Involve Parents to Create a Thriving School Community

While fully engaged with our children’s lives, many of us parents feel more isolated today than before. Extended family members live further apart, family structures are more fragmented than before, and the achievement culture creates jam-packed schedules. Connecting has gotten more challenging, with fewer opportunities and time to connect.

While we live in an individualistic society, we each should have a meaningful and valuable community we can rely on for social support. As parents of growing children, we don’t need to look far. School is the most obvious place for building these essential community connections. Our lives are beautifully tangled with school runs and pickups and supporting our children’s everyday routines.

A Place to Connect

A school filled with parents can be a fantastic source to interact with other parents and the school staff, share and support, and enjoy this time together. Yet, many parents find it hard to network at school, see the opportunities limited to specific events, or overall find it hard to map out the complex social network of new – and familiar – faces and names. We do not want to overreach; we want children to settle in their classes and ensure that all is good before engaging with new ideas and events.

Connected, Active, and Participating Parents

The key to building the connections is to shift a parent from an information receiver to an active subject who can participate in the school community at their own pace and according to their interests. A parent is given a voice to participate in discussions and conversations and provided with the tools needed to manage any submissions and requests the school – or the parent – may have.

At School Signals, we connect parents in many layers and levels:

School directory – Parents can start slowly at their own pace. They can check other parent profiles and get to know parents through shared family pictures, interests, and hobbies, as well as getting precise information on the grade levels their children attend. Parents can share all, some, or none of their contact information. The direct messaging feature connects with other parents safely without leaving the network—understanding “who is who” makes it much easier to start a conversation in person.

Social feed – One-way emails from schools often perceive parents as information receivers rather than as an active, participating, and resourceful group. This disposition may not be intentional, but there is a missed opportunity. In the School Signals feed, parents can post, comment, communicate, and advocate all topics related to education and their children’s daily lives at school. Communication can be divided into different channels and groups to consider information relevancy. Additionally, the user’s notification settings keep them updated with a frequency and pace they are most comfortable with. Parents who leave optimistic – and constructive – comments contribute to building a vibrant community.

Groups – Parents can create groups with other parents with shared interests. A directory, document and image management, events calendar with RSVP and other features set the group on a successful path to communicate clearly and transparently. Joining a group is easy, and new parents will feel welcomed. A group can be anything from an online discussion group to a book club, fitness group, or a private committee.

Events calendar with RSVP – A one-way note about an event is far less impactful than a social signup system to an event with RSVP responses. Let other parents know that you will be attending the next school event. Get timely event reminders.

Volunteer Signups – Staff and parents can organize an event and coordinate volunteering tasks and lists. Let your community know what you need; they’ll gladly chip in. You should not have to use a third-party system to set up volunteering opportunities and lists. Like any other task, your community members should be able to sign up with simple clicks.

Incident reporting – When an issue arises, such as a bullying incident, know that the school is ready to deal with it discreetly and effectively. The incident reporting and management system in School Signals allows reporting the incident and tracking and notifying the steps taken while keeping the communication open. You will have a record on file at School Signals.

Getting Started

Building authentic relationships takes time. We at School Signals want to promote and foster togetherness in a manner that steadily builds trust and genuine social connections while making busy parents’ everyday lives and tasks easier. We are in a position to create a thriving online network with real, tangible everyday connections that can take place both virtually and, of course, face-to-face.

We believe that the community experience can be greatly amplified by advocating the use of a comprehensive, inclusive system based on shared interests. The fact that most schools have a physical location gives meaning to creating relationships that easily transcend everyday interaction, enriching all community members’ lives.

Is your school already on School Signals? Please send us your feedback.

If your school is not in School Signals, let’s schedule a demo to review some of our key features for community building.

If you are a parent and would like your child’s school to improve and systemize communication, click here to refer us.