For the first scheduled Parent/Community Forum facilitated by Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, parents and community members were seated in nearly every seat in Newtown High School’s Lecture Hall on September 18.

“I’m really pleased that I’m here, and I’m equally pleased that you’re here,” said Dr Erardi.

The night was held to focus on the question, “What must take place for your son/daughter to have their absolute best school year?”

“I think it is really essential that the most important partnership for any district that is going to claim to be a district of distinction — and that’s what this district could be — has to be a very strong partnership with parents,” said Dr Erardi.

The superintendent also said each of the concerns and suggestions brought up during the forum would be “synthesized” and shared with the full Board of Education, a number of board members were present for the event.

As parents continued to arrive, Dr Erardi explained  he had set three easels near the front of the room for parents to add their top “Big Bets,” or priorities, under three different categories.

“I call them Big Bets,” Dr Erardi said. “A Big Bet is what is the important thing to you.”

He encouraged everyone to write on Post-It Notes what their “Big Bets” are for each category. The three categories were “My ‘Big Bet’ This School Year,” which included teaching and learning, safety and security, activities and athletics, and parent communication; “The most important agenda item for my child to have her/his best school year is…;” and “the best advice I could offer the BOE/superintendent is…”

“Go to work,” said Dr Erardi.

After parents had submitted a collection of different colored Post-It Notes under each category, Dr Erardi called the meeting back to its focus.

“I think it is most appropriate, with the [school board] here, to have the opportunity to share some of the fine thoughts of the evening. And we will talk about the advice to the school board last, because that is a very important piece of this evening,” Dr Erardi said.

For the “Big Bets” of the 2014-15 academic year, parents, by raising their hands and sharing what they had written, asked for a range of efforts and measures, including “connection between teachers and students,” “high expectations,” moving away from “labels” that may categorize children, more collaborative learning, empowering students when bullying occurs and eradicating bullying altogether; consistency and familiarity of faces in the schools, specifically of security guards; more availability for drug dogs in the upper schools, consistent measures from school to school, addressing changes to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) with parents, and a balance between activities, athletics, and academics.

When Dr Erardi addressed how the school district could better communicate with parents, one suggestion was for the school district to send emails for things that are not an emergency, and call and leave voicemail for things parents may need to address within a few minutes or hours. Another parent said the district’s current communication practices are “good,” and someone else reminded the superintendent that not all families in town have access to electronic communication.

Others said they liked former Superintendent of Schools John Reed’s video messages, which started in May 2014 and shared information about the 2013-14 budget. And others liked former Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais’s blog, which was discontinued when Mr Dumais left the school district to become Amity Regional School District #5’s superintendent.

Another forum attendee voiced concern that Newtown High School, without Mr Dumais’s blog, is using the social media site Facebook to share information.

Important Agenda Items

For the next category, “The most important agenda item for my child to have her/his best school year is…,” parents asked for things like their child needing to be challenged, a later start time for the high school, not going “overboard on technology,” and for all students to feel valued and not forced onto the “same plan” as other students. Attention also focused on Common Core State Standards, with one parent asking whether parents could “opt out” their children from participating.

Dr Erardi said the Common Core State Standards will be discussed at the Parent/Community Forum to be scheduled for October, which he said will also focus on overall learning.

When asked to share advice for the superintendent and Board of Education members, suggestions from parents included email notifications sent out prior to BOE meetings to announce what the agenda includes, and that the superintendent work closely with the school board but focus on the best possible education for students, especially when it comes to funding.

Dr Erardi said each of the suggestions from the forum will be collected and posted on his blog, located off of the school district’s main website (). He also said he plans to meet with students from each school, to different extents, to discuss topics like he did at the Parent/Community Forum.www.newtown.k12.ct.us

BOE Vice Chair Laura Roche thanked everyone for attending the event.

“One of the things we’ve noticed with Dr Erardi is how inclusive he is and how he wants to get everybody involved,” said Ms Roche.

Since he started with the school district, Ms Roche said Dr Erardi has approached everything with that mentality, including a convocation ceremony at the start of the school year for district staff. She also said she hopes everyone could leave the forum with the same feeling she sensed at the August convocation ceremony.

“So I hope everybody leaves this room the same way, feeling good and feeling strong about what is going to go on in the future,” said Ms Roche, who also reminded everyone in attendance that Dr Erardi holds open office hours each weekday from 6:30 am until 7:30 am.

“If you want to reach out to one of the board members we have emails,” Ms Roche added. “They are up on the board’s site. Just please, open communication.

“Keep talking,” she encouraged the attendees. “Thank you for coming. Everything you’re saying is very valuable, and we take it very seriously.”