This Dec., parents and guardians met with Principal LaNisha Paddock to discuss past, present and future updates about the school and district. The attendees were able to ask questions, give feedback and propose ideas of what they would like to see happen in the school.
According to Paddock, more people should attend these types of meetings to build connections and to overall support Park students.
“Building partnerships so we are able to better serve students is really what we want to do,” Paddock said. “We want to make sure that everyone’s children are coming to our school and having the best educational experience possible.
Parent Amanda Muñoz said more people should attend “Coffee with the Principal” meetings to get to know what the school is doing to help and support their student(s). It offers an alternative to connect with the administration team instead of only getting updates from the 6425 emails.
“It’s a great way to have a dialogue with the principal and get to know all of the things that our educators and administrators are doing to help our students every day,” Muñoz said. “It’s always such a better connection when you get to talk in person, rather than just reading an email or getting a phone blast.”
According to parent Marybeth Gaines, the meeting was helpful for reviewing important updates that impact the school overall, but that the time could have had other uses.
“I think if I had specific questions, this would not be the forum to ask them in. It is a more high level engagement — a lot of updates versus if I really had a question this is not the right forum,” Gaines said. “It seems like it could be time better spent. There’s a lot of reviewing stuff that’s already in the 6425. Maybe there’s a different way to use this meeting to get out other things.”
Paddock said furthering these connections between school administration and parents/guardians helps cultivate a community to celebrate and learn about what is going on at Park.
“We’re trying to create a community,” Paddock said. “It’s really important to provide opportunities for us to stay in communication with each other, to celebrate with each other, share all of the wonderful things that are happening in our school — like a coffee with the principal where we just kind of informally highlight and talk about things that are happening in our school community and learning community.”
According to Muñoz, these meetings are helpful and offer important opportunities for parents/guardians to communicate with the school.
“More parents (should) take advantage. I mean, it’s a great opportunity to get to talk to our administrators and learn what they’re doing every day,” Muñoz said. “They’ve got big jobs and really appreciate all the things that they do.”
The next “Coffee with the Principal” meeting will take place from 12-12:30 p.m. March 4 in the Park front office.
