Hundreds of families attended Meet the Teacher night at Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. (Cory McCoy/Staff)

Peete Elementary School Principal Jonathan Kegler decided to try a new approach when tackling his first Meet the Teacher night at the school last year.

Instead of inviting parents to come all at once, he asked them to call their child’s new teacher and put themselves down for a block of one-on-one time. The result, he said, is a stronger relationship between the teachers and parents.

Kegler said this approach allows parents to ask any questions they might have without feeling rushed and begin to form a partnership with the faculty. He credits the strong community bonds in the neighborhoods that the school serves.

“We’re a neighborhood school. We don’t have buses, but 90 to 95 percent of our parents picked their children up at (3 p.m.) every day,” he said. “So we decided to move toward their schedule.”

Kegler began scheduling parent interactions earlier in the day, allowing them to participate in learning exercises while they were already at the school just before their students were released for the day. He also has made a strong push for more parent-teacher organization involvement.

These changes have helped Kegler and his staff successfully bring the school up to Texas Education Agency accountability standards within just one year.

LaQuinta Jones enrolled her children in Peete last year just as these changes were being implemented.

“I’m very proud of what they’ve been taught,” she said. “I’ve seen great improvement in their learning since moving here.”

She currently has three children enrolled at Peete – Joseph, kindergarten; DeJuan, second grade; and Evonne, third grade.

She said she appreciated the time she was allowed to spend getting to know the teachers.

“It creates an openness between parent and teacher that sometimes you don’t get,” she said.

At Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy, hundreds of families explored the school.

New Principal Bobby Markle was eager to start the year. He is already looking forward to the school’s fall performance.

Markle also was looking forward to seeing how new processes would play out in the classroom.

“We started ‘Leader In Me,’ it’s going to help with processes and processing,” he said. “How we go about change. It’s going to have a great impact on how we address the needs of the students.”

Markle said he looks forward to having his staff lead by example as the school moves to more fully integrate the arts into classrooms.

“We are in a unique position,” he said. “Every student gets the chance to participate.”

Markle will oversee about 650 young minds as they begin the next leg of their educational journey, which is set to begin Wednesday.

Twitter: @TMT_Cory

 

Tyler ISD Director of Counseling Leigh Anne Barber’s list of information all parents need to know before the school year begins:

Know your student’s bus route, pickup and drop-off times

Download the academic calendar to help keep track of important dates

Know your school’s dress code

Ensure your child is registered

Familiarize yourself with your school’s website at TylerISD.org

 

Tyler ISD will host a registration event at the Career and Technology Center, 3013 Earl Campbell Parkway, from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday

All students will need the following items in order to register:

Child’s original birth certificate

Child’s immunization record

Proof of address

Child’s social security card

Parent’s driver’s license