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WEAC receives NEA grant to host family/school/community engagement summit
Posted: 11/19/2009 8:35:16 AM
Parent involvement is key to student success. That is why one day of American Education Week has been dedicated to celebrating parents as partners in their child’s education.
In fact, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) is going to do more than celebrate parents for one day – it is going to host a Family/School/Community Engagement Summit this spring with a later event to be held next fall, WEAC Vice President Guy Costello said.
“Representatives from the summit will go to Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2010 for a National Summit sponsored by the National Education Association,” Costello said. “I think it is wonderful that WEAC is among a handful of states to get this grant.”
Labor groups, the religious community as well as parent and education organizations will be invited to the summit, he said.
“We want to answer the question – how can we get more parental involvement?” Costello said.
Final details for the summit are still being worked out, WEAC Attorney/IPD Consultant Joanne Huston said.
“The goal is for WEAC to work with coalition partners who are members of organizations interested in working on ways to increase parent and community engagement with public schools for the purpose of supporting student learning and success,” Huston said. “It’s like a whole village approach.”
NEA has provided a $10,000 grant to help support the summit, she said.
“With added support from organizations who are interested in promoting family involvement in education, we expect to invite around 250 representatives for a daylong process focused on issues, best practices, and potential policy recommendations for increasing parental involvement with children’s education,” Huston said.
“This is the beginning of ongoing work to establish better policy to support families and communities in truly becoming partners in their children’s education,” Huston said.
“This provides a great opportunity for making connections with diverse stakeholders to connect parents and communities with their schools. ” Costello said.