Building Relationships with Parents and Communities

In a recent article in the Association of California School Administrators Resource Hub, Rosa Guerra addresses the difficulties in building relationships with parents and communities through a traditional school year. Her relatable article, We Tried That, Now What? Increasing Parent Engagement in our Schools, suggested that there are 9 components to parent engagement within an academic year, yet she also engages readers with the consequences of a national pandemic and how it corresponds to creating partnerships between educational staff and parents. Through a “whole child, whole family” approach, Guerra primary focus is to find ways to include and engage families in order to achieve school readiness outcomes and ensure success in education.

Guerra identifies the following 9 approaches to build those goals in developing meaningful partnerships with parents and families:

1. Trust - The Foundation of Any Relationship

2. Meeting the Needs - Access to Resources

3. Ask, don’t assume

4. Just in time access

5. Building a community with technology

6. Having a plan and working the plan

7. Measuring Progress

8. Shared Accountability

9. Stay resilient in the face of challenges

The list is comprehensive and Guerra breaks into each category thoroughly. Personally, I found items 1 and 3 to be the most relatable because it circulates around the very notion of building a communicative, positive relationship. By trusting each other, staff to parents, everything else falls into place, including the ability to communicate concerts, needs for asking questions, not making assumptions, and developing shared accountability between those in the relationship. Open, meaningful and trustworthy communication can make or break a relationship, as well as a positive leader for a school site. It is imperative that a site leader and supporting management team can produce these trustworthy relationships for the best outcome for student success. Guerra extracts this information in a clean and understandable approach that is worth the read!