COVID-19: School Matters

The next installment in our study of schools and organizations solving problems for and with Boston kids and families...

This Week: Family Communication and Engagement

Boston Preparatory Charter Public School (Boston Prep) is growing to serve 700 students in grades 6-12 on River Street, right on the Hyde Park/Mattapan line. Founded in 2004, ~95% of Boston Prep’s students are Black or Latinx, with high-need rates comparable to Boston Public Schools.

Boston Prep students consistently graduate at rates of over 90% percent. 82% of Boston Prep alumni are on track to graduate college in six years, a rate 2.5x the United States average, outpacing even students of the highest income quartile. Boston Prep has consistently been a top-ranked school in US News and World Report, also winning awards such as the Pozen Prize.

Boston Prep has an intentional approach to creating an “intimate community” through family communication and engagement.

We talked with Sharon Liszanckie, Executive Director, about how supporting Boston Prep families has continued and evolved in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Partnership

We always approach families from the perspective of partnership. We believe that families are an essential part of student success. In order for our students to reach their ambitious goals for college and beyond, we need to harness the power of home and school being connected and mutually supportive.

The most critical value is honesty and transparency -- that we share everything with our families, whether it is simple logistics, a big school decision, or regular updates on their child’s successes and areas for continued growth. We strive to form relationships and build structures that enable and encourage families to be honest and transparent with us as well. That is what is required in a true partnership – two-way, open, honest communication. We don’t always get it right in our communications with families. And it’s important that we hear that, understand it, and improve the next time. It is those deep, ongoing relationships that make our community strong and allow us to persist through challenging moments.

Family communication and engagement is not an initiative or one staff member’s job; it is an organizational commitment. You see it reflected throughout the organization:

Sharing Information: We have routines and habits for sharing information with families. We send a newsletter to families, in three languages, each week. We also share important logistical reminders with families via both text message and phone and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We work hard to ensure we are meeting families where they are, making information available in the places parents frequent and in a way that’s easy for them to consume.
Sharing Stories: While announcements and logistics are important, it’s equally important to regularly share the stories of our community – our students’ achievements, moments of joy, an alumnus’s journey, our weekly Du Bois Award recognizing a student. Regular storytelling brings families into our community, allowing them to be part of the celebration and spirit.
Technology: We use Dean’s List to ensure that all of our family contact information is always up-to-date, and all communication with families is logged. In addition, families can see a child’s academic performance, attendance, etc. any time by logging into PowerSchool.
Family Voice: Communication and engagement is not just about sharing out information. It’s also about listening and engaging family voice. We work hard to partner with our families to elevate their voices, not just within our community but outside our community as well. We regularly partner with families to share their stories, whether it is by authoring a story for our community e-newsletter or a national blog, such as Education Post, or in speaking with others about their experiences.
Family Committee: Our Family Committee meets monthly to collaborate with us, provide feedback, and support family events. We host many of the typical family events - back-to-school night, conferences, etc. - as well as unique ones that our Family Committee organizes, such as game night, family yoga, an annual town hall, and more.
Staffing: Our Family Coordinator works closely with the Family Committee and supports our engagement efforts. But almost every Boston Prep staff member supports family engagement as an advisor, engaging with 10-12 families every two weeks to build relationships and communicate. If either the school or the family has a concern, we meet.
Governance: Two seats on our Board of Trustees, our governing body, are reserved for parents or guardians of Boston Prep students and alumni.

Communicating in a Crisis

Each year, members of the junior class travel to Rome. It is an academic and ethical capstone for our students, preparing them for the next stage of their lives. This year’s trip was over February break, and it was great – community building, positive risk-taking and growth, and authentic learning.

When we got back, there was more and more chatter about COVID-19 and an increasing focus on the spread in Italy. We actively monitored the developing situation and the health of the members of our community who had traveled to Rome. Consistent with our value of transparency and honesty, we sent out our first communication to families about COVID-19 concerns on March 1st. Later that evening, Rhode Island announced their first confirmed case. We began sending almost daily updates to families with new information, but always the same frame - here is what we are doing, why, and how you can stay healthy.

