4/11/05

Press Release

Historical Parent Event Marks Largest Outreach in 30 Years

            The lines began to form not long after the animals inside the OKC Zoo awoke to a beautiful spring day here in Oklahoma City.  Hundreds of students and their parents eagerly awaited their Saturday safari as they were entertained by performers, students themselves of Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS), in the front courtyard of the OKC Zoo’s Conservation Education Center.  Inside, dozens of OKCPS staff  and PTA Council members prepared for a day of engagement with their stakeholders.  For many district patrons, Safari Celebration would be the first time they would hear some of the offerings of Oklahoma City Public Schools; for others, their first trip to the zoo.

            This process, which culminated on Saturday, April 9, as Oklahoma City Public Schools’ first ever large scale Parent Outreach Day actually began in concept a year ago as the district started working with something called the “Affinity Process.”

            “My primary purpose of working through the Affinity Process was to enable the district’s leadership team to redefine or reaffirm the goals and aims that had been in place in the district for years,” said Bob Moore, Oklahoma City Public Schools superintendent. “It was also an exercise to refocus our stakeholders on the same goals and results.  The Safari Celebration was designed for the purpose of reaching out to our parents and guardians to educate them on what the district has to offer and to encourage them to become more involved in their children’s education.”

            The Safari Celebration was aligned with Aim 6 of the district’s Aims and Goals “Clear, Concise, Effective Communications.”  The goal under Aim 6, the event targeted, is: “developing and strengthening family involvement in schools.”  A complete list of the district’s Aims and Goals can be found on our Web site: www.okcps.org.

Information booths included library services, PTA Council, career tech and higher education opportunities, the adult learning center and other school-based services.  Student performances included shows by several bands, choirs and dance troupes throughout the day.  More than 3,500 parents and their children from our 38,000-student district attended.

“I think the enthusiastic turnout truly marks a historical turning point for Oklahoma City Public Schools,” commented Moore, adding, “The parental involvement we witnessed Saturday is the largest showing for this district in more than 30 years.”

            The district offered this event to parents free of charge and even included refreshments and transportation.  School buses shuttled parents and their children from several schools throughout the district to the event.

            One thousand parents received t-shirts commemorating the event.  The purchase of the t-shirts was made possible thanks to the generous contributions of community partners Chartwells, Coca-Cola and American Fidelity.

The Safari Celebration was funded through the district’s Title I department as well as funding from some of our invaluable community supporters: SBC, the Greater OKC Chamber of Commerce, ONG, Bank of Oklahoma and IBC Bank.

“A recurring theme in the CSMpact surveys returned by parents was how our district needed to reach out to parents more often.  We fully intend to do that because research has shown us that academic achievement is directly tied to parental involvement,” said Moore.

CSMpact is a customer survey, administered in April 2004, which allowed District administrators to better understand the experiences of its customers – students, parents, teachers and building support staff, and measure what is most important to them in receiving and delivering quality educational services.