Summer in FACE: SPAC Conference
Parents Attend SPAC Conference with FACE staff
On July 18, 2016, parents and family members of students at Title I schools across Pennsylvania gathered at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, PA for the annual Title I State Parent Advisory Council (SPAC) Parent Conference. What is SPAC? SPAC was created in 1990 by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to give parents of students at Title I schools a voice and an opportunity to advise the Pennsylvania Department of Education on matters concerning parent and family engagement, partnership building, and student home and school life. The main goals of SPAC are to engage parents in information distribution, model engagement programs after successful pre-existing programs in other areas, and most importantly, give parents and family members the tools to become effective advocates for their students at Title I schools. What happens at the SPAC Parent Conference? The SPAC Parent Conference does all of these things and more. With over 40 different workshops over three days, parents and family members learn about school organizational structures, learning styles, strategies for helping their children in various levels of content areas, school improvement requirements, leadership skills, and community engagement best practices.
Parent Spotlight: Carmen Colon, SPAC Parent Conference Participant
Carmen Colon was one of the 22 School District of Philadelphia parents who attended the SPAC Parent Conference. As a passionate parent in the School District of Philadelphia, she strives to help and motivate parents to become engaged in their children’s schools. Ms. Colon found a sense of mutual support at the conference and learned strategies for building rapport in a community from parents across the state. Her goal is to restore parent empowerment in her school community and provide a healthy and productive environment for the students at Alexander McClure School, where her child attends. Ms. Colon explains, “I’m here to help you. I want to grow more so I can help this area grow.” Ms. Colon emphasizes the importance of resource sharing at the SPAC Parent Conference. “Information can’t just be inside the school,” she continues, “It has to be outside the school too.” The SPAC Parent Conference gave Ms. Colon the opportunity to share information and build new ideas that will help her accomplish her goals.
