Connecting to the Community
Adopt-A-School Program
In the current budget-strapped situation, most Los Angeles schools find themselves in, it is critical to find resources to fund activities and materials to help student achievement. This year, I had the opportunity to be the coordinator for the Los Angeles Department Water and Power (LADWP) Adopt-a-School Program, a partnership with LADWP employees and local schools. This program provides funding to promote literacy and science education, as well as improve attendance. Employees also provide programs that link the department’s functions and goals with science curriculum standards.
As coordinator, I worked with an LADWP representative and the coordinator of the program to create a proposal that would make effective use of a budget of $1750. I was able to secure funding for five field trips to destinations such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the California Science Center and Franklin Canyon. Money for attendance incentives that are given to students each month for perfect and outstanding attendance were also incorporated into the budget.
In addition to the funding for the field trips and attendance incentives, I coordinated with LADWP representatives to bring two programs to our school that would help students connect to the science standards. Four fourth grade classes attended a presentation on electrical safety and learned more about the physical science standards on electricity. Three third grade classes and two fifth grade classes participated in separate assemblies on recycled water which connected to their earth science standards. Besides learning more about science students, these assemblies allowed students to interact with people in the community and explore career possibilities.
School Website
Communication is a critical part of parental engagement. One way that our school communicates with our parents and the community is through our school website. Our webmaster was a parent volunteer and when his child culminated last year our school found a need to fill that position. Having already hosted my own classroom webpage, it was a natural fit for me to take on the role of webmaster for our school website. In order to accomplish this, I met with the parent volunteer to learn the process of updating our website using the SchoolLoop website hosting system. To make updating the website more efficient and website, I taught the Categorical Program Advisor how to update our website as well. Together we regularly communicate important information about school programs and events with our school community.
