Carey Dillinger, August, 1995
The Daily Commercial
Did it seem awfully windy around Lake County early this past Monday morning? Perhaps it was the side-effects of Hurricane Felix or just a front moving through, but I suspect the air movement was caused by the collective sighs of relief as parents sent their beloved offspring back to school.
Teachers, administrators, and staff members have already put in at least a week making ready for the beginning of school. Fresh bulletin boards have been hung, desks have been arranged, handouts have been prepared, rosters have been perused, and new students have been enrolled. Hopefully, these preparations will help to make school an inviting place.
The philosophy of invitational education has been around for many years, having among its staunchest supporters many respected educators such as John Novack, Paula Stanley, and William Purkey. The Lake County secondary educators were fortunate to have Dr. Purkey as the keynote speaker at their conference last week. In his speech, Dr. Purkey related many of the theories of invitational education to those present. While those of us in education are probably familiar with the basic tenets of the inviting school, many parents and others not directly involved with the schools should be made aware of these concepts and find out how they can help to implement them. In their book,The Inviting School Treasury, Purkey and Stanley present the following description: "...invitational education is the process by which people are cordially summoned (invited) to realize their relatively boundless potential (education) in all areas of worthwhile human endeavor. Ideally, the factors of people, places, policies, programs, and processes should be so intentionally inviting as to create a world in which each individual is cordially summoned to develop intellectually, socially, physically, psychologically, and spiritually."
To put it more plainly, schools should be the kind of place where students are made welcome both to attend and to learn. Our schools must be friendly and safe. In the same way that a cold drink is inviting on a hot day, our schools must present themselves not only as a means to an education, but as the the best means available. Just as that cold drink is the best answer to a physical thirst, our schools must be the best answer to a child's thirst for knowledge.
It is imperative that parents become involved in their children's education. One positive way for that to occur is to help your child's school become an inviting school. In their book, Purkey and Stanley specifically targeted the following groups as being directly involved in making their schools inviting: lunch room workers, librarians, principals, secretaries, superintendents, teachers, counselors, custodians, consultants, supervisors, bus drivers, students, and volunteers. This list has one obvious group that begs for participation by parents, townsfolk and retirees alike, namely school volunteers. Our local schools already have a system in place for using volunteers and any one interested is encouraged to contact your local school to see how you can help.
Even though parents were not specifically listed in the target audience of The Inviting School Treasury there are quite a few of the 1001 ways to invite student success that could be adapted by parents. Please consider the following ideas:
If your child's school allows parents to eat lunch with them periodically, make arrangements and do it.
Find out if the school is having a fair, open house, barbecue, or other event in which you can participate, then attend it.
Find out if the cafeteria, a classroom, or an office needs some plants or hanging baskets to give it a more homey atmosphere, then provide some.
Obtain a copy of the school calendar and choose a sampling of extra-curricular events, then attend them. Support something else in addition to sports. Clubs, the band, the chorus, and other campus organizations are in need of your support. It is amazing what "just showing up" means to faculty sponsors and student participants alike.
Form a parent committee and target the school courtyard, then transform that courtyard into a friendly inviting place with plants and benches. After that, target the teacher's workroom and once it's transformed hold a "grand opening" for the teachers.
After a parent-teacher conference let the teacher or counselor know how you felt the conference progressed. Too often, silence is interpreted exactly backwards of how you really felt.
Make your name available to all of your students teachers. It is embarrassing to all involved when wrong last names are used on progress reports and during phone calls.
Organize a parent /teacher breakfast or a back to school picnic and meet the teachers in a casual setting. A more informal atmosphere than that found at open house sometimes leads to a better dialogue between parent and teacher.
Join the PTA, PTO or Citizen's Advisory Council. Be prepared to give advice (and solutions) on such far ranging topics as: dress code, assemblies, special programs and school functions.
Ask the principal to provide parents with an annual evaluation form and volunteer to collate the results.
Send a message for your child's teachers to phone you at home, if you do not hear from them within the first four or five weeks of school.
Read the county policy book that every student brings home the first week of school. Being aware of discipline and attendance procedures, dress codes, and other regulations can prevent problems before they happen.
Volunteer as a Security Parent and help watch parking lots and hallways during school and at school related functions.
If you videotape any events where the Video Yearbook staff is not present, offer to allow them to make copies.
Everyone involved in the education of our children must take on the responsibility of making our schools inviting. While teachers, administrators, and school staff must convince the children that school is the place to come, parents must convince the children that school is the place to go.
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