About 15 to 20 parents attend these workshops each month. Addressing safety concerns. The center's many programs and activities encourage parents to spend time at their children's school, and according to the principal of Webster Middle School, visible parent presence on campus and in the hallways results in a safer environment for learning and more inviting campuses for families to visit. As a result of these improvements, the school principal reports that students feel safer in school and are more focused on learning. Providing Information and Training to Parents and School Staff To provide parents with the information and skills they need, the center offers parents workshops on the Title I program's goals and objectives, parenting skills, and leadership skills.
Training also targets the needs of school staff for information about effective parent involvement.
Training parents for educational decision-making. To ensure that all Title I parents are fully informed of their rights and responsibilities, the center offers full-day parent training seminars on Saturdays twice a year. About 100 to 150 parents attend each of these sessions, which inform parents about how to get involved in Title I program planning and evaluation. Recognizing that English is a second language for a sizeable portion of the district's families, center staff plan during the 1996-97 school year to provide additional training sessions on Title I for Hispanic and Southeast Asian parents in their native languages, using bilingual parents as presenters. Title I advisory councils.