Preparing Your District Team

Each District Team must have a Team Lead. It's not a heavy lift, but it's a key role. The Lead will:

• Serve as the main point of contact for team members and summit organizers.

• Help organize the team and coordinate outreach to potential team members.

• Ensure all team members register. Summit organizers will track team registration and provide the Team Lead with updates.

• Provide/coordinate transportation for family members who need it.

• Host at least one team meeting before the summit.

• Let summit organizers know as soon as possible about team member registration changes (new members, cancellations, etc.)

• Work with summit organizers to include people from the district who initially register independently as members of the team.

Your team must include family members (25-50% of the team) and educators, and can have up to 12 members total. Other members can include student representatives, community partners and other people vital to local family school partnership efforts.

As you organize your team, think about:

• Different types of students and families in your district. Whose voice do you need to hear? Where do you need a stronger partnership connection? And - most importantly - who is the best person to reach out to invite someone to be a team member?

• What you want to get out of the summit and what you want to see happen after.  This is not a typical conference. The summit is designed to help Massachusetts school districts focus and deepen local family school partnership work.

• Something specific your district wants to learn about and people in the district/community who could help you do it if you decide to move forward.

You should also let potential family member representatives know about the $75 Family Member stipend. This may help family members who are worried about missing work or gas or other expenses they might incur as participants.

Each team member should register her/his/themself. The registration form will ask the team member to provide contact information, workshop choices, and other information specific to their role at the summit. Family members will also be asked if they need transportation (coordinated by the district) or interpretation support (coordinated by summit organizers).

Summit organizers will track team registration and provide updates to the District Team Lead. Please contact us as soon as possible if there are any team member registration changes.

For team members who would like to stay overnight at the Best Western Plaza Hotel in Marlborough: use this link to book your room at a discounted rate of $149 plus tax per night. Contact Sue Brown at suembrown@schoolandmain.org or 303-229-9333 if you need help booking a room.

Send a warm welcome to every Family Member representative on your team. Let them know about anything you will do to support the team / team members before the summit and ask if they need help with transportation or interpretation.

Summit organizers will also let the District Team Lead know about any Family Members who indicate a need for transportation or interpretation support on their registration form.  

Support family members may need:

• Transportation: Districts are responsible for ensuring Family Members have a way to get to the summit. Some districts send the whole team together in a van or bus. The Family Member may also feel comfortable ride-sharing with another team member; however, it's important to ask! Family members often feel more comfortable if they are traveling with other family members or as part of a bigger group.

• Interpretation/Translation: Summit organizers will provide interpretation services at the Summit.  The district may want to arrange support for communication before or after the summit.

• Child Care: Unfortunately, we cannot provide child care at the summit due to regulations and limitations of our venue. Districts may be able to provide before or afterschool care or connect family members with community providers who can. 

And don't forget to let Family Members know about the $75 stipend they will receive for participating.

One of the biggest pieces of feedback we received after the first-ever summit last year was how much participants appreciated it when their district did something to help the team connect and prepare for the summit before the event. Team members who didn't have this experience really wished they had.

You don't need to go crazy! For example, you could organize a meeting before team members register and/or host a simple "meet & greet" in person or virtually once your team is finalized. 

Here are things you could discuss:

• Thank everyone for serving as a team member.

• Do introductions. Include a fun, family-friendly icebreaker question (what's your favorite food, ice cream, spot in the world, etc.)

• Give some inspiration. For example, you could share your hopes and dreams for family school partnership in the district.

• Make sure team members have the registration page link. 

• Review any logistics related to transportation, Summit interpretation services, or other team member support.

• Go over the Summit Schedule and workshops. Talk about workshops team members are interested in or signed up for. Highlight any options that relate to district interests or priorities.

• You could also draw from the Strengthening Partnerships: A Framework for Prenatal through Young Adulthood Family Engagement in Massachusetts or Better Together: Fundamentals Online Training Module to frame or lay a foundation for family school partnership work. These are robust tools so be thoughtful about how much to share and what's too much. For example, you might introduce the five fundamentals at a high level and share the "Roles" feature in the training module.

Start the day sitting together as a team for the opening session. Do another round of team member introductions. Eat lunch together. As you move through the day, make it your mission to check in with every team member to see how it's going or how a workshop went. End the day together as a team at the closing session. 

Don't let the summit be the end of it! Meet as a team after the summit to talk about the experience and ideas team members have about deepening family school partnership in your district. 

In some cases, your Summit team might become a driving force for local family school partnership work. In other cases, you might want to plug individual team members into existing efforts or planning teams.