This culminated in our decision to close school on March 5th for sanitization. Because we had been so consistent in our communication, no families raised concerns or questions about the closure - just thanks.

Early in the week of March 9th, we began to see a decline in attendance. Before both the city and state announcements, we decided to close our building for two weeks. As soon as we made this decision, we developed a detailed communication plan that ensured timely, thoughtful communication with families, minimizing confusion and panic. We have a one-to-one Chromebook model, but devices have always remained at school. As part of our plan, we decided to do something we had never done before and send all devices home with students. Students left school on Friday, March 13th with their personal belongings, Chromebooks and chargers, and critical books and materials. Meanwhile, we ensured families knew that we were actively formulating next steps and would continue regular communication and partnership.

Remote Communication and Engagement

The first week of closure, we focused on the most critical and basic family needs. We launched a COVID-19 page to share school- and community-based resources with families. We focused on food distribution, health information, and technology. We made sure every single student had their Chromebook and charger as well as WiFi access. We provided hotspots to those without internet so that when we launched virtual remote learning, all students would have access. During that time, students had reading and math assignments we had sent home, while we worked to develop a plan for a clear, clean roll-out of virtual remote learning. On March 20th, families received schedules and expectations for our first week of remote learning, which would launch the following Monday, March 23.

Because we had an existing culture of partnership and the systems, tools, and staffing in place, we were able to rapidly share this critical information with families. There were a small number of students we lost contact with. There was no fancy solution to this. It took the force of calls. Asking peers. Cross-referencing addresses to see who lives nearby. Tracking people down through social media.

The biggest shift has been for our operations team. Through our advisory system and a form we created, our operations staff has sourced a wide number of needs and has become a family support team. They triage requests around Chromebooks, hotspots for WiFi access, log-in issues, food access, public benefits, health care access, and more. We are committed to ensuring that we support families with any and all needed. If we cannot provide the support they need, we are actively working to connect them to the needed community resources.

We have also worked hard to streamline. Families are receiving so much information from so many sources. Advisors are keeping very regular contact, but we have moved school communication to a regular twice a week schedule so that families know when to anticipate our communication.

Phoenix Family Fund

Our students’ neighborhoods are among the hardest hit by COVID-19. We hear almost daily that a student has lost a loved one. We hear that a student missed a class on Zoom because her mom was being transported to the hospital. Many parents are sharing their long-term concerns about sending their children back to school, about their child’s mental health, and more.

The information families are sharing is driving our communication, our programmatic supports, and our planning. And we also want to help.

This week we launched the Phoenix Family Fund, providing the opportunity for Boston Prep families to receive cash assistance to support food and housing stability, health care needs, and other basic necessities. Within 24 hours, we received requests from over 80 families. And in a tremendous demonstration of the power of community, families with capacity also stepped up to donate to the fund, one saying “We are all in this together, each a member of the village.”

Through all of this, we remain a community. We are holding on to both the brutal truths of the current world, and the hope we can do things to change it. It is remarkable to see what the Boston Prep community - students, families, and staff - is doing to take care of each other and maintain a commitment to all of our students’ futures.

Notes in the Margin

It was teacher appreciation week. Here is one timely story from a Boston Catholic school.

BPS laid out what the rest of the year looks like - new requirements for remote learning/grading and no students will be held back a grade.

When many students return to their BPS school buildings, they will have different principals. This includes Madison Park, which will now have its 8th different leader in 8 years.

Neighborhood House was profiled on the challenges of remote learning.

Another profile in what it takes to track kids down.

A high school senior’s story of her lost, last semester.

Maintaining mentorship programs from a distance requires commitment and creativity.

Schools sharing data with law enforcement continues to be debated.

Many high school students are also essential workers.

More federal dollars could be flowing to private and parochial schools.

With the continual stress of the present, it follows there is a lot of attention on the future: