Row 1: Jane Hamburg, Terry O’Connell (Principal), and Teri Hess.
Row 2: Sarah Hanke, Jon Seamon, Wendy Hazuga, Amanda Kressel, Marion Vehlow, and Alyce Balk.
Grant Elementary School, a two-time Partnership School Award winner, continued its work in 2006 to improve activities for stronger partnerships with families and the community. The Site Council, which serves as the Action Team for Partnerships (ATP), meets monthly to discuss its objectives for school improvement. Parents, teachers, and community members serve on the ATP for a 2-year term, with one or two members rotating off and others added each year. Each spring, the ATP evaluates whether goals were achieved. Then, an updated action plan for partnerships is written as part of the school improvement plan for the next school year.
In 2006, ATP members attended the second annual Business Education Leadership Summit and presented information on a project supported by a grant earned last year to help students build thinking and social skills and work with business partners. The school is continuing to use the materials developed to help students increase their reasoning, communication, problem-solving, and collaboration skills.
Monthly family nights, called Families and Children Together (FACT), were conducted on various themes. This year topics included student behavior (so that parents and children were aware of the schools’ expectations and so parents can talk to their children about good behavior) and reading and literacy (to help parents understand the schools’ benchmarks, students’ reading levels, ideas for reading with children at home, and choices of books). The FACT nights – which included good information, dinner, games, prizes, and connections with teachers – helped many parents feel more comfortable about the school and goals for students.
The school also continued monthly Family Projects that helped students and parents talk with each other about important ideas. This year, one theme focused on discussing or drawing what it means to be a respectful person. The projects are compiled in a book that is displayed near the main office for families and visitors to see. Students who completed the voluntary projects earned free movie tickets.
This year, Grant school focused on building “community” with a revised vision statement to “enlarge our school neighborhood to promote positive relationships toward the school programs and grounds.” Neighbors, as well as parents, were invited to the FACT nights, winter concert, and other events. A parent’s letter about the program praised the schools’ Getting the Word Out project on physical fitness and health eating. Students’ articles on the project were published in the Wausau newspaper and a video created by 4th graders was shown on local TV.
The school also revised its “agreement” or pledge that students, parents, teachers, and the principal sign to promote teamwork for student success. The process included helping students become more aware of the agreement and using the school newsletter to communicate with parents about the schools’ goal of school and family partnerships.
Our Action Team would recommend joining NNPS because it helps schools organize leadership activities and conduct effective programs. We put activities in our action plans each year and make sure they are implemented. When you join NNPS, you get help starting action plans and are provided with examples of what other schools are doing across the nation. Then, you can tailor ideas to the needs of your school and share your school’s ideas with others.
See Grant Elementary School’s prior work in Partnership School Awards of 2005 on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success Stories. Visit the school at www.wausau.k12.wi.us/grant/