PT Parent Liaison: Be The Anchor
Facts All Families Should Know About Your Parent Liaison
Welcome Back!
Dear Pine Tree Parents,
Welcome to another great year at Pine Tree! My name is Miranda Chism and I am very excited to be part of the Pine Tree staff. I am the Parent Liaison serving Primary, Birch, Parkway, and Middle school campuses (preK-6th). As your Parent Liaison, my job is to help you get the information and support you need to ensure your child’s academic and social success in school. It is a privilege to get involved, keep informed and share information to ensure that your child does his or her best. We are here to be the anchor for every child! All of our conversations are strictly confidential so don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.
To contact me you can:
Call the Primary school at (903) 295-5095 (Please leave a message)
Email me directly at mchism@ptisd.org
Complete the Parent Liaison Contact Form which can be found at the end of this Newsletter.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon!
What is a Parent Liaison?
A Parent Liaison is the contact person who initiates a close connection/relationship and maintains that communication/link between two parties in order to ensure collaborative action and cooperation toward agreed upon goals on both sides.
Your Parent Liaison can connect you to important information
Registration
Community resources
School policy and procedures
Child safety resources
Parental and family engagement
Contacting teachers, admins, and counselors
Your Parent Liaison can connect you to available resources/help
School supplies
After-school programs
Public-Library programs and activities
Community events
School events
Information to local assistance programs
Your Parent Liaison can help you make a comfortable connection with the school
Backpack programs
Parent/Teacher conferences
Phone calls
Notes to school
Get assistance from interpreters
Volunteering
Parent Liaison Role and Mission
Research continues to emphasize the importance of parent involvement in promoting school success. At the same time, lack of participation among parents of socially and culturally diverse students is also well-documented. Today’s families constantly deal with stress that impacts students’ abilities to participate in academic and extra-curricular school activities. If schools are to do an effective job of education in their increasingly diverse populations of students, they must find ways to communicate and build more cooperative working relationships with parents.
Parent Liaisons:
Facilitate parent-school communication
Facilitate community agency referrals
Encourage parent involvement in the school
Foster trust between parents and the educational community
Foster higher academic achievement through collaboration with school personnel
The primary role of the Parent Liaison is to empower parents to become active participants in the education of their children. Targeted are those parents who:
Need help in determining how best to help their children
Are infrequent participants in school activities
May need clarification of their role in the educational process
Need assistance in making connections and accessing services
How can the Parent Liaison help me?
Often, parents feel uncomfortable about sharing their questions or concerns with the teachers or school administration. Since open communication between home and school is such a vital part of your child’s academic success, the Parent Liaison will listen to your concerns and then work with you to make sure that your situation, question or point of view is expressed and understood. They will help and support you if you need to find ways to resolve any issues that may be hindering your child’s success in school. Parent Liaisons want to be sure that you understand what you can do to get involved, keep informed, share information, and help your child do his or her best.
What kind of assistance can the Parent Liaison provide?
Information
Provide you with programs that will help you get involved with your child’s learning development (Klondike Leadership Academy, WATCH D.O.G.S.)
Discuss some the ways you can get more involved with the school.
Answer questions you may have about school rules and regulations.
Conferences
Help arrange meetings between you and your child’s teachers or the school administration so that important information about your child is shared and understood.
At your request, accompany you to a parent conference or other important meetings at the school to help clarify information about your child or home situation.
Help arrange for an interpreter if you need to communicate in your own language.
Special help and services
Find out whom you need to call or where you need to go to get special help or services for your child or your family.
GET INVOLVED: PARENT INVOLVEMENT MATTERS
PT Pirate Cares!
This year I would like to collaborate with the community of those who are eager to help others in times of need. I would like to create the PT Pirates Care program. We will compile a list of families interested in offering assistance to others in our school community throughout the school year. As needs arise I will reach out to the group. Your help would be requested periodically in such ways as purchasing/donating an item, providing holiday gifts, spreading the word on clothing and food drives, or donating a service. When assistance is needed, an email will be sent to the group explaining the need and each member can respond if able to help at that time. All information remains confidential in respect of the families being assisted. Please contact me directly if you would like to be a part of this group. mchism@ptisd.org
Strength in Collaboration
Klondike Leadership Academy
Klondike Leadership Academy through Healthcare Express provides a leadership program for students in grades Kinder-5th. I will facilitate the curriculum program on the campuses that I serve. This is a great program that offers incentives and rewards to the students who participate. For more information please contact me.
WATCH D.O.G.S.
WATCH D.O.G.S. is a program that is not new to our district. We are in need of some positive male role models. I will be involved in helping rebuild this program at our Primary campus. We need volunteers for all our campuses. If you are interested in learning more about how to get involved with this program please contact me.