School Programs & Meetings for Parents

[Meatball Mommie]

Our school does not offer any type of parent-only programs - whether it's "kids and social media", "bullying prevention", "substance abuse" or even "science fair help" lol - and I find this odd. I'd like to make suggestions to the school (and to the pta) but was curious about what other schools offer and who offers them (whether it's the principle, the pta, or an organization like MADD/SADD).

Our school demographics:
private, Catholic
2 separate buildings & principles but overseen by president - grades 1-6 (total enrollment ~360), [grades 7-8 & 9-12 (total enrollment ~300) ] same building but kids are sort of kept separate.
PTA - 2 separate (same division) - elementary PTA alternates meeting times between evening and morning every other month - MS/HS PTA only holds meetings at 9 am (when I am working - boo)

So please post what your school/PTA offers and maybe some demographics of your school. Thanks in advance.

[newnana]

Our previous school was secular private. The school hosted these in the evenings, typically around 7 pm. The school headmaster arranged them with local and national organizations that gave well honed presentations.

Our current school is public and they are put on by the school district. They are also excellent programs but are not school specific.

In both cases, the PTA meets during school hours, which I will never be able to attend. Drives me batty but I understand there is no one good time for everyone.

[Meatball Mommie]

Our previous school was secular private. The school hosted these in the evenings, typically around 7 pm. The school headmaster arranged them with local and national organizations that gave well honed presentations.

Our current school is public and they are put on by the school district. They are also excellent programs but are not school specific.

In both cases, the PTA meets during school hours, which I will never be able to attend. Drives me batty but I understand there is no one good time for everyone.

Would you mind listing the names of the programs/presentations? That way I can see specifically what we need to address. Thanks!

[IansMom]

Public elementary school, approximately 500 students.
PTA meetings are held in the evenings at 6 pm. However, PTA subcommittee meetings are normally held during the day (around lunchtime).

The only program that I am aware of is "Curriculum Conversations" with the reading specialist who serves IMO more as a curriculum specialist. She holds these every Wednesday at 7:30 am, 11:30 am and 2:30 pm. I went yesterday, and I chose the 2:30 slot because I knew it would be likely that I would be the only parent (I was). This is new this year. We have a new principal, and there has been a larger effort to communicate and build relationships among parents and staff.

[vonfirmath]

Our school does not offer any type of parent-only programs - whether it's "kids and social media", "bullying prevention", "substance abuse" or even "science fair help" lol - and I find this odd. I'd like to make suggestions to the school (and to the pta) but was curious about what other schools offer and who offers them (whether it's the principle, the pta, or an organization like MADD/SADD)..

The closest our school has come to this is occasionally at a PTO meeting, they will have a speaker on STAAR tests (usually the best attended meetings!)

Our PTO meetings are currently in the evening at 5:30p. They used to be 6:30p, but it was 99% teachers and they requested the earlier time so we moved it.

[nfceagles]

Our PTO has done a few things like this at or before our meetings. Social Media was a topic last year. Our meetings are 6:30pm. They are so poorly attended though that they are a huge waste of resources.

ETA: we are a large suburban public school

[KpbS]

Our school (very small parochial k3-8th) has had only a couple in the past years. They were held during the normal PTA meeting times 6:30 once a month. Come to think of it, our PTA is now only meeting once a quarter and attendance is still low.

One of the programs was about child developmental expectations regarding homework and organizational skills. That was very well done. Another was about counseling services and resources in our community.

Technology and social media is a super important topic to be addressed for sure!!

[mmsmom]

Public school district of around 3000 kids. District does evening programs for parents 2-3 times a year. Topics have included bullying, social media, drug use (especially heroin which is an epidemic in our area). We also had a new math curriculum this year and there have been parent only meetings about that.

[SnuggleBuggles]

A local private school hosts a few guests speakers/ year in the evening and they invite neighboring schools to attend. They also serve wine. :) Lots of good parenting topics.

Our parent meetings are in the evenings and we've played around with formatting. Attendance never changes. We've had the principal and school specialists come and chat with us. We've had a few outside groups talk too.

The school has tried a few nights for parents with topics like curriculum and technology. I haven't attended in years though (because I'm a slacker :)).

The school hosts a monthly morning coffee with the principal. They tried a book club one year with the principal and that was nice.

[squimp]

Our Parent organization hosts parent education events like this and actually the school does these as well. They've had topics like Common Core concerns, Parenting a teenager, technology, TAG stuff. I hardly ever go so I can't remember.

In elementary, our parent-teacher organization would discuss all sorts of topics, but these were more updates. It's not a focused topic, just whatever happens to be going on like testing or school activities. Our school even had an open meeting after Sandy to get input on school lockdown procedures. Great principal!

[newnana]

I'll try to look tonight after I get home from work.