Kennewick, WA

Row 2 (L to R): Doug Campbell, Sarah Del Toro (NNPS Key Contact), Dave Bond (Superintendent)

Not pictured: Annabell Gonzalez (NNPS Key Contact)

Title I Parent Rights Video

To limit the number of meetings families had to attend, Kennewick’s district leaders for partnerships designed a short video to help all families understand Title I regulations and parents’ rights and responsibilities in a Title I school.   Title I legislation requires schools to share this information with families, but, historically, it was difficult for all parents to attend a meeting at their child’s school.  The new video covers the required topics, is easily accessible from home, and may be used as an “opener” at other family meetings or events at school.

To make the video, district leaders created a storyboard with the side-by-side suggestions for audio and illustrations.  Then, using the PowToon website, which advertises “Make Awesome Videos Yourself,” they drafted the Parent Rights video that was just over two minutes long.  After final edits and translations were completed, three videos in English, Spanish, and Arabic were sent to the principals and vice principals of all Kennewick Title I schools.  These leaders were asked to run a “loop” in the school entryway on TV or put a link to the video on the school website.  The district posted the video in three languages on YouTube (at Title I Parent Rights Video) for easy viewing.

This activity is featured in Promising Partnership Practices 2018.

New ATP Chair Orientation

Due to many changes in school leaders, staff, and parents, Kennewick’s district leaders conducted an orientation session for new chairs and co-chairs of Action Teams for Partnerships (ATPs).  The evening meeting provided the new leaders with information, guidance, and resources to start the year off strong.  First, an activity helped the new chairs think about why ATPs were important.  They addressed the sentence stem: “Connecting with families is important because . . .”  Participants shared their thoughts with a partner and then the whole group.  District leaders presented current research on family and community engagement impact on improvements in students’ report card grades, attitudes, attendance, behavior, and test scores.

Then, leaders used a graphic organizer for participants to see the requirements and responsibilities of a good ATP chairperson.  This included a discussion of who are members of the ATP, how often the team should meet, the budget for partnerships, how to write a good partnership plan linked to specific goals for student success, and tips for developing an agenda for an ATP meeting, and running a meeting.  The new chairs were given binders that included everything they needed to organize their ideas and documents, and to do their work effectively and efficiently.