New Parent Advocacy – What You Need to Know

Welcome to elementary school! This is such an exciting and action-packed time of parenthood—but sending your children off to school can be a bit overwhelming. Parents Defending Education wants to share a few tips to get your K-12 experience off to a good start. Questions? Please reach out to us at [email protected]

Tips to Get Started:

Get involved! Volunteer to be a Room Parent or sign up for a class committee. Many of these “sign up” forms circulate at Back to School Night. Missed the forms? Reach out to your child’s teacher.

Introduce yourself to your child’s teacher. The start of the school year is a very busy time for everyone, especially for teachers—but it’s worth it to take a moment to introduce yourself to the teacher in person, over email or in a brief phone call. Teachers love supportive parents!

Make time to attend Back to School Night and Parent-Teacher Conferences. While Back to School Night will provide you with a good overview of what your child will be learning this year and their daily schedule, Parent-Teacher Conferences are a wonderful opportunity to get to know the teacher, hear specifics about how your child is at school, and share any concern or input to help the teacher learn more about your child. 

Get involved in your school’s parent organization (PTO or PTA). These organizations have lots of opportunities for you to get involved, meet other parents, and learn more about the school. Parents in these organizations have students across all grades and they can be a great resource.

Talk to your child about their day. Find out what they worked on, who they sat with at lunch, what they did during recess. Try to keep the conversation light and casual. Try picking your child up from school occasionally, if possible. This is especially important if your child gets off the bus bursting with “tales from the bus” and doesn’t remember anything about their school day!

Get to know the parents of your child’s friends and classmates. You can learn so much about your child from other parents. Setting up playdates and opportunities for your child to develop friendships outside of school is much easier if you know some of the parents. The reality is some kids need a little help connecting with classmates. Making “parent friends” in the class can only help your child. 

If allowed, go in for lunch when you can! Younger kids LOVE to have their mom, dad, grandparents, caregivers etc. join them for lunch. This is a fun time for you to see your child “in action” and with friends. It is also a great way to meet the cafeteria staff. These staff members are many of the kids’ favorite people in the building! Joining your child for lunch is a great opportunity to learn how lunch works at the school, how your child pays for lunch items, how your school handles food allergies, and if ice cream really is the only item they sell:)

Attend as many class events as you can. While it is not possible to be at everything, the smile on your child’s face when they see you walk into the room is priceless. They grow so fast – enjoy them at these early ages. Savor every class party, performance, Field Day and out-of-tune string concert.

Bigger Picture:

Find out the name of your school board member and Superintendent. It is great to connect with these people in a friendly manner – at a Saturday farmers market, school event, meet and greet BEFORE you need to address issues with them.