Family, school partnerships take center stage at Community Conversation

A theme quickly took center stage at Thursday’s iteration of the LINK nky Community Conversation series, which focused on solutions for K-12 education.

Although the panelists believed there had been progress in the region broadly, they agreed success in school was dependent on how well families and schools could work together for the sake of the kids.

Much of the conversation danced around this central quandary, but specific issues broached during the conversation included chronic absenteeism, curricula, community partnerships, kindergarten readiness and mental health, among other topics.

Jenny Watson, the vice president of early learning and family power at EducateNKY and former assistant superintendent at Boone County Schools, introduced the topic early on. In Watson’s estimation, one of the key challenges in the region was re-balancing educational systems to be more equitable – oftentimes, she argued, school systems were based on compliance, rather than collaboration with families.

“When a school says,… ‘we’re engaging families,’ it often means that we’re communicating with them with newsletters, emails, parent nights, reminders,” Waston said. “Engagement is important, but it is not the same thing as partnership. Partnership means doing things with people, not for them and not to them.”

The panelists would repeatedly pick up this theme, often encouraging families and teachers to learn from one another. They also emphasized the importance of relationships.

“Sometimes parents feel that they’re alone,” said April Draine, an educational advocate, podcaster and erstwhile member of the Site Based Decision Making Council at Ryle High School. Draine said it was important for there to be mechanisms and spaces for teachers and families to meet as equals.

Watson echoed this, saying school systems should use a “peer-to-peer model.”

Granted, it wasn’t always so straight forward. What if a family is unwilling to meet a district halfway, or there are things preventing a family from meaningfully interacting with a district?

Former educator and Director of Ready Ready Covington MaryKay Connolly said, “Look at the long game. There may be something that they need, that they’re seeking right away, and you can help them with it. But it could also be just giving them information and inviting them so that they feel open and willing and welcome.”

“Some of their experiences in school might not have been that fantastic,” said Newport Schools Kindergarten teacher Hannah Mayle. “Maybe they didn’t have that great relationship with those educators or with that school, and so they’re hesitant to kind of open the door again.”

Mayle said that in her experience it was better to “keep the door open for them,” so to speak, so that they knew they could come to a teacher or principal for help.

Alternatively, some students may lack a caring adult in their home lives.

“Every child has to have a trusted adult,” Watson said. “And so that is really cast upon the educational team to ensure that that is happening.”

Watson pointed to some districts in the region that had gone out of their way to cultivate relationships with families, over and above the typical conferences and events expected of teachers. Connolly discussed ways to help families deal with the difficulties of life outside of school, and Draine emphasized the importance of community mentorships and partnerships.

You can watch the full conversation on the wide range of issues related to education, many of which were drawn from audience questions, below.

Be sure to join LINK nky at the next Community Conversation on Dec. 4 at SparkHaus in Covington, where Futurist Christopher Rice will talk about the future of work in Northern Kentucky. RSVP here.