Richland One and two of its schools earn national awards for family and community engagement

September 13, 2021

Dr. Monica Adams, principal; Ashton Jones, assistant principal; Yolanda Smith, parent and family engagement specialist; Shanika McKinley, guidance counselor

Richland One has received the 2021 Partnership District Award and two of its schools received 2021 Partnership School Awards from the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University.

The is the school district’s fourth time being recognized for its progress in strengthening the leadership of partnerships and for guiding schools to develop goal-oriented programs for family and community engagement.

Carver-Lyon Elementary School was acknowledged for making excellent progress in strengthening and sustaining a comprehensive program of school, family and community partnerships. H.B. Rhame Elementary School received the distinction for leadership in forging and maintaining relationships with its stakeholders, particularly during the challenges presented by the pandemic.

“It is such an honor to receive recognition of the quantifiable value of our district, its schools and the parent and family engagement program during a time when it’s easy to lose focus on what is working,” said Latorsha Murray, parent and family engagement consultant in Richland One’s Office of Federal and State Programs. “Going forth, we will continue to use evidence-based strategies to engage parents and community partners to realize improved student outcomes.”

The district and the two schools will receive 2021 NNPS Partnership Award Certificates, free renewal of their NNPS membership for the 2022-2023 school year (valued at $250 each) and their programs will be shared across various platforms with other NNPS members, one of which is the new e-book of Promising Partnership Practices 2021.

It was the district’s Virtual Workshops for Clusters of School and Family Engagement which drew the attention of the NNPS Award Committee. The district was lauded for its investment in cluster leaders and the comprehensive design of the activity. Specifically, the committee commended the mix of collaborative work that led to consistent leadership across clusters and the attention paid to specific needs and interests within their particular cluster.

Carver-Lyon Elementary was cited for its Parking Lot Lunch and Learn activity, which reviewers praised for addressing parents’ questions about online learning and children’s social-emotional well-being. They further commended the approach of using the school parking lot as a “meeting” space, while still affording parents the opportunity to take their lunch home to attend the session online if they couldn’t meet in person.

At H.B. Rhame, it was the school’s Virtual Cooking Class that garnered accolades by the awards committee. The comprehensive design on the Zoom platform, collaboration with various groups and organizations, and the essence of wholesome partnerships with parents and students, was the winning combination, according to reviewers. It was noted that even with limited participation due to platform constraints, there was an undeniable cohesion of lasting benefit to attendees.

 

Read about NNPS at www.partnershipschools.org.