In today’s education landscape, active engagement from parents and community members with their school board is more crucial than ever. In this arena, having the right strategy can make all the difference between success and failure. Recently, I had the honor of co-hosting a panel at the Moms for Liberty 2024 Joyful Warriors Summit in Washington D.C., where we presented on this very topic.
Joined by Jessie Thompson, a school board member in Volusia County and president of Florida’s Conservative Coalition of School Board Members, CALN hosted an engaging hour-long discussion with parents and education advocates. We covered effective strategies for communicating with school boards, ways to work together to improve student outcomes, and highlighted many pressing education issues that demand our attention.
Here are some key takeaways from our discussion:
- Come prepared when speaking at meetings: The public comment period is a great way for community members to address their school board and share feedback, concerns, and potential solutions to issues. Supporting your testimony with evidence, research, or even personal anecdotes can set your message apart and make it more persuasive.
- Social media is a poor option for communicating with trustees: Given the open and unpredictable nature of social media, these platforms are among the least productive methods for communication with school board members. A personalized email or letter, especially one that politely asks for a sit-down meeting, is a much better path to reaching your board representatives.
- Curriculum transparency is paramount: Parents cannot be empowered if they do not know what their children are being taught in school. Whether by state mandate or local initiative, public officials should support policies making K-12 books, curriculum, and instructional materials open and accessible to parents, and education advocates should make this a core focus of their efforts.
- Don’t lose sight of student achievement: There is no shortage of topics for debate in education. However, investing too much time and effort on issues not related to academic achievement is a disservice to students. Trustees and parents alike are encouraged to review their school board’s meeting minutes and agendas to assess how much time is spent on discussing student outcomes compared to secondary issues. If student outcomes are not the primary focus of meetings, adjusting priorities may be necessary.
I want to extend a sincere thank you to the events team for hosting our panel. With the right tools and knowledge, we believe that every parent can be an effective champion for educational reform in their community.