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The meetings are called Community Connections. HISD hasn’t always been known for good communication with parents and the public. But the past several years have seen a shift toward more open dialogue.
Susanne Mihaloglou works directly with parents in the Central region of HISD.
She says parent involvement is vital to the success of students in the district.
“If we wanted to equal the importance of parental involvement in our schools, we’d have to increase per pupil funding $1,000 per child to achieve the same results that we gain with parent involvement.”
So a series of community meetings starts tonight to help parents understand the district’s ASPIRE program.
“It tells our teachers where they need to plan better and work harder. It also looks at individual growth of students. Not only what did they make for this year, but it looks at the students year after year after year and different patterns that we see in the learning.”
The first Community Connections meeting of the year is tonight at Reagan High School. Three more meetings will be held on January 27th and 28th and February 3rd.
Laurie Johnson. KUHF-Houston Public Radio News.