Back Row (L to R): Patty Knight, Mark Lafata, Steve Johnson, Marty Hodits, Mike Sommer, Mike Hoehn.
Front Row (L to R): Ray Eernisse, Dr. Renee Schuster (Superintendent),
Mary Jo Griffin (Key Contact), Dr. Steve Griggs, Dr. Pam Sloan.
District-Level Leadership for Partnerships: Howell-a-Palooza School and Community Fair
Not even clogged roads and traffic backups quelled the enthusiasm for Howell-a-Palooza, the Francis Howell School District’s multi-community event. The district includes several communities over 150 square miles. The schools serve more than 17,500 students in grades K–12 and about 5,000 youngsters in pre-K. The district’s focus on parent involvement has been sharpened over the last three years with the formation of a Parent Involvement Action Team in each school. These teams helped make Howell-a-Palooza a success at the start of the 08-09 school year.
The event presented an array of activities for all ages, including stadium performances by school bands and cheerleaders; displays of student work from 23 of the district’s schools; over 100 booths featuring community organizations, the military, a blood drive, and voter registration information; outdoor events for school-age children; and a designated area for young children and their families, with parent educators on-hand to provide developmentally-appropriate activities and information. These activities were free. The only activity that charged admission was “Taste of Howell” with culinary specialties from 25 area restaurants, organized as a fundraiser by the high school DECA Club of marketing, management, and entrepreneurship students.
The crowds were large and the response, despite traffic, was tremendous. For the next three years, the event will be regional—with a Howell-a-Palooza-equivalent at different high schools each year to share information about the schools and community activities in that region. Four years out, it will be a district-wide celebration again.
Facilitation of Schools’ ATPs: Help Each School Strengthen Its Partnership Program
The Francis Howell School District began implementing the NNPS model for increasing family and community involvement in the 2006-07 school year. At that time, the district’s Parent Involvement Director identified a principal or vice-principal in each building to begin a concerted effort to build capacity for organizing productive parental involvement in each school. For the first six months, the administrators received training and began to work on plans for their schools’ Action Teams for Partnerships, selecting activities to engage parents and community partners in ways that would contribute to school climate and to student achievement, behavior, and attendance goals in their school improvement plans. Each school became a member of NNPS in February 2007.
The goal for 07-08, then, was to implement these plans effectively. The district Director provided resources and ideas, and monitored each schools’ progress toward its partnership goals. She made at least three visits a year to each of the district’s 22 schools to meet with Action Team chairpersons and principals, discussing the team’s plans for the year and evaluating their progress at various implementation stages. In the spring of 2008, a Parent Involvement District Advisory Group was formed. Each school’s building leader and one parent from the Action Team for Partnerships attended four meetings per year. This year, district leaders—including the Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer, and Chief Financial Officer—met with the District Advisory Group to discuss important topics in their areas of expertise. Through their representatives to the District Advisory Group, all schools are provided good information and hear that the district’s administrators all are speaking the same “language” of partnership.
See examples from the Francis Howell School District in Promising Partnership Practices 2009 on the website, www.partnershipschools.org, in the section Success Stories. Visit the district at http://www.fhsd.k12.mo.us.