Twice a year, Turning the Page hosts Parent Leadership Conferences. During these conferences, parents discuss, collaborate, and promote ideas they’ve been working on. Throughout the school year, our Community Night workshops are a way to engage parents to be more active in their children’s education. One of these ways is by encouraging parents to join Parent Advisory Councils (PACs). PACs at each school focus on issues that matter most to them. These PACs create ways to solve problems and maximize family-wide learning.
The Morning Session
This year’s morning session was devoted to parents sharing presentations of recent successful school projects and future ideas. For example, the Penn PAC has been hard at work on a bathroom improvement project. At Legacy, parent leaders launched family yoga classes as well as several successful fundraisers. The Kellman PAC has developed a Parent Room that can hold Parent Cafes, or informal sessions. They plan to have future family book clubs, book exhibitions, and anti-bullying showcases. Additionally, the Sumner PAC has also recently celebrated the opening of a parent room and resource center.
Parents had opportunities to talk one-on-one with parent leaders from different schools about some of the most important questions in parent leadership. These questions include ‘What do parents most need to learn?’ and ‘What is the best way to retain parent participants?’ During this time, student’s took a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium. While there, students were able to see, learn about, and touch various marine life.
Summer Resource Festival
In the afternoon, students returned to Homan Square and met up with their parents for the first-ever Summer Resource Festival. On a bright, breezy spring day, families soaked in the sun and enjoyed an afternoon of outdoor fun and learning. Over fifteen different organizations joined us to share resources about education programs, career resources, and more. These organizations included the David L. Hoyt Education Foundation, Open Books, the UIC Center for Literacy, the Chicago Public Library, Gardeneers, and many more literacy and community groups.
A little wind didn’t stop the crowd from enjoying the food, resources, and a sunny afternoon. Thank you to our DJ for the music and Chicago’s Ultimate Tumblers for incredible gymnastics.
Summer Resource Festival photos courtesy of Ben Speckmann Photography.
Want to help support future resource festivals and parent leadership conferences? Consider a donation to Turning the Page today.