It was encouraging to see how excited students were to be back in school at Meet the Teacher night, in addition to the many teachers who decorate their classrooms with posters that inspire and educate. We’re looking forward to partnering with the school districts and other community organizations as members of Pekin Altrusa met and brainstormed on ways to implement a Parent University in Pekin. 

Pekin Altrusa discussed the challenges of getting parents to attend such an event. We’ve heard stories about organizations having back-to-school events only to have a few parents show up. However, we can’t conclude that low turnout for events is due to a lack of interest. We also shouldn’t conclude that all parents who don’t show up to events knowingly don’t attend. Organizations have an obligation to advertise events. Even then, there’s still a possibility that parents won’t show up. 

To overcome the risk of low turnout to Parent University, we’d like to offer our services during school events. Holding Parent University during Parent-Teacher conferences makes the most sense. It’s a scheduled meeting between families, students, and the teacher to discuss and assess a student’s progress or the lack thereof in the classroom. During these conferences, teachers may offer suggestions and inform parents of any concerns. These usually occur in October and March during the school year.

It’s a great opportunity to make Parent-Teacher conferences better as we aim to provide resources to help families deal with obstacles during the school year. Teachers and families come up with solutions, but mostly for issues within the classroom. It would be great to have a space during these events where teachers can direct parents to for help with any issues that hinder progress and improvement in their child’s education.

Our Parent University program provides a safe space for parents to find help. We’d like to provide a round table for discussions, a list of organizations for every problem a family encounters, connect parents with other parents who can help, give other stakeholders an avenue to connect with students, and assist with meeting other basic needs to help students excel in the classroom. To find out more about Parent University and other programs offered by Pekin Altrusa, send questions to [email protected].