-
Launched!
A city-wide group of Bridgeport parents comes together with the support of Excel Bridgeport to engage in a problem-solving approach to school reform. The Parent Problem Solvers will identify a major problem in the Bridgeport Public Schools and then work to solve it over the course of several months. -
New Superintendent Arrives!
The Bridgeport Board of Education hires Paul Vallas as Interim Superintendent of Schools. Superintendent Vallas expresses a desire to make parent engagement a major part of his reform plan for Bridgeport schools. -
Sorting Through Problems
The Parent Problem Solvers create a list of all the problems in the school district. They then begin to narrow down the list to a single issue. Most problems seem to lead back to one issue: The lack of effective parent engagement in all Bridgeport schools. -
Focus on District-Wide Problem
Encouraged by a Superintendent and Board of Education receptive to the idea of improving parent engagement in Bridgeport, the parent "problem solvers" decide to re-write the district's nearly 10 year old parent engagement policy, which was last updated in 2003. -
Joining with PAC
The Policy Committee of the Bridgeport District-Wide PAC (Parent Advisory Council) including the District PAC President and Vice President join the problem solving team. -
Looking for Solutions Across the Country
The team of Parent Problem Solvers assess the roots of the problem by answering one question: What are the barriers to parent engagement in Bridgeport schools? The team then begins to brainstorm their own strategies to address those barriers. They also looks at parent engagement strategies from urban school districts across the country (including Denver, Chicago and New York among others). They begin to analyze which strategies best fit the needs of Bridgeport. -
Narrowing Down the Solutions
The team of parent "problem solvers" begins to select the strategies that will form part of the Bridgeport parent engagement policy. Among the strategies chosen are: Parent Ambassadors (a strategy from New York), Parent-Teacher Agreements (from Chicago) and Parent Center (from Bridgeport). -
First Draft of Policy Completed
The team of parent "problem solvers" complete their first draft of the Bridgeport parent engagement policy re-write. This draft is a major transformation of the 2003 policy. It contains over 10 strategies chosen by parents themselves and is three pages longer than the 2003 policy. -
Bridgeport Parents Learn from Hartford Parents
Parents from the Parent Problem Solving Team met with Milly Arciniegas. president of the Hartford Parent Organization Council, to learn how Hartford tracks parent involvement in their schools. -
Policy Distributed to Parents at Report Card Conferences
With the help of the Bridgeport Board of Education and Bridgeport Public Schools staff, the first draft of the proposed 2012 parent engagement policy goes out to all parents during district-wide Report Card Conferences. -
Gathering Educator Feedback
The team of parent "problem solvers" invites a Bridgeport Public Schools principal and teacher to one of their meetings to hear the educators' perspective on the parent engagement policy. -
Presentation to Executive PAC
The Bridgeport Executive PAC is presented with a rough outline of some of the strategies that the team of parent "problem solvers" have selected to be in the new policy. -
Board of Education Subcommittee takes on the policy
On Tuesday, May 29, a joint subcommittee of the Bridgeport Board of Education (made up of the Process Committee and the Community Engagement Committee) decided to take up the proposed 2012 Parent Engagement Policy. Then team of parent "problem solvers" was present to explain the reasoning behind creating the policy, the process they've undergone over the last several months and the urgency they feel for the BOE to approve the policy before the start of the 2012-2013 school year. The subcommittee -
Op-Ed from Parent Problem Solvers Printed in the Connecticut Post
The CT Post published our op-ed explaining the six principles we believe are critical for effective parent engagement in Bridgeport Public Schools:
a welcoming school environment;
clear expectations (for both parents and schools);
robust communication (between home and school and school and home);
effective access (to schools, educators and resources);
parents' skills and knowledge (that enable them to help their child succeed in school); and
strong family-to-school relationships. -
Board of Education Subcommittees Review the Policy
Don't forget the Board of Education Community Engagement and Process subcommittees met with representatives of parents, teachers, principals, home-school coordinators and the district administration to consider and revise the policy throughout May and June. -
Jessica Martinez's Op-ed Published in the Post
Parent Jessica Martinez's op-ed Working together for a better education is published in the Connecticut Post. In it she explains how working together in the problem solving group has empowered her as a leader in Bridgeport. -
Board of Education Subcommittee Approves the Policy
The Subcommitee accepted the recommendation of the Parent Engagement Policy! -
The Board of Education "First Reads" the policy
At their August 1st Board of Education Meeting, the Board of Education reviewed the policy. The Problem Solving Group members got a huge round of applause. Board members Trefry and Bankowski as well as Supt Vallas praised the policy and its collaborating creators! -
The Parent Engagement Policy Passes!
The Board of Education unanimously approves the policy! See Laura and Susan's reaction in this video. -
Bridgeport Parents Appear in Education Week
Michele Molnar writes about the Parent Problem Solvers in Education Week, a national publication. -
Laura and Maria on Radio Cumbre
Maria Zambrano and Laura Maranon are special guests on Radio Cumbre to discuss the success of the policy. -
Jessica and Maria on Our Lives (News 12)
Maria Zambrano and Jessica Martinez appear on Gwen Edwards’s News 12 show, Our Lives, to discuss parent engagement and the policy.
