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Chattanooga: Schools asking parents to ‘Be There’

By: Kelli Gauthier
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Jim Scales

Parents can turn off the TV during dinner and ask open-ended questions about school.

They can use measuring cups while cooking to reinforce math lessons about fractions.

Whatever form it takes, Hamilton County Schools officials are asking local parents to “Be There” for their children with a new parent involvement campaign launched Thursday.

“It’s about making the ordinary extraordinary,” said Patty Streip, a family partnership specialist at Battle Academy. “We’re all busy, and it’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day survival.”

The Be There campaign is a national effort created by consultants at Florida-based communications company Voss and Associates, and school districts in 16 states already have similar programs.

School Superintendent Jim Scales said the rash of school violence last spring and the recent focus by local judges on truancy encouraged him to sign up Hamilton County.

“We are calling upon parents to be engaged with us,” Dr. Scales said. “All efforts are geared toward having higher academic achievement and better attendance.”

The 22-month campaign, which will continue until June 2010, includes posters in all Hamilton County public schools, public service announcements on TV and radio, brochures sent home to parents and billboards around town.

Family partnership specialists who work at some district schools also will encourage parents to be engaged with their children by using resources and research provided on the national Be There Web site, www.bethere.org.

Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey, who spoke at Thursday’s campaign launch, said Be There primarily is designed to remind parents to stay engaged with their children.

“There’s a lot of resources out there to help parents be involved — at church, in schools, in government — we’re just trying to get their attention to want to help,” he said.

Birchwood Elementary principal Julie Legg said staff at her school would include Be There reminders on their weekly and monthly newsletters to parents.

“If we can saturate the community with the mantra of, ‘Be there for your child,’ we can remind each other,” she said.

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