Principal Sale-Davis and her staff work with families to understand the issues that have an impact on a child's school success or failure. Parents appreciate this approach, saying the school works with them to resolve conflicts and other issues in their children's education. As one parent says, "They counsel you and the student together to find a solution that is right for the child."

Technology has played a key role in facilitating communication between teachers and parents. One parent says, "I can now contact my son's teachers in the middle of the day through e-mail. When he comes home, I can tell him that I heard about the great test grade he received in math." For parents who don't have access to e-mail, the school relies on telephone or regular mail to communicate; these parents say that they feel free to phone and talk to teachers, just as others maintain e-mail contact.

The school's PTA has 145 members. Parents say that the membership is rising because "the principal opened the door to us." They believe that the PTA bridges communication between parents and teachers. Parents say they are partners with the school in their children's education. One parent gives this example of how the partnership works:

I felt that my child was not being challenged. I had a conference with the counselor and then with the teacher. They respected my opinion. They didn't dismiss me as just a parent who didn't know any better, and they didn't automatically do what I asked because "the parent is always right." Instead, they conferenced with me and my daughter. They counseled us, and we all came to consensus. This was a family making a decision together for the benefit of the child.

A Very Extended Family

Freeport's extended definition of family includes the local Youth Home, which sends several students to the school. In fact, the school has the largest number of Youth Home students of any other school in the county. The children in the Youth Home have been placed there because of abuse, abandonment, or because their parents could not handle them. Operated by Children's Protective Services, the Youth Home is a 24-hour facility with two therapists on staff and a psychiatrist on call. Youth Home staff say that Freeport is a good place for these students because it cares for each child individually. Ann Huey, the Youth Home administrator, shares the following anecdote to show how the partnership works:

One of our children has a severe behavior disorder. Working with the school, we came up with a plan that minimizes his opportunities to wreak havoc and maximizes his opportunities to interact with other students in a healthy way. A worker from the home drives him to school so that he isn't on the bus, which was a problem place for him. The teachers then hand him off from one to another, so that he isn't in the halls unsupervised with other students. He is a child of average ability and is mainstreamed, but he is hard to motivate, especially around doing homework. So we came up with a plan for the teachers to fax his homework to us at the Youth Home, and then we fax it back. The school also arranged for him to see a counselor once a week at school in addition to the therapy he receives at the Youth Home. We at the Home are the family for these children, and the school treats us that way.

Ms. Huey says the school treats her like a partner, not an administrator. When she comes to school, her kids call her "Mom," although they don't do so at the Home. They want to have a semblance of family, and Ms. Huey does all she can to help her children feel that sense of family. They go to other kids' homes to play and have other children over to play with them at the Youth Home. Ms. Huey encourages her kids to get involved in school projects and to work with other students in both curricular and extra-curricular activities. She works closely with the school counselor to make sure that her kids are being taken care of.

For its part, the school treats these kids as part of one big family and goes to extraordinary lengths to make them feel loved. At Christmas, Ms. Sale-Davis asked teachers and others for donations to buy Christmas presents for the Youth Home kids. Ms. Huey, Ms. Sale-Davis, and the school secretary went shopping and spent more than $1,000 on gifts. Huey noted that Ms. Sale-Davis and her secretary knew each child's interests and selected appropriate gifts.

Social Equity - BACK

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