Kentucky's 2025 Family Engagement in Education week is drawing to a close. Many years ago, my mentor Rochelle Garrett had the idea to create a family engagement week for Eastern Kentucky, which would tie to other national family celebrations like NCFL's Family Literacy Month. It took off and is now led statewide by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. This week, 100 Kentucky Schools were honored in Frankfort for their work as Family Friendly Schools. That Family Friendly School work is supported by another of Rochelle's mentees, Grace McKenzie. For me, this week is a time to reflect on my gratitude for school-home engagement. Familes are the most powerful mover for cradle-to-career outcomes for children, and I've had the privilege of connection across the entire continuum this fall. My team has worked in-depth with early childhood advocates as they created innovative ways to connect with families of toddlers. This week, Rebecca Parrish, Missy Scent, and I presented family engagement best practices for college admissions at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) Summit for Student Success. And on Tuesday, Tony Maxwell, Missy Scent, and I worked with leaders in a rural district as they thought through the tough work of having hard conversations with parents about school attendance. Yesterday, I chatted with New Hampshire partners about how they're branding their family engagement work for sustainability. What a joy to connect with people who are working so hard to ensure every student and their family has the opportunity for a happy, healthy, successful life. I found this picture of where it all started for me, many wrinkles and grey hairs ago, in direct service work at my own children's school, supported by Partners for Rural Impact.
I remember those years! Grateful for your work.
So grateful to have been in the room with you. Appreciate you, Rochelle, Grace McKenzie and Missy Scent for doing this important work.