Leo et al. (2018) describe the importance of moving from family involvement to family partnership and how this has a positive effect on school climates. They suggest that, “educators move beyond a service model that sees family members as clients and instead forge genuine partnerships in which power is shared between educators and families” (Leo et al., 2018, p. 260). While this is the goal, and something that my school is working towards, I believe we are still trying to find effective strategies that work for our school. There is often pushback from staff as well for these measures that take extra time outside of contract hours.
Our biggest challenge has been working through the negative impacts of the pandemic which have affected students attendance, behaviour, and work ethic. This has been the biggest roadblock in student engagement. While our school has collectively recognized this is an issue, it is a difficult one to solve with no clear strategy. We are one of the largest schools in the area and managing a large number of students is no easy feat, even with a strong administrative team. Our efforts to reach out to families and caregivers through newsletters, phone calls, and emails are often disregarded. Despite our efforts, there is a clear disconnect in communication between the school and families. Many of our staff wonder how this sense of community and family involvement that Leo et al. (2018) write about can be translated from theory to practice. This was a big topic at our final meeting at the end of last school year. While we still have not come to a clear-cut solution, we ended the year with some goals and active measures in mind.
We have a Wellness Committee at our school which is led by staff and student volunteers. For two years now, the committee has organized a school-wide Mental Health Wellness Day. The event is held in early Spring but we begin planning for it as early as September. It features workshops facilitated by members of the community and some student-led workshops. Each workshop is designed to focus on one aspect of mental wellness, or teaches life skills to students that they may not learn in the traditional classroom setting. Some examples of workshops we had last year were hairstyling, tips for budgeting, origami, Afro-Cuban dance, learning ASL, cake decorating, and martial arts to name a few. I was an Occasional Teacher at the time and was invited to organize a workshop on Music Therapy and Visual Arts. The event is always a big success amongst students. Each year, we try to make improvements and collect student feedback. One of the biggest pieces of feedback we get is how much the students love the community involvement aspect of the day. “Collaborating with families provides benefits which extend beyond academic achievement, such as increasing student engagement and fostering community empowerment” (Leo et al., 2018, p. 276). I wonder if there could be additional ways to get students’ families involved in our Wellness Day. Perhaps they could help lead or organize a workshop, or assist with the event planning itself. It would require a lot of clear communication amongst all stakeholders and our biggest deterrents are time, budget, and a disconnect between school and family partnership.
References
Leo, A., Wilcox, K. C., & Lawson, H. A. (2019). Culturally responsive and asset-based strategies for family engagement in odds-beating secondary schools. The School Community Journal, 29(2), 255-280.
Blue Mountain, July 2016
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