With summer already feeling like a distant memory, and with the first week of school almost over, it’s given me an opportunity to reflect on why I  made the decision to run for School Board Trustee in the upcoming election and one of the biggest reasons was to help work towards finding ways to better communicate and engage with parents, students and teachers in our district.

While progress with the high school has moved forward, and with many other positive initiatives underway in our schools, the one common piece I continue to hear is how we, as a district, are sorely lacking in how we communicate and engage with families. From school schedules, to school supply lists, and how to ensure your child’s IEP or special educational needs have been communicated to the right people to who to connect with if you have questions about pretty much anything to do with your child, and even as to whether our district has tested for lead in the water at our schools, parents are frustrated and that frustration ends up translating in to a lot of extra work and time for our already overworked administration and teaching staff.

This week I have received emails and phone calls from parents whose kids need supports and were greeted on the first day of high school by no one and from parents who have made the decision to put their kids in neighbouring school districts because they are not able to access adequate information and support for their kids here. Other parents were frustrated that their high school students were left not knowing where classrooms were and came home to kids in tears, tired and overwhelmed by their first days at high school. One mom I spoke with was bringing her daughter in to school and had students in tears, approaching her and asking if she was a teacher and could she help them get to their classes. There has also been a lot of discussion online about the kindergarten gradual entry system in our district and the challenges it poses for families, these same concerns have been around for well over a decade and nothing has been done to address it. This is not how we should be welcoming kids back to school, and we need to be listening, engaging and doing better by our students.

The time is now, we need to start asking parents, students and teachers / administration, what do you need? What could make your experience with our schools better? How can we serve you and your needs better? We can begin with some quick fixes in the short term like updates to the website and improved email notifications and work towards a more complete and comprehensive plan to better communicate and engage with parents and students in our district. The technology is there, the need is there, all we need now is a comprehensive plan that engages families, students, teachers and administration.

Communication is key to keeping our students on track to reaching their full potential and we should, as a school district, be doing all we can to ensure that is happening.