Palestine ISD homecoming week

Fantastic Fridays column

Thomas A. Wallis

Community and staff,

Homecoming is always a special time of year when alumni come home to celebrate the heritage and history of PISD. People remember the way it used to be and discuss how everything has changed. Conversations of days past take place, the men discuss how their coaches coached them while the wives just laugh and let them talk about the glory days.

This year as you discuss the good ole days, remember to have discussion about the great days and successes we are having currently. One example is our high school band who returned from the Bands of America contest in Arlington last week as Champions of their class. Saturday they will again compete at the Regional competition in Nacogdoches at 2:15 p.m. Good luck PHS band and we are very proud of you.

This week, we also had our annual homecoming pep rally and parade. Thanks go out to all the organizations that entered floats and had students participate in this fine event. Mrs. Miller did a wonderful job of coordinating the activities, and we are proud of her.

We have had many successes, but we are looking forward to having additional successes both at home and at school. A new program that will begin in January to assist our community be more successful at home is our new parenting seminars. Parents today are very busy and the dynamics of the homes are much different than the days of the Brady Bunch and Leave it to Beaver. Our children are being raised by single parents and other members of the family that love them dearly.

As a district, we realize that life can become stressful and without assistance raising children and working can be a daunting task. PISD wants to offer seminars to assist any parent who has questions on how to raise children from teenagers to adolescents. The district will be bringing in experts in the field and we will have breakout sessions so you will be in the same room with parents facing the same challenges.

Allow me to share some statistics with you regarding the youth of our country. In the next 24 hours, 1,439 teens will attempt suicide, 2,795 teens will become pregnant, 15,006 teens will experiment with drugs for the first time, and 3,506 will run away. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds, and the sixth leading cause of death for 5-14 year olds. Every four minutes a youth is arrested for an alcohol related crime. Every 2 hours a teen is murdered. According to the January, 2008 newsletter of the National Association of Woman Law Enforcement Executives, statistically speaking, antidepressants, prescription medications and other behavior altering drugs, Generation Y will be the most medicated generation in history.

As parents, our children’s education is very important but so is their safety. Research argues that children with parents that are involved in their child’s education have a much great success rate in school. A study by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory indicated that when parents are involved with their children the receive better grades, attend school on a regular basis with less absenteeism, have improved social skills, graduate from high school and, attend college.

But sometimes, other responsibilities interfere. It isn’t always possible to take time off from work to go on field trips or spend the afternoon at a school party. How then, can parents balance work and education, making sure their children succeed in school and meeting their job responsibilities?

Parental education in school doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be present in school for every party and for every field trip. According to the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, there are a number of specific things parents can do to help their children succeed.

What You Can Do at Home

• Check your child’s backpack each evening, be sure to read the school newsletter for school and district activities and read the teacher parent letters for information on the classroom and the classroom calendar of events.

• Ask your child about his/her day at school.  Be specific in your questions as to what they are learning, who are their friends, and what do they do at recess.  Let your student and your student’s teacher know you are interested in the education your child receives.

• If you are unable to attend class parties, sign up to bring refreshments or paper products just to let your child know that you want to be involved even if you cannot attend.

• Each evening spend quality time with your child.  Read together, even 20 minutes of reading together each evening can improve your child’s reading skills dramatically.  When you finish reading, talk to your child about the story and ask them questions.  You might even let them offer alternate endings to work on their creativity as well as their reading comprehension.

• Check homework each night.  Let your child know that you are available to help if they need assistance.  If you have difficulty helping, there is online tutoring such as Math.com which offers free math lessons and homework help.  Check with the school to see if there is afterschool tutoring for your student. 

• Limit computer and television time.  Encourage them to get involved in after school clubs and activities.  Find activities your student might be interested in that would be an alternative to sitting in front of a television. 

• Attend back to school nights, open houses, and parent conferences as these are great ways to meet your student’s teachers and to meet the parents of your child’s classmates.  Schools often have family fun nights, academic nights, and performance nights such as choir and band concerts.   Attending these events will not only be fun, but will allow you to view how the school educates the whole child.  Take the time to attend and get involved.

• Join the PTA/PTO and attend the meetings whenever you can.  Getting involved will not only be fun, but will allow you to make your child’s school a better place.

Busy parents do not need to spend time within the school building to show they care and that education is important. There are many different ways for parents to become involved in education and many can be done right from your home. You can get more information at: http://workingmothers.suite101.com/article.cfm/your_childs_education#ixzz0U6yL9tma

You input is valuable and if you have comments go to www.palestineschools.org and click on superintendent’s blog and as always remember what is important in life.

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Thomas A. Wallis, Ed.D is the superintendent of Palestine ISD.