5 - Specialized Services

1. Accept children where they are
2. Improve distribution of information about specialized service (supports/services)
3. Structure @ school level/regional level/parents
4. Timely response for concerns from parents @ school/regional level
5. Better level of training @ classroom level for teachers, administration for inclusion/addressing class training
6. Organizing a system putting a proactive structure in place to implement inclusion
7. Use age appropriate reading materials, meeting children at their level

Table 6 - Early Childhood

1. Get the word out about Early Childhood and tell parents/Home & School Association
   • location
   • Who is eligible?
   • Income guidelines
2. Tell parents what programs are available
3. Put brochures in doctors offices, churches, laundry mat, health clinics, hairdressers, nail salons, supermarkets, family court; *no interruption of school

Table 7 - College and Career Awareness

1. Parents need to be involved at the junior high level
2. Parents need to understand the process
3. More rigorous coursework starting in middle school
4. More effective college-prep curriculum for parents and students
5. Philly Teen Resource Guide
6. White-Williams Scholars website (resources available promoting higher education or learning)
7. Partnerships with community, school, and outside groups
8. Plan for postsecondary success that is communicated to parents, teachers and students
9. Let students know how important it is to keep grades up early
10. Promote or increase a "college-going" culture
11. Counselor to provide tools for students to prepare for college
12. More career days and earlier in the school year
13. College and career activities
14. Interest surveys and connect interest with careers
15. Increase support for students that are not traditionally competitive

Table 8 - Addressing Truancy

1. Record-keeping:
   • Imperative for parents to report NEW contact info to school
   • Imperative for school to immediately update system
   • Use auto dialer for monthly reminder calls to update contact information; *cell #'s
2. Improve communication between schools
3. Improve the notification process between parent & schools
4. Request that all schools develop an incentive/reward for good attendance (monthly)
5. Truancy training for Parents
6. Posting and informing parents of resources that are available in school and in communities
7. Using other location such as community, church, stores, barber shops, etc.
8. Parent Volunteer Program
   • Welcome Desk
   • Patrols
   • Incentive program for Parent to Parent relationships

Table 9 - Professional Development for Parents

1. Central & school-based parent resource center; (all) outreach
2. Core curriculum training (including assessments)
3. Parents receive the same professional development that the teachers receive (invite parents to professional development staff only days)
4. Understanding of Special Education process, laws & supports for parents whose 1st language is not English

Table 10 - Language Access Services

Table 11 - Voluntary Transfer & Student Placement

1. Change the selection process
   • Use a rubric that would look at the whole child
   • Increase the school choices at the elementary level
   • Accuracy in school reporting
   • Students able to visit prior to school selection

Table 12 - What Parents Need to Know about SES (Supplemental Education Services)

1. Contract with agencies to outreach to community (radio ads, PSA's) =>Parent Ombudsman, Deputy of Public Engagement
2. Improve notification to parents regarding SES (ex. SES providers sending literature to parents)
3. Create simplified fact sheet for sharing SES information
4. Need mechanism for keeping parent contact info updated
5. SES sites in communities to lower student/parent travel time (State recommendation)

Table 13 - Advocacy & Teamwork

1. Have trainings about "How to Advocate" and "How to Navigate" the District for parents
2. School compacts needed for city mayor, council people, principals, superintendent, parents and students
3. Schedule meetings at convenient time for parents (alternating days & times)
4. Principals should cooperate with parents who invite public services agencies in to speak with parents

Table 14 - Understanding School Budgets

1. Monthly Parental budget training
2. School Council communication
3. Educator budget training
   • Professional development/budget

Table 15 - What Parents Need to Know about PSSA's

1. Teachers helping children with methods and strategies to improve their testing and abilities - expand options
2. Workshops on how children are being taught different subjects in school (different than the way parents were taught)
3. More communication from school & teacher - more than just mid-year and end-of-year; ongoing communication

Table 16 - Suggestion Box

1. Parents need to know what questions to ask
2. Talk to your children about college
3. Parents can advocate to bring more services into school (e.g. community school)
4. Giving information to principal to share with parents does not work
5. Parents should see other organized parent agencies as partners and not as the enemy
6. Entrepreneurship for Students
7. Assistance with writing grants
8. Open door time with Dr. Ackerman for parents, with designated time for individual questions with food.
9. Improve school-to-home communication (i.e. memos in backpack)
10. Improve communication with parents regarding field trips
11. IEP's - improve understanding, access, and timelines for parents and especially grandparents
12. Guidelines on what teachers should ask
13. Prompts for what parents should ask their children
14. Coordination of school day and afterschool
15. Parents treated with respect
16. Strategic plan and intervention for students that are failing
17. College prep - 9th/10th grade
18. Students need to take the SAT early
19. SAT prep courses
20. Child development workshops for parents in regions
21. Behavioral Health in every school (SBH)
22. Peer-to-peer mentoring for college prep (i.e. Philadelphia Freedom Schools program)
23. College tours 9th/10th grade
24. Continue and perhaps enhance parent policies, programs and other effective parent initiatives (i.e. early intervention)
25. Bring back "Who do you Call" list outlining all offices/staff/regions
26. Let parents know about outside agencies and their services
27. Help principal understand what Home & School is and how it works
28. For every meeting, decision/planning that occurs at the District, parents should be involved
29. Better method of communicating to parents
30. District should create more ways for EMO's to be accountable to District and parents
31. District should spell out how the community can hold it accountable
32. Hold more SRC meetings at a time when working parents can attend
33. Need benchmarks widely published for parents and advocates so that they know and can use information