Parent Engagement

In its first two years, in September, the parent body elected a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer in a more formal PTO model. However, due to the drop in attendance in these meetings and some politics developing amongst parent groups, Everest introduced the Parent Board. The fundamental change in structure allowed for a much more welcoming environment for parents to join at the level or interested they desired. The Parent Board has also been able form subcommittees to deal with areas that attract enthusiasm from specific parents. 

This year, Everest’s Board model held a nomination process in November instead of September, so parents could all become familiar with the campus culture before committing to taking on a leadership role.  Everest first invited any parents, interested in becoming actively involved in school issues, to join the board without assigning a specific role. These members of the parent board then elected a representative to act as the board chair.

Parent Board meetings take place on the evening of the second Tuesday of the month, and invite all parents, teachers and students. The Parent Board chair prepares the meeting agenda, which includes input from the ongoing discussions with staff and parents targeting improvement with school operations, academic data, facility, and parent culture. 

In previous years, many engaged parents had been informally meeting and chatting after they dropped of their students in the morning. They would discuss future school events, concerns and ways parents could contribute to the school. This year, under the direction of the Parent Board, these morning meetings have been formalized and included as part of the monthly agendas input. Having both the morning meeting and the Parent Board in the evenings has allowed more parents to stay informed and contribute to the school’s improvement. 

At Parent Board meetings, both student and after school staff representatives update parents on upcoming events and ways parents can support programming. The Parent Board is very collaborative and has become the vehicle for parents, teachers, staff, and students to join together and take ownership of the progress on campus.

Under the Parent Board, parents have used their time, energy, and talents to choose a committee on which they want to serve. Parents have donated time and/or money to support the following events: 

ELAC committee:  This committee reviews CELDT data, discusses the RFEP and suggests ways to help a student at home.

LCAP committee:  This committee reviews the previous year’s goals and action plans.  They will be presenting parent feedback for the annual updates to the larger LCAP committee in March.

School Site Council:  Parents work with the council to develop, review and evaluate school improvement programs.

Fundraising Committee: This committee discusses fundraising efforts throughout the year, benefiting classroom trips and/or events.

Family Nights:  Every trimester, parents work with classroom teachers to support and attend scheduled events.

Performing Arts Committee: This committee supports the Music/Theatre program in marketing, fundraising and gathering resources for school performances. 

Parent Traffic Committee: This committee supports morning car drop off by directing traffic to help alleviate congestion.

Event Planning Committees: This committee organizes parent volunteers and item donations for school events. Some events include, but are not limited to: fall festival, winter show, and staff appreciation day.

Graduation Committees: This committee works with Kinder, Fifth and Eighth grade teachers to organize a graduation reception

Parent led involvement has strengthened a collaborative effort to plan, review, and improve school initiatives. Below are a few initiatives that have been recently directed through the Parent Board:

1. Student drop off and dismissal procedures, including car pick-up
2. School maintenance audit
3. Parent English Classes
4. Family Wellness Classes

Everest aims to provide parents with the necessary tools to support academic success. Parent Wednesday is a weekly school led initiative that provides parents with information on a variety of topics, including strategies to build academics at home and introduction to local resources that compliment student success. The Parent Wednesday monthly schedule reflects the current needs and interests based on parent feedback. The Dean serves as a liaison between teacher, staff, and parents, ensuring communication between stakeholders. The Parent Wednesday platform empowers parents in the following ways:

1. “Meet the Staff” workshops are sessions that present allow school to present specific curriculum, program goals and their department’s role on campus. Staff speakers have included the ELD coordinator, afterschool director, science coordinator, school office staff, and mentor teachers. A question and answer dialogue is held at every meeting.

2. The workshop series on interpreting NWEA, SBAC and CELDT scores.

3. In the workshop series titled Parent Leadership at Every Grade, the Dean presents community building activities and strategies to help sustain parent leadership at the different student age groups. The parents are encouraged to take part in the various Value 5 projects to support the school’s vision to make a better world.

4. A technology workshop series hosted by Values Board member Erika Martinez invites parents to understand how to guide their children to use appropriately use technology. There will also be sessions for parents on excel and other software that could help them reach their potential in the job market.

5. There are several workshop series inviting community organization partnerships. This year the partnership with the Children’s Bureau resulted in a weekly on site ‘Mommy and Me’ parenting class. Local law enforcement, community organization representatives, as well as board member Monica Garcia, have met with our parent leadership to educate parents about local resources available to them.

6. There was a workshop series on discussing healthy student habits, from eating a balanced meal to exploring local museums, and libraries.

Through Parent Wednesday meetings, parents have also offered feedback to the Everest leadership. Recently the focus has been on neighborhood safety. In response to this, meetings were scheduled for parents to meet with members of the Los Angeles police department and the Deputy City Attorney. Based on the commitment to have Everest be an integral part of the community, our parent leadership board members have been invited to and attended the following community events:

• Board member, Monica Garcia, parent meeting
• Heal the Bay on Venice Beach
• Volunteers for Thanksgiving Dinner to Feed the Needy, Angelica Lutheran Church
• Coffee with LAPD
• Children’s Bureau, Mommies and Me
• Operations Shoe Giveaway
• My Child, My Choice Rally
• National Night Out, Olympic Division Police
• Magnolia Community Initiative, Belong Partner Event 
• Breese Partner Events, including community resource fairs.
• LIFT- Los Angeles – Financial Literacy Workshops
• Pico Union Neighborhood Cleanups