There’s a new way for parents to tell the Milford School District how to help their children learn, share information and success stories with other families, or just find out more about education in the district.
The Milford Parent Advisory Council, founded early this school year, is looking for new members. MPAC meets once a month to give Milford parents a forum for their stories, ideas and concerns about the town’s school system.
“We want to remove some of the mystique that surrounds how things are done at the school, and overall, make our school district a better district,” MPAC co-chair Rose Reif said.
Superintendent Sharon Kanter founded MPAC in October as a way for parents to tell the district what they want
“They had parent advisory groups in Baltimore, where she worked before coming here, and she said they worked very well,” MPAC co-chair Marie Renzi said. “She told us she thought they could really help out Milford.”
Kanter facilitated the council’s first few meetings, and then stepped aside to let the group choose its own leaders. Renzi and Reif stepped in at the end of the year.
“We’re still trying to increase the parent base in the group,” Reif said. “The more people we have, the stronger a voice we can be for improving education in this district.”
Membership is open to any parent or guardian of a student in the Milford School District. MPAC meets every month at the district’s central office at 906 Lakeview Ave., down the road from Milford Middle School. The next meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21.
Reif and Renzi said they want the MPAC to co-exist with established parent-teacher groups in the district.
“While the Parent Teacher Organization and Parent-Teacher Partnership groups at each school do things to support the schools financially, I think this group is going to be more policy-oriented and curriculum-oriented,” Reif said.
“We’d like to involve parents in participating with the school district and making decisions. We’d like to see the quality of education and parent participation in their children’s education improve, and we’d like to enhance educational opportunities,” Renzi said.
That starts with improving communication between the district and the parents. Both co-chairs said the top issue that’s come up at MPAC’s meetings so far has been communication, especially parents wanting more details about their children’s education and the opportunities available in Milford for special programs and college preparation.
“Communication is the major issue that’s been brought up at early meetings,” Renzi said. “Parents weren’t aware of how their children got tracked from middle to high school, what honors programs are available, and so on. I think having it as a mechanism to improve communication would be very valuable.”
A few MPAC parents are also teachers in the district.
‘Teachers who have children attending the school here are certainly welcome to come. The teachers in MPAC already have had extra insight that’s been very helpful,” Reif said.
Further down the line, they hope to be able to lobby state legislators for education funding.
“If we have more funding, maybe we can support more functions and programs to improve education,” Reif said.
“We at least want to make sure that our district doesn’t get cut,” Renzi said.
Along with recruiting new members, Reif and Renzi are looking for educators and district officials to speak to the group at their monthly meetings.
“We have a range of topics we’d like to have speakers come and discuss with our group,” Renzi said. “The district budget, college entrance requirements — the University of Delaware in particular — college scholarships, anything that would be important to the parents of Milford kids.”
For more information on the council, email MPAC19963@yahoo.com
Milford, Del. —
