Hamilton County Schools Launch Parent Involvement Campaign

We've been covering issues the schools have been having with the students in the areas of attendance, class performance and violence.Now the Hamilton County School leadership is launching a new campaign to improve students lives, both in school and at home.

It's called the Be There initiative and educators and administrators hope it will reduce problems in the schools just by encouraging parents to be active in their children's lives.

" You might recall that last year we had a cry and a firestorm about the fact that we had violence in our schools and we were calling on our parents to be involved with us to make sure our parents could curtail that," said dr. Jim Scales, Superintendant of Hamilton County Schools.

So this year Hamilton County leaders are asking parents to become engaged in their children's lives..It's a district wide effort that includes brochures, public service announcements, billboards and meetings with parents. One of the coordinators of the efforts, Lakweshia Tibbs, defines a parent's responsibility.

"I'm very careful in using the term involved because involved means that they're there but engaged means that you know what's going on and have a integral part of it," said Lekweshia Tibbs, a Coordinator for Family Partnership in Hamilton County Schools.

Educators and administrators here at the Board of Education are not just targeting parents who aren't there physically for their kids, they're also focusing on those who are there and just aren't maximizing the time they spend with their children. They say even just 5 minutes in the car with your kids can be a learning experience.

"A mother and her son were driving down the road and the mother's cell phone keeps going off. She keeps trying to have a conversation with her child but her cell phone keeps interrupting," said Julie Legg, Principal at Birchwood Elementary School.

Legg echos others thoughts on ways for parents to get engaged. They say whether it's the lessons about buying groceries, bullying on the playground or math equations talking to your kids, sharing your experiences can help.

County Mayor Claude Ramsey hopes this engagement will help students stay in school to become well educated and work in the community as adults.

"The opportunities will come over the next few years and the next decade for people who are educated and who are trainable. If we don't make these steps now these jobs will go to somebody else," said Mayor Ramsey.

To reach those goals teachers say they're taking a positive approach, rather than just calling to tell parents their child is in the Principal's office, they plan to call parents when their children are excelling also.