Prince William County Public Schools

Best Practices Conference for Parents 2021 Session Summaries

On May 13, 2021, PWCS Advisory Council and Parent Teacher Organizations/Association representatives met virtually to discuss programs and practices throughout the division that were deemed Best Practices. The Conference consisted of five session topics. Participants attended each of the sessions. The session topics were: advisory councils, business partnerships, communication, family and community engagement, and successful school enrichment activities. The following is a summary of the notes taken in each session.

Advisory Councils

• Meetings kept to an hour to increase attendance and keep people on topic;
• Meet set day and time each month;
• Theme for each month's meeting;
• Monthly presentation on topics such as goals, staffing, budget, Encore classes;
• Send presentation material to representatives after each meeting;
• Topics sent ahead of time;
• Translator present at all meetings;
• Invite local School Board representatives, County Board of Supervisors representatives, local Congressional representatives, speakers from Central office;
• Representatives selected from all geographical areas within school zones;
• Table at kindergarten welcome days and back to school nights;
• PAC and PTO meetings held back-to-back to increase participation;
• Virtual meetings have increased attendance;
• Parent representative from each grade level;
• Review Bylaws and have Advisory Council training at the beginning of the school year;
• Use school Advisory Council Bylaws for guidance and to help with efficiency in meetings;
• Advertise meetings: Facebook, weekly newsletters, agendas, and reminders;
• Reach out to feeder schools for representatives from incoming families for the following school year; and
• Start off each meeting with people sharing something positive occurring at the school.

Business Partnerships

• Spirit Nights with local restaurants;
• Reach out to local businesses and parents for donations for events/online or in-person auctions/sponsorships;
• Write a letter using the 501(c)(3) designation for PTO and businesses can write off the donation;
• Online auctions with local business donations;
• Have students write letters to local businesses asking for donations;
• Local businesses advertise in the PTO directory;
• Volunteer at Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater as a fundraiser;
• T-shirt fundraisers;
• Bidding Owl (online hosting site for online auctions);
• FunRun Fundraiser (5k Run);
• Cracker Jack Shack (online spirit store);
• Trex will provide a free seated bench with plastic collection; and
• Wegmans provides gift baskets with advance request.

Communication

• Weekly emails/phone calls with important information at the same time/same day each week;
• Send link to the morning/afternoon announcements so families are using the same source of information;
• Parent run Facebook groups, one per graduating class to foster and deepen relationships with parents who do not always have a chance to see each other regularly, especially in middle and high school. It also helps with information dissemination;
• Monthly parent meetings in a town hall type format gives parents and administration a chance to share best practices and proactively address issues;
• Surveys usually via email or online, giving parents a voice;
• Schools are using a variety of communication tools- Class Dojo, Seesaw, Canvas Community Pages, Bloomz, Signup Genius;
• Google forms for membership organization allows for frequent contact and interaction without a meeting or significant time commitment;
• ESOL teacher outreach and translation services broadens and increases the overall participation of the representative student body;
• Teacher communication with reminders and/or checklists highly effective in elementary and some middle school use cases;
• Tightly managed meetings with adherence to time and schedule invites more attendees and regular commitment because the audience is clear on the expectations from them; and
• "Friday" Folders primarily for elementary school level.

Family and Community Engagement

• Family events- Bingo night, 5K fun run, silent auction, One Book-One School, movie nights, Veterans Day Parade, breakfast buddies, spirit wear sales, bike rodeo, virtual talent show;
• Stock the break room event through PTO to provide snacks for teachers;
• Virtual options for meetings;
• Communication- weekly emails, newsletters, monthly parent meetings, video messages (with captions), texts, social media;
• Virtual information night for returning students;
• Students and teachers are assigned to Tribes/Houses where they can earn points for good behavior;
• Drive through rewards/waving to students on lunch pick up days;
• Welcoming front office staff;
• Supply distributions for school supplies and learning packets;
• Drive thru picture day; and
• Drive thru Halloween/Holiday events.

Successful School Enrichment Activities

• Spirit nights;
• Online Bingo Nights;
• Running Club, yoga, classes on how to deal with stress;
• Family Science night, STEAM nights;
• Drama Performances - recording during class and streaming for families as a live event;
• Mondays for support, remediation;
• Literacy night - Families went to a website that had assigned books and did activities to go along with them;
• Before/After school support for students;
• Not a Prom - Alternate activities for Seniors who could not hold a regular prom; some schools did red carpet with a photo booth;
• Senior Events- Senior day, red carpets, photo stations, gifts, delivering yard signs;
• Leadership courses - masked singer competition;
• Adopt a Senior - community members selected a member of the Senior class to "adopt" and to provide attention and donations;
• Independent Study course where they learn about a variety of cross-curricular topics, attend virtual field trips;
• SAT prep courses, AP study sessions;
• Paint nights held virtually;
• Career Days;
• Lab and lunch- science teachers would conduct a science lab experiment during the lunch break;
• Virtual multicultural nights, multicultural cooking classes;
• Virtual auctions;
• One School-One book- The school community reads the same book at the same time and completed activities to go along with the book;
• Talent shows;
• Student Leaders program;
• Trunk or Treats where families can purchase a pumpkin;
• Boohoo/Yahoo breakfast for new families;
• Supplemental enrichment programs - pay teachers to teach something they love through the PTO;
• Weekly lunch bunch with counselors;
• Virtual tours of the school;
• Tech lab; and
• Virtual Arts Show.