The Practical Parent Education program is implemented by parent-volunteers. Jenkins Elementary School parent and citizen volunteers implement an Invest in Success tutoring program. These volunteers are recruited and trained by the school to provide weekly in-school tutoring for children needing additional instructional support. The same is true of former district employees. SISD has made use of these resources by forming an alumni association of past presidents of parent-teacher organizations and booster clubs, and an association of retirees.
Staff meet with the retiree group once a year.
This is an excellent means of keeping these persons involved and connected to district activities. Although SISD schools offer opportunities for membership in PTA, PTO, or booster organizations, there is no formalized parent involvement plan at every campus and no centralized volunteer coordination function. SISD has no database of best practices, no central database of volunteers, and incomplete reporting of volunteer hours. Some schools are implementing innovative and exemplary practices that could benefit other schools, but in the absence of a centralized database, this information is not being shared. With respect to the reporting of volunteer hours, volunteers sign in at the time they arrive for their volunteer assignment and each school tabulates volunteer hours annually and submits a report to the program director for school-community partnerships.