Fox C-6 Back to School Mayhem

The Fox C-6 School District has resumed questions and already there are questions, last minute requests, and confusion.

Students are scrambling to figure out their new routines, and many need some extra help, but who can help them when many educators don't know the schedules yet themselves?

Students and their teachers will succeed a lot better with some advance notice of schedules, school supply requirements, and the almighty school handbook (which informs us of rules, expectations, hours, policies, procedures, emergency plans and so forth).

Some parents have asked me if I know where to find the hours or handbooks for their home schools in the district.

The last time I checked the Fox district website, several school handbooks were unpublished. There is a listing of the reporting schools' times at the Metro St. Louis Education Advocacy website.

Other parents in the district have mentioned problems with the website at previous School Board meetings. I have mentioned the website problems to our administration as well.

Hopefully, as promised, the website will be improved, the official school hours and other information will be posted clearly. 

Unfortunately, several parents and families who have reached out to me and to ICAA, have also found themselves unaware of some basic school supply requirements.

Some families do not have web access readily available, and they need to know what school supplies are required for their children before the start of each school year. The lists that parents were able to find did not specify quantities of each item listed, such as folders, or notebooks.

Some parents were unaware for instance, that at one particular school, there would be a requirement for 4th to 6th grade students to have a specific kind of planner for the year, or a planner at all. Or that school was selling these specific planners for $4 each at the Open House.

Questions arose such as, Why not just put down "assignment book" on the school supply list so that parents and students could purchase them well before the first week of school? And, if these planners were to be a specific kind, color or brand, provide the information on the school supply list. Parents were sent home with a notice of changes from the Principal which included the following note: 

"Assignment books are required for grades 4 through 6. The cost for these will be $4.00. (Cash only, please) We have been able to provide these for students free of cost for the last few years. Unfortunately, we are unable to continue with this due to immense budget cuts to the school district. Thank you for your understanding."

The district has obviously already paid for these assignment books, or they would not be for sale at the Open House. The school district may or may not have paid $4 for each assignment book.

It may be something worth finding out, along with other areas of concern within our district's budget, which is quite possibly an entirely separate blog post for another time.

Last year it was reported that some area schools ran out of paper, causing many families to not be notified of various special events and projects that their children wanted to be involved with.

Aside from some basic questions we may have, such as where are the tax dollars and other funds, currently spent in our district, if not on the students?

The source for all of these challenges is this: poor communication. The lack of clear communication has, at least in part, caused confusion, disorganization, poor planning, and apparently a budget crisis.

Had I known of the inability for a school to provide students with a special required planner for students, I could have had enough time to arrange for ICAA, through our project "Mind the Gap", to collect these specific planners and provide them to the school. Had parents known of the paper shortage last year, a lot of parents like me would have voluntarily helped purchase the extra paper.

Sending appropriate documents out to district families would seem to be best practice. Several families report receiving documents only about two days prior to the start of school, informing them that their school has not made adequate progress for the NCLB Act.

A school failing to meet standards in the No Child Left Behind Act affords families and students various options, and requires that schools inform families of these options. These families may want the information pertaining to their child's school well enough in advance to make necessary adjustments regarding school transfers, or other arrangements. 

Several families report that they did not receive any documents informing them of what day and time Open House, or the first day back to school would be. People have relied on the internet and word of mouth from other local families.

Unfortunately, this will inevitably lead to some of the confusion we are seeing throughout our district. This is one of those times which leads to me reiterating the importance of us parents and tax payers in the community getting involved with the education of our children. All of these issues, however minor, can be taken up at Board meetings, which anyone may attend. 

I know there are plenty of systems within our culture that need improvments. But what better place to start implementing best practices and striving for excellence than the education of our children?

My advice to our school district as a parent and as an advocate:

• Send families, at least, the student school supply lists and schedules in advance (end of previous school year or in the month before school resumes)
• Send families the date and time of the first day back and the open house date.
• After the first week of school, send families home with accurate lists of what the school and classrooms need, or wish lists for classrooms so parents can help provide supplies.
• If there is a PTO, the PTO should regularly notify families of activities, projects and fundraisers well in advance, with a few reminders, to encourage more parent involvment and more success. If there is not a PTO, get one together. 

These things will help the families, and the educators relax a little bit more and be able to concentrate on enjoying the return to school, and all the excitement a new year brings. It will help the school run more smoothly overall. All it takes is some different planning, becoming more proactive, and some communication.

If parents and citizens in the community go forward with interest and involvment, I am quite confident we will see some positive changes.