Our Progress

2007-2008 PAC Accomplishments

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Goal - Promote and maintain regular meaningful communication between home and school.

• Establishment of PAC objectives (the big picture):
  • Objective 1 - Support and promote academic improvement.
    • Goal - Promote and maintain regular and meaningful communication between home and school.
    • Goal - Promote parental involvement in decisions affecting their children and families.
  • Objective 2 - Support and promote a safe school environment
    • Goal - Promote changes in school dance behaviors to ensure a safe environment.
• Milestones (major accomplishments):
  • Milestone 1 - Organized a new parent group in May 2006 and progression through the stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and team work.
  • Milestone 2 - Established "fallongreenwave.com", an easy to remember address for the high school online information database (webpage).
  • Milestone 3 - Established a parent link on the high school webpage (Parent's Corner/PAC tab).
  • Milestone 4 - Wrote a memorandum in response to written CCEA concerns.  The memorandum addressed and resolved most CCEA concerns about PAC objectives, and increased CCEA awareness of new educational laws that require the inclusion of parents as full partners in decisions affecting their children. See links:
    • Nevada State Statute
    • No Child Left Behind Act
    • Nevada Parent Involvement Policy
    • CCEA Memorandum
  • Milestone 5 - Established departmental databases for the CCHS website parent link:  a parent resource of pertinent information in the form of "Frequently Asked Questions" for departments. (Six department meetings were held this year, more are scheduled for next year.)
  • Milestone 6 - Established PAC meeting and website ground rules.
• Keys to Success: 
    Collaboration with district administration
    Collaboration with the school principal and other school personnel
    Collaboration with parents
    Educators and parents willing to change
• Achievements: 
  • Goal - Promote and maintain regular and meaningful communication between home and school.
    • PAC members have listened to teacher and parent concerns and are trying to implement all suggested communication links. Suggested communication links include: 
      
      1.  Email.  Establishing direct student-teacher and parent-teacher email links.
      2.  Website.  Promoting communication by providing numerous resources online.
      3.  Newsletters or flyers with important information mailed to parents.
      4.  Phone messages. Establishing more reliable messaging protocols in the front office.
      5.  Advertising.  Regular and consistent advertising through various media sources about important events as well as continual advertisement for the "fallongreenwave.com" online database.
      6.  Parent orientation packets.  A packet for every new CCHS parent of critical and pertinent school information, things every parent wants or needs to know (available online and in "hard copy" folders).
      
    • Finalization of '05-'06 school year plans to replace the gymnasium sound system. The new PA system was installed by mid year.
    • Two PAC members interviewed for radio station KVLV on the "CCSD Connection" broadcast to promote awareness of the CCHS PAC establishment (broadcasted 31Oct07).
    • The PAC solicited advertisement of the "fallongreenwave.com" name on local business marques throughout the community.
    • PAC members worked closely with the CCSD webmaster in forming a user-friendly "comments/suggestion" form for the CCHS website parent link as a way to promote two-way communication between home and school.
    • The PAC voiced a need for  training of each year's parent volunteers to maintain the CCHS website parent link and learn the protocol for responding to parent comments.
    • The PAC initiated the creation of a "Welcome to Our High School" packet to be given to every new parent of CCHS.  The Counseling department was given a detailed list of essential information to be included in the welcome packet.
    • PAC members helped promote school office protocols, including a phone protocol to help enhance effective CCHS phone communication and improve "first impressions".
    • PAC members helped promote a change in how phone messages are received and forwarded to staff for effective follow-up with parents.
      
  • Goal - Promote parental involvement in decisions affecting their children and families.
    • The PAC has made numerous online resources available to parents on the CCHS website parent link (Parent's Corner/PAC tab).  Included are hyperlinks for helping students make career choices, college plans, interactive learning/homework sites for parents and students, as well as parent oriented NCLB quick fact sheets.
    • PAC members solicited questions from other parents in the community to gather lists of "frequently asked questions" for the CCHS website parent link.  Department staff were asked to give written answers to the questions and to attend a PAC meeting to discuss any further issues.
    • The PAC requested the addition of the daily bulletin announcements to the CCHS website.
    • The PAC brought to light a problem over PSAT test administration.  PAC members communicated the need for enough tests to be ordered each year so that no student is ever turned away or discouraged from taking this test.
    • The PAC communicated parental concerns over late notification of standardized test results and established the need that parents and students be notified of test results as soon as the school receives them.
    • PAC members have improved their group efforts in meeting objectives by reading and reviewing the book School Leadership that Works:  From Research to Results.
    • The PAC has tracked the installation and operational readiness of the Power School parent portal by testing and making recommendations for improvement. 
    • The PAC tracked the operational readiness of department and teacher websites.
    • The PAC promoted the inclusion of the daily/weekly CCHS announcements to the Power School parent portal.
    • The PAC helped promote school office protocols to enhance positive "first impressions". As parents feel a welcome and friendly environment they are encouraged to get more involved.
  •  Goal - Promote changes in school dance behaviors to ensure a safe environment.
    • The PAC has communicated with school administration concerns over the safety of students at school dances.
    • The PAC has encouraged a remodeling and re-statement of the CCHS vision/mission statement to reflect a framework for core values that will help guide the actions of our students.
    • The PAC has communicated a need for the establishment and enforcement of consequences for student actions that do not reflect the stated CCHS core values.
• Incomplete Items:
  • PAC members to receive training to maintain the CCHS website parent link and learn the protocol for responding to parent comments.
  • Remodeling and re-statement of the CCHS vision/mission statement to reflect a framework for core values that will help guide the actions of our students.
  • The completion of a "Welcome to Our High School" packet to be given to every new parent of CCHS.
  • Recruitment of more parent volunteers to work on the PAC.
  • Establishment of direct student-teacher and parent-teacher email links through Power School or another source of computer online networking.
• Barriers:
  • Misinformation given to teachers about PAC objectives, goals and meeting content.
  • Lack of administrative action in the recruitment of parent volunteers to fill PAC vacancies.
  • Parent email messages to teachers not being received.  Teachers and administration reporting that parent messages are "accidentally deleted as junk mail".
  • Parent phone messages not being passed on to teachers.  Teachers report to parents that they "never received the message".
  • Some teacher websites not kept up to date.
• Resources Needed:
  • A budget to complete the "Welcome to Our High School" packet.
  • A budget for advertising communication links, newsletters or flyers.
  • Inclusion in the CCSD webmaster's schedule to allow for a few hours of website training of each year's PAC members.
  • Direct teacher to parent and student email addresses established and given to students and parents with their Power School username and password.
• Action Plan:
  • Provide annual PAC progress reports to Churchill County School Board and administrators.
    
    See Meetings, agenda and minutes.