The PTAs at all four Bay Village City Schools have been designated
National PTA Schools of Excellence. This is the second time all four
schools have earned the prestigious recognition.
PTA Council President, Cheryll McCarty, initiated this recent set of
applications in a way that coordinated all the district’s PTA units,
putting them on a common, two-year renewal schedule for the designation
which requires a rigorous examination of family-school relationships
against national standards. Standards include welcoming families,
communicating effectively, supporting student success, speaking for
every child, sharing power and collaborating with the community.
“After assessing parent opinion with surveys, PTA and building
leadership selected a goal from several offered by the National PTA.
This year, all our PTAs focused on the goal of health and safety of
students,” said McCarty. “They followed up with an action plan that
would incorporate various National Standards for Family-School
Partnerships. As part of the plan, each school held an event that
provided a focus for strengthening family-school partnerships.”
Normandy Elementary chose to focus on healthy lifestyles at home and
at school. Normandy’s “PiYo [pilates-yoga] Live Family Fitness Fun”
evening brought many families into the school, communicated the
importance of healthy activity to learning, and demonstrated the
partnership that PTA provided with the school.
Westerly Elementary’s focus was a cyber-awareness and anti-bullying
program. Bay Village Police Detective Kevin Krolkosky presented parents
with strategies and tools that can empower them to face the challenges
presented by youngsters having access to the internet. School staff,
along with Bay Village police, worked with students throughout the year
addressing internet safety and cyber-bullying. The effort to help
students become safe, responsible and respectful digital citizens
brought all the national standards into play.
At Bay Middle School, community health providers, first responders
and fitness and nutrition professionals played a significant role at the
Health Fair. They provided information, demonstrations and interactive
activities to teach students about healthy choices. PTA provided the
many needed volunteers, as well as a table of healthy snacks. The
collaboration between the community, the school and the PTSA addressed
all of the national standards for strong partnerships.
Bay High School used the community partnership approach to promote
healthy lifestyles at home and at school. The Bay High PTSA co-sponsored
the annual May in Bay 5K Run/Walk and 1 Mile Fun Run. Strong
communication about the event brought out more participants from the
schools and community than ever before, bringing together all ages for a
healthy activity. This helped confirm Bay High PTSA as a force for
engagement between families and school in a very positive way.
All PTAs completed a second survey at the end of the year to gauge
changes in opinion of respondents from the first survey. Improvements in
ratings documented how the PTA work made an impact, and less positive
results identified areas where the PTAs will focus on continued
improvement.
Superintendent Clint Keener noted there is substantial research
indicating that strong school-family relationships make all the
difference in student achievement at school. “We are blessed to have
involved families who care deeply about their children’s education in
the Bay Village Schools,” he said. “Their involvement is a key factor in
our success.”
Photo: Bay High students with (front row) PTSA President Andrea Schwartz, PTSA
members Melissa Mason, Eileen Baeppler, Principal Jason Martin and PTA
Council President Cheryll McCarty; (back row) Superintendent Clint
Keener, PTSA members Julie Meadows, Kathleen Craig, Gayatry Jacob-Mosier
and Suzanne Hippler.