How to improve parent-school communication - An NVPAC Discussion - April 22nd

Invitation:

North Vancouver PAC (NVPAC) is seeking to develop a working group on Parent-School Communication.

NVPAC has identified parent-school communication as a common issue facing North Vancouver parents but NVPAC needs more parent input to help us identify and clarify different types of issues and different expectations and to identify the parent resources needed to help parents communicate with the schools better. 

We will kick off this initiative with an interactive brainstorming session and need SCHOOL PARENT input. Everyone is welcome and ALL input is appreciated. This does not require any long-term commitment, just an hour or so on Wednesday April 22 and a willingness to have a conversation with other parents to help develop a focus for a working group on communication.

We are looking for suggestions from all parents who have experience with communication in the school environment, both positive and/or negative experiences, to help us understand the needs.

We aren't looking at solutions at this point but need to establish a starting point for further efforts.

Background:

The results of our 2014 annual parent survey told us that 69% of parents need to contact the school to address different issues over the course of the school year. Most parents have good interactions but the survey tells us that 13% of parents find the timeliness of the schools response poor and 19% find the appropriateness of the schools responses poor. Now we need to delve into the details of why this might be.

The comments we received back up the survey numbers. We see many comments thanking the schools for addressing their issues but we also see comments describing the schools as unresponsive to parent needs and insufficient in their responses. 

75% of parents are comfortable approaching the school with issues but the survey also said that 11% of parents are uncomfortable approaching the schools about their particular schools concerns. At the same time 34% feel they get, at best, partial guidance from the schools on who to talk to and the process they should use to address their concerns. 

Communication processes can vary from school to school and starting off on the wrong path can impede issue resolution so there is potential to clarify these processes and thereby improve the success of many interactions.

Working Group:

After the kick-off discussion, NVPAC would like to form a working group of parents to help us work with the schools and school district on this issue. The issue will require a long-term effort and a number of discussions and meetings with different stakeholders to come to a good understanding of the issues and a workable set of responses. The working group will help provide the breadth of parent experience needed to help improve this important area of parent-school interaction.

Kick off Meeting:

April 22^nd, 7pm at the - Education Services Centre – 5^th floor  -2121 Lonsdale Ave

We are asking parents with all types of experiences addressing student issues to work with us on this issue and to join us for a kick-off discussion on “improving parent-school communication” at our April 22^nd meeting.

At this meeting we will discuss different communication expectations, how different schools communicate with parents, steps that we can take with our partner groups to improve the communication and the types of tools and resources needed to help parent-student-school communication.

Questions for discussion:

• What positive and negative processes have you experienced?
• When you needed to address a concern how did you first approach the situation?
• What resources, people etc did you use to help you know where to start and where did you find them?
• What were some of the key processes, resources and factors that you felt helped or hindered your ability to resolve the situation?
• How did you and the school set your expectations with regard to process and a response?
• What resources would have helped you better manage the process?
• Are there any sorts of issues that tend to have successful responses/interactions vs ones that have difficulties?
• Are there any other organizations/processes that would be a good example for the schools to emulate?
• What steps could NVPAC, the working group and our partners take through this initiative to improve communications processes? 

Working Group:

Based on input from the kickoff meeting NVPAC would like to form a working group of parents to help us work with the schools and school district on this issue. The issue may require a long-term effort and a number of discussions and meetings with different stakeholders to come to a good understanding of the issues and a workable set of responses. The working group will help provide the breadth of parent experience needed to help improve this important area of parent-school interaction.

Timeline and steps:

1.    Establish goals and objectives of working group on communication

2.    Report back to NVPAC Exec

3.    Report to President's Council

4.    Liaise and meet with partner groups (NoVA, NVTA, Admin, Trustees)

5.    Report back to NVPAC Exec and Membership