Honoring Partners In Education: Woonsocket Parents

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable long holiday weekend and was able to observe Memorial Day.  My wife and I have several relatives in our family who are retired veterans.  Our Uncle Arthur served on a PT Boat during WWII and at 92 years old is still traveling to veteran’s reunions all over the United States.  However, for those who did not make it back, it is important to honor their service to our country on Memorial Day.

I have wanted to honor a special  group of people who serve their community by volunteering their time and support to their children’s schools.  Individually or in groups, the parents of Woonsocket have been incredible partners with the Woonsocket Education Department.   I will begin by honoring several parent groups and then discuss an excellent event where our parent support is outstanding, as described by Principal Rob Desrosier.

The groups of parents that I work with are the Special Education Local Advisory Committee (SELAC,) the Parents of English as a Second Language Organized (PESLO,) and the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC.)  Each one of these groups has reached out to me during the last three years and together we have developed a great working relationship. 

SELAC is chaired by Ms. Kapsikus.  She works closely with our Special Education Director, Ms. Learner, to facilitate an understanding of parent concerns.  SELAC and PESLO have bean a great sounding board for the development of programs and the considerations around program changes.  Both groups also help in the preparation for the development of the Consolidated Resource Plan (CRP,) which supplies a significant amount of federal funding for supplemental services.  They have provided important Parent Professional Development and also have a list serve which is used to get information out to these two very important groups of parents.

The PAC is made up of PTO/PTA representatives from each school, parents, administrator representatives, and teacher representatives and they meet quarterly. The Co-Chairs of PAC are Ms. Stepanian and Ms. Auclair.  I first met them when I was being interviewed for the position of Superintendent of Schools and they explained that their number one mission was to improve communication between schools and parents. They have been excellent at providing two-way communication between these two groups. 

They have a website where anyone can look at a calendar and see the upcoming events for each of our schools.  The PAC also has a list serve of over 300 parents so that they can get information out to a large group of members quickly.  They have run surveys on difficult topics so that the School Committee and administration could get good information on the will of the community.  The PAC parents and their children advocated for the new middle schools and instrumental in getting the voter support needed.  PAC also helped organize the new middle school opening celebration.  They have helped organize many important events, including being the first Rhode Islanders to invite the new Commissioner to visit a community.

I happened top find an example of how well our PTO/PTA’s work collaboratively with our school communities when Principal Rob Desrosier invited me to attend the Field Day last week.  When I was there, the number of parent volunteers I saw helping to run this event surprised me.   Principal Desrosiers explained that Field Day is a fun day for our students to help celebrate the end of the year while still providing healthy, wholesome activities.  This event is supported with help from the teachers, staff, parent volunteers and the PTA.  Also, our food service provider Sodexo provides support for this event. Robyn Catley Globe Park’s PE teacher, who told Mr. Desrosiers it was her 23rd field day, organized the Physical Education/games.  Jennifer Polacek organized the Cultural Art show.  The program topic was anti-bullying and was presented by KC MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS.  The students enjoyed the show and also the bicycle tricks that were performed.  The PTA plays a significant role in the success of this day not only by providing parent helpers but also by helping to purchase many of the extra items needed to make this day a success.  Ultimately, the day was perfect; the kids were great; Mother Nature was on our side and our students continued to learn about teamwork, respect and anti-bullying while having fun.  

I am so grateful for our parent support in Woonsocket and believe that they have been a major force in helping the schools to continue to move forward even during difficult times.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Gerardi, Jr., Ph.D.                         

Superintendent of Schools                             

Woonsocket Education Department  

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”

Physician and Writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes