MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Eyewitness News recently sat down with Donna Marino, the parent resource coordinator for the Middletown public schools, to discuss parental involvement as children return to school.

EWN: Generally, why is parental involvement so important?

Donna Marino: Parent involvement -- it's been proven over and over again through research -- if parents are involved in the schools, children are more successful in school, both academically and socially. They get higher grades. They attend school more often. They go on to post-secondary education. But parent involvement is, I think, it's changing in what people think of as parent involvement. I mean, PTA is very important and volunteering in the schools, but also what a parent does at home and also what the school does to support parent involvement