Little Rock School District
Little Rock, AR
Kaye Rainey, Parent and Family Engagement Specialist
What’s for Dinner? Healthy Food and Good Conversations
As COVID-19 continued to affect schools and families, the leaders for partnerships in Little Rock School District (LRSD) worked with other partners to offer parents and students information and resources on health and wellness. In conversations with staff and parents from several schools, LRSD leaders for partnerships heard questions about promoting good physical and mental health at home, nutritious meals, and topics for conversations with students. Parents asked for workshops that were enjoyable to attend and that would provide useful information.
The district designed What’s for Dinner? to bring parents, students, educators, and community partners together in three weekly workshops. About 75 families registered, including parents and students. In welcoming attendees to the first Zoom meeting, the district Superintendent and Health Services Director showed a video on healthy practices during the pandemic.
Several community partners provided meals and materials to every family that registered. For example, the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Be Mighty Program presented a virtual cooking demonstration and provided bags of all ingredients for the meal to all families. Parents picked up these supplies at a library of their choice. The district’s PTA Council provided free family pizzas for another workshop, and other partners provided discounted meals, information on nutrition, gift cards, recipe books, raffle prizes for attendees, and a tour of a grocery store for the three dinner sessions.
The district contributed additional door prizes with six refurbished laptops for lucky attendees. Flyers and communications on multiple platforms in English and Spanish advertised the workshops, and a translator assisted parents as needed.
At What’s for Dinner? students discussed their opinions, hopes, and concerns with parents and others at their dinner tables. Parents were unanimous in their appreciation for the ingredients, demonstrations, discussions, and prizes. Teachers and parents labeled the meetings as awesome, informative, uplifting, timely, and fun.
Read more about What’s for Dinner? Healthy Food and Good Conversations in Promising Partnership Practices 2021.
New Tech System: Parent Awareness and Support
Little Rock School District (LRSD) implemented a new Learning Management System (LMS) called Schoology. Schoology aims to increase communications among all partners in education, but first everyone needed to learn how to use the technology in easy and meaningful ways. Teachers attended training sessions. Parents also were offered training workshops on Facebook, LRSD TV, and other platforms, along with
gift cards and prizes to encourage attendance. More important than prizes, parents learned how Schoology enabled them to better monitor and guide their children’s learning and progress in school.
The district also conducted follow-up Zoom sessions (e.g., 4-7 p.m., Monday-Thursday) for parents to ask individual questions. Title I and district funds supported stipends for teachers and staff who presented the training sessions and help lines for parents. In addition, parents were offered other online information on how the district works, and about the reading, nutrition, mental health, and physical fitness programs at their child’s school.
Parents were appreciative. “I will be logging in every week to learn something new,” one parent reported. Another wrote, “This resource [Schoology] is very much needed, especially during the pandemic and these uncertain times.” Still another said, “Wow! I did not know I can have my own account. Now, I don’t have to ask my child for her login or ask her to login to show me what I wanted to know.” These parents were definitely getting used to the new system.
Across the country, many school districts have tech-based information systems like Schoology, but most are not well used by most parents. LRSD’s activities to orient parents, students, and teachers to the new Schoology system aimed to encourage all partners to use the system to obtain important information on school programs and students’ progress.
Read more about New Tech System: Parent Awareness and Support in Promising Partnership Practices 2021.
