Often, school board members must take the initiative and use creative approaches to reach out to parents and other members of their community. Increasingly, they are using technology to exchange ideas with residents. One Colorado school district held an electronic community forum on educational priorities, for example, and a Utah district publishes its proposed school board policies on the Internet. But the school board is only one source of good ideas. Parents, acting as individuals and through their elected PTA leaders, often find creative ways to make their voices heard and their ideas known.
Participants review the district's mission and discuss new initiatives.
And more than 1,000 parents participate on School Assessment Review Team committees, which play an advisory role to the school principal and staff. The result is a participation process that helps the board formulate policy and defuses situations that could cause conflicts. The program, open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. three times a week, offers students extra help with homework while it gives parents a chance to improve their English skills or learn how to use a computer so they can become more involved in their children's education. Funded with both federal and state monies, the program, originally designed for economically or educationally disadvantaged students, now is open to all students and their families. More than 400 families participate in the Parent Connection, and parents' continuing involvement is the backbone of the program.