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This year, students won’t be the only ones learning through the Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD).
For the first time, KCMSD will be offering Parent University (PU), a year-long training and education program for parents.
“I think a lot of parents want to get involved (in their children’s education) at a much deeper level than the bake sale or car wash,” KCMSD Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing Eileen Houston-Stewart told Northeast News.
This is the perfect opportunity for parents to become more involved, she said.
Classes for Parent University will begin this fall at Manual Career Tech Center and KCMSD is still finalizing the details, Houston-Stewart said.
Through Parent University, parents will have the chance to study the same curriculum their children are learning in order to help their children with homework.
“Parents play a critical role in their student’s success,” KCMSD Executive Directorof Student Support and Community Services Dr. Luis Cordoba said during a July board of education meeting. “It encourages families to become full partners in lifelong learning.”
The goal of PU is to equip parents with additional learning, support, health and wellness.
Possible class topics include nutrition, obesity prevention, bullying, the magic of reading to children, becoming your child’s advocate, among others.
“It gives them (parents) the opportunity to ask questions (about their child’s education) in a non-threatening environment,” Dr. MiUndrae Prince, KCMSD associatesuperintendent for Educational Accountability and Instructional Support, told Northeast News.
Houston-Stewart agreed and said a number of parents didn’t have a positive educational experience.
“They don’t look back on it like we look back on high school or college with fond memories,” she said. “For a lot of them, it was not a good experience and now they have a child and think about how that experience was for them. It’s not a positive one.”
Through PU, Houston-Stewart said she hopes parents will become excited about education and perhaps pursue a GED or read more to their child.
“It’s exciting,” she said of PU. “Hopefully parents will take advantage of it and see the need for it and become excited about education and in turn can help their kids.
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