(L to R): Melissa T. McQuarrie (NNPS Key Contact) and Karen L. Clevinger (NNPS Key Contact).
District-Level Leadership for Partnerships: First Impression Training - Next Steps
Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) developed its NNPS approaches to meet the needs of its students and families, including its Military Child Initiative, Single-Parent Initiative, Involving Fathers in Partnerships, and First Impression Training to prepare building staff members who serve as schools’ first points-of-contact to welcome all families. In the 08-09 school year, the district refined this program with a “second edition” of First Impression Training: Dealing with Difficult People, designed to help school staff not only welcome visitors, but also address the concerns that parents, colleagues, community members, and volunteers sometimes raise. Of course, everyone is “difficult” at some point in time and everyone raises difficult issues, especially when things matter to them. This four-hour workshop helped staff examine their own problem-solving styles and introduced conflict-management strategies. One module helped attendees discuss ten typical difficulties and ideas for handling these problems. Several hundred staff members attended.
Another ambitious program was the VBCPS Parent Connection. With the cooperation of Title I staff and the district’s Department of Media and Communications, the Office of Community Relations developed and implemented a program of direct services and interactions with parents. Rather than holding a one-day district-wide conference, Parent Connection sponsors monthly “mini-conferences” with topics selected from parents’ questions, suggestions, and feedback. The well-attended seminars are aligned with the district’s strategic plan called Compass to 2015.
Facilitation of Schools’ ATPs: Help All Schools’ Parents Conduct Reading Readiness Activities with Young Children
Brightly colored and covered from front to back with images of young children playing and reading on a sandy, sunny shoreline, the Reading Bus makes its rounds through Virginia Beach City three days a week. The bus makes stops at recreation centers, neighborhoods, and schools at the same time every other week—a schedule easy for parents to remember. The purpose is to focus on reading and literacy readiness with families and children aged 2-5 who have not yet enrolled in or who just entered VBC schools.
After signing in, children and parents are helped to conduct reading and literacy activities (e.g., story time, craft work, letter games, puppets, music) in fun and engaging ways. Parents also are guided in how to support early reading skills at home. After each lesson, families are given a board book to take home, information on community services, and notices about kindergarten registration and other topics. Virginia Beach staff in transportation, media, technology, and instructional services collaborate on this project. The long-standing Reading Bus was renovated and the program and activities were updated this year. This year, the Reading Bus served nearly 1300 families. Organizers evaluate attendance and adjust the bus route as necessary every six months.
See Virginia Beach’s Partnership District Award in 2007 and 2008 and examples of Promising Partnership Practices on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success Stories. To learn more about this district’s work on school, family, and community partnerships, visit http://www.vbschools.com.