Taunton Public School District’s commitment to school, family, and community partnerships is not new. During the 1991-92 school year, under the leadership of its superintendent, Dr. Gerald Croteau, the district began a formal program designed to improve parental and community involvement in support of student achievement. This initiative is called Project B.E.S.T—Building Educational Success Together. In 1997, the District joined the National Network of Partnership Schools to enhance its partnership efforts, and to more broadly define and understand family and community involvement.
When completing the Network’s district membership form, Kathleen Callahan, District Key Contact to the National Network, Coordinator of B.E.S.T, and Taunton Public Schools’ Community Liaison, wrote that the limited involvement of some families in the district, "stems from a sense that there is not a real need for them to be involved and a perception that schools do not really want their involvement."
To address these misperceptions, Ms. Callahan works with Action Teams at all 16 elementary, middle, and high schools as district facilitator. Among many responsibilities, she helps school Action Teams plan, implement, and evaluate activities for the six types of involvement. Ms. Callahan meets with each school’s Action Team, as requested. During these visits, she reviews Teams’ One-Year Action Plans to help clarify goals and suggest ways of improving or expanding partnership activities. She also troubleshoots so that different parent groups and organizations at the schools work together more productively and efficiently to support students’ learning.
Ms. Callahan is responsible for several other district-level partnership activities. With Dr. Croteau’s active support, she identifies and recruits business partners who work with schools in the district. Currently, each school in Taunton enjoys a partnership with an area business. Ms. Callahan also represents the school district on various community advisory boards, and works to promote greater collaboration with community agencies to maximize resources, and improve services to students and families.
She also oversees data collection for B.E.S.T. Data on rates of homework completion, volunteer hours—both on-site and off-site—and school-home compacts are presented in an annual report which helps schools review and chart progress in these areas, and develop strategies for improvement.
Two of Ms. Callahan’s goals for the upcoming year include reaching "hard-to-reach" pockets of families in each school, and promoting parent-to-parent outreach. With the ever-growing support of families, students, teachers, district leaders, and the larger Taunton community, Ms. Callahan is confident that these goals will be realized.