GRANITE SCHOOL DISTRICT FAMILY AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH CENTERS
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Parenting * Communicating * Volunteering * Learning at Home * Decision Making * Collaborating with Community
Granite District’s Family and Community Outreach Centers provide numerous and varied services, activities, classes and workshops for the parents in our school communities. We have outreach workers in 26 Granite District schools and focus our efforts on helping parents help their children be successful in school. We are members of the National Network of Partnership Schools and follow Joyce Epstein’s Six Types of Involvement:
Studies indicate parent involvement greatly increases the likelihood of student success. We strive to help parents feel welcome in their children’s schools and encourage them to volunteer their time and skills whenever possible.
When the attendance secretaries inform our coordinators of new families in their school communities, we make New Family to the School appointments. This activity allows us to:
~ Meet with the parents.
~ Take them on a tour of their new school.
~ Introduce staff members with whom their children are likely to interact on a daily basis. ~ Show them all the places their children will occupy while at school.
The School Transition activity is similar to the New Family to the School activity. The coordinators at each school meet the parents at the school their children are going to attend in the fall and familiarize them with the schools’ social and physical environments.
We help them navigate the school system and stay connected with their children’s academic experience by teaching them how to use:
Parent Portal
Gradebook
Canvas
As most of our outreach workers are bilingual, they are very helpful in assisting with communication between parents and administrators, counselors and teachers.
We share information from the Parent Institute designed to develop and strengthen parenting skills as well as provide parenting programs: Project Reality, Guiding Good Choices, Love and Logic.
Our outreach workers have been trained by the district specialists in literacy and numeracy for the sole purpose of teaching parents what their children are learning in school and enhancing their skills, enabling them to help with homework. Our Homework Workshops include academic instruction and how to set up a homework space at home. Additionally, we provide supplies for them to make homework kits for their children.
Other programs of great interest and participation are:
~ English Classes: Parents learn “survival” English and are encouraged to continue their language education in advanced programs after mastering our classes.
~ Computer Skills Classes: Parents learn the necessary skills for successful computer operation.
~ Early Childhood Education: Parents learn how to work with their toddlers in preparation for kindergarten.
Of great help to the parents are the SEP and Parent Teacher Conference Orientations. During these classes, parents learn appropriate, useful questions to ask their children’s teachers before their scheduled meetings, how to read and understand report cards, the meaning of education-related acronyms, and more.
We support and host activities with the PTA and Community Council. Family Center coordinators encourage parents to learn about and become members of these valuable organizations by offering orientation sessions and attending monthly PTA and Community Council meetings with the parents. Through our classes, they learn that they can, not only support their children through involvement, but learn ways in which they can have a voice in school-based decisions.
In each of our centers, we address the ever-present issue of bullying through the Don’t Stand By, Be an Ally program. Students participate in district-sponsored programs while parents are encouraged to attend presentations offered by the outreach workers in the Family Centers. We hope parents and children will have meaningful conversations regarding the information they receive through these activities.
Of great importance is educating parents on proper nutrition and fitness for themselves and their families. We provide information in a class setting as well as using various community resources to offer Zumba and other exercise opportunities.
Other workshops, activities and classes hosted or co-hosted by the Family Centers:
~ Health Fairs
~ Medical, Dental, Vision Clinics
~ Clothes Drives
~ Citizenship Preparation
~ GED Information
~ Coordinate Free Tax Service
~ Multi-cultural Events
~ Community Resource Night
~ Translation Services
~ Community Garden
