Historically, attendance among parents at Cullen school events has been low. This was a concern to us because we knew we needed community buy in for this initiative to be successful on campus. As a Power Up team, we decided to take advantage of events that usually drew crowds throughout the year. We worked with the administration team to ensure that we always had a PowerUp table set up at schoolwide events including Meet the Teacher, Open House, Report Card Round Up and event the winter concert. In addition, Ms. Silva and I make sure we also attend sporting events so parents and others in the community recognize us as familiar faces.

School Choice

Our first official community engagement event took place after our Winter Vision of Excellence concert during content night. We were able to help 8th grade parents start their magnet applications for high school. We teamed up with our Wraparound Specialist, Ms. Wolfe, to reward parents and students for their efforts.

Staying in the know with Student Tech.mp4

Parent Courses

After receiving multiple concerns from parents about student's activities on their chromebook, our first official parent course focused on parents learning how to keep track of student's grades, observe their Canvas courses and check their student's chromebook history. The course was offered virtually as well as in person and the recording was posted on the campus website and PowerUp site.

Parent's Corner

Parents are encouraged to stay in the know about all things tech on campus, including parent courses, using a section of the same site we used to launch PowerUp. This site is linked from the school website for easy access.

A Culture Shift

Spring Kickback

The Spring Kickback provided staff, students and families an opportunity to fellowship as well as an opportunity for us to engage with the Cullen community using technology. Several Cleverboards were set up to display QR codes that gave families access from everything to receiving Wraparound resources to ClassDojo access. Parents were able to use their student's chromebooks to scan the code. In addition to QR codes, the Cleverboards displayed 8th grade scholar's Harlem Renaissance projects completed with Book Creator.

Harlem Renaissance Book Projects.mp4

Print Rich Environment

We transformed the campus using Canva to create posters to keep the campus and visitors informed of upcoming events. It was important that our students saw themselves and their classmates in these posters.

Media Revamp

We created a slideshow to be played on the front office television that makes visitors aware of all current events taking place on campus, how to connect with Cullen on various platforms as well as celebrate our students and staff.

We also launched our YouTube channel and livestreamed our Black History Program.

Looking to the Future

Going forward, we want to add more computers to our Welcome Center in an effort to encourage more community engagement. Parents would be able to use technology to pay bills, fill out application, check student information and reflect on student progress before meeting with members of the administration team.

Students have already been exposed to WeVideo and are currently working on a daily news template that can be used in lieu of the regular speaker announcements for next school year. We believe a daily broadcast will increase attendance and prepare our students to enter Jack Yates High School of Communication.

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