Tuesday, July 8

Summer project


While the first days of school may seem blissfully distant, there's no time like now for planning. Remember Aesop? Be the ant, not the grasshopper.

The DOE's Office for Family Engagement and Advocacy has summer workshops for parents; most are on Saturdays to encourage working parents' participation. If your summer plans mean weekends away, write the OFEA for information on their monthly workshops beginning in fall.

Parent engagement can transform a school and its culture; just look at what happened at PS 11 in Clinton Hill. Working with other families in your child's school builds community, a persistent theme among our commenters. But change doesn't come without sweat and effort; if you don't invest it, who will?

Remember that ant: Invest your creative energy now; your children, their friends, and kids you don't even know will reap the rewards.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info. I am definitely going to sign up. The flyer is very confusing, though (and really badly designed - it gives me headaches just to look at it). I assume that for each session there are multiple course offerings and I have to pick one per session?

helen said...

I agree, 10:45, the design leaves much to be desired, but I'm glad you're planning to attend. I called OFEA just now and they said each session will contain six workshops (three of the six AM options, three of five PM options); as registration's been open for a few weeks, they've figured out which choices held the greatest appeal to registrants. Call them to see what's planned for the session you'll attend. It's also fine to show up on the day and take 'pot luck' on the workshops -- hard to imagine one wouldn't learn something useful, and build a bit of a network, too.

Insideschools Blog said...

Has anyone actually attended one of these workshops? If so, please give us your feedback!