Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Connecting with Our Community

By Ronnie Gonzalez, Chief Administrative Officer 

On Saturday, August 17, Navasota ISD faculty and staff visited with parents, students, and community members during its inaugural NISD Parent/Home Visits. The idea was to get out in the community to remind parents and students about the upcoming first day of school and also take the opportunity to connect with parents and guardians. The district distributed NISD reusable grocery bags, refrigerator magnets with school information, a school calendar and other handouts that informed parents of ways to encourage reading and safe social media use at home. Over 50 faculty & staff used this opportunity to visit with over 500 students and their families. The event lasted several hours on Saturday morning as NISD faculty, staff, Board Members, as well as invited Navasota City Council members and City of Navasota officials partnered together in support of our schools and community. We feel that the event was a successful outing, with positive feedback from our parents and look forward to a larger outing next year.

We would also like to thank our fathers and father figures for taking part in our Million Father March. The event sponsored by Navasota ISD encouraged our male parents and guardians to participate in the educational process of their children, by taking their child to school on the first day. In our first year participating, we had over 350 fathers and father figures involved. A 2004 summary study by The Parent Institute showed that at schools where teachers reported high levels of outreach to parents, reading scores increased by 50 percent, and math tests scores increased by 40 percent, higher than in schools where teachers reported low levels of outreach. While there is no magic bullet to solving all of the problems that we face in education, getting fathers involved is a large step in the right direction. We encourage fathers to speak with and listen to their children regularly and be active in their lives, making up part of a good parent team, which is critical to strong family structures. Strong family structures produce more centered, academically proficient, and socially developed children who are a valuable asset to our community. Navasota ISD is supportive of the process, and we encourage our fathers, father figures, parents and guardians continue to talk with your children about the value of education.

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