Keeping PACE
August 30, 2021
Meetings with Mary Beth
Welcome back!
Mary Beth Stapleton will be scheduling individual back to school meetings with each of you throughout September immediately after your school day to review Dr. Constantino’s Engage Every Family: Five Simple Principles and begin planning for the school year. If you need support or assistance (or need more books) to get started before your meeting with Mary Beth, please reach out to Mary Beth via email at Marybeth.Stapleton@hcps.org and she will follow up with you ASAP.
Have a great opening!
Dr. Constantino’s Learning Modules
Joyce Jablecki, Administrative Support Specialist in the Office of Family and Community Partnerships, created a SharePoint site to connect you with the Parent Liaisons Learning Modules shared this summer. Please click SharePoint > Central Office > Family and Community Partnerships > Parent & Family Engagement (PACE) and you will find the modules located on the right side of the page.
Family Friendly School Award Program
Please share the following information with your community! Encourage families to visit the page on the website for more information, to nominate your school, and to vote!
**Possible marquee message: Visit the Parent Academy page on hcps.org to nominate our school for the Family Friendly School Award!**
Would you consider your child’s school to be Family Friendly? We want to know!
The HCPS Parent Academy, in partnership with Chick-fil-A of Harford County, is excited to launch the HCPS Family Friendly School Award program. HCPS recognizes that meaningful relationships between administrators, teachers, families, and communities is essential to student achievement. When families are involved in their children’s learning -- both at home and at school -- their children are likely to do better in school. And parents, guardians, and family members are more likely to engage with their child’s learning if they feel welcomed and valued by school staff and teachers.
We are looking to celebrate our schools that best engage all families. HCPS uses the National PTA Standards for Family-School Partnerships as an indicator of a family friendly school. With this new program, schools consistently demonstrating these standards could earn the coveted Family Friendly School Award and special recognition that accompanies that title, including a luncheon for the school’s staff provided by Chick-fil-A of Harford County! We will name a Family Friendly School each month September through May.
To win this honor, a school must first be nominated and then receive the most votes from the community. The first nomination window is September 1-8, 2021. Please visit the Parent Academy page on hcps.org to nominate your child’s school now. Then, visit that same page on our website September 13-17 to see what schools were nominated and cast your vote for the winning school! Be sure to follow the HCPS Parent Academy page on Facebook for reminders about nominating and voting during the school year. Help us spread the word by sharing this information with others in your school community!
We are deeply grateful for our generous Chick-fil-A partners at the Aberdeen, Bel Air, Constant Friendship, and Forest Hill locations for their tremendous support of this program.
Real Talks
Please remember that Mary Beth is hosting hot-topic Real Talks throughout the school year – feel free to share these Real Talks directly from the HCPS Parent Academy Facebook page with your school community as appropriate!
Here is a link to the latest Real Talk with Dr. Bishai discussing face coverings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHaZd6zn5U.
Fall Parenting Academy Parent Workshop Information
For the start of the school year, we have planned two fall series: one geared for elementary families and one geared for secondary families.
Office of Communications and Family Outreach
Keeping PACE editors:
Manager of Family and Community Partnerships
Communications Specialist
Email: ParentAcademy@hcps.org
Website: https://www.hcps.org/parents/ParentAcademy/Default.aspx
Location: 102 South Hickory Avenue, Bel Air, MD, USA
Phone: 410-588-5263
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HCPSParentAcademy