We Love PRM
Our principal at Pleasant Ridge Montessori shared this quote that I think applies equally to schools and churches,
“Family and community engagement is a vital part of a truly successful school. But it rarely just happens — it must be intentionally designed. When it is present, we should take the time to celebrate it and learn from it.”
Just replace “school” with “church” and watch what happens -
“Family and community engagement is a vital part of a truly successful {church}. But it rarely just happens — it must be intentionally designed. When it is present, we should take the time to celebrate it and learn from it.”
The article, “The Importance of Community Involvement in Schools,” goes on to include these 3 additional thoughts about how to engender school (and I would add “church”) engagement with families and the community:
- A culture shift. Those on staff must sincerely recognize the value of the partnership, or it will never succeed.
- A third party. In Cincinnati, each school has a lead partnering agency to assist in connecting with the community. She believes that third party helps ensure the community is comfortable sharing its true hopes and concerns about a school.
- Meeting the community where it is. If you send home a flyer asking the community to come to a meeting at the school, it won’t show up. Ask the “neighborhood grandmother” where the meeting should be held — a church, a restaurant, wherever the community gathers — and go to it.
Too often our churches appear to the unaffiliated, of which there are growing numbers, like walled gardens. We are closed off from the world around us, diligently maintaining our instituions and rites and rituals. Too often we are removed from the lives of families and the communities in which we reside. I wonder what might it look like to “intentionally design” our engagement with families and communities. What do you think?
