Around the Schools
Family Engagement Action Team reaches out to Highland Park families
Highland Park's Family Engagement Action Team, from left: Edwyna Spiegel, bilingual teacher; Heather Albertson, parent leader; Ben Ostrom, principal; Ryan Schaedig, teacher; Tiffany Daraja, parent/co-chair, Pam Rago, FSW/co-chair; Teresa Wang, teacher; Shahanah Matsumura, teacher; and Lauren Porter, teacher.
As part of Highland Park Elementary's Family Engagement Action Team (FEAT) plan, families hold regular coffee chats with the principal to discuss important school issues - such as budgets, staffing, family nights, and other upcoming projects. Highland Park held its third Family Math Night this month. Previous math nights were held in January and February.
The school is also working on weekly translated family newsletters sent home that let families know what their children are learning and how they can help reinforce those concepts and skills at home.
Every month, the team – composed of the school principal, the Family Support Worker, the math coach, five teachers and two parents – sit around a table to revisit their annual FEAT plan. The team fine-tunes the details for upcoming family events to ensure that these are linked to increase student academic achievement and also plan outreach to families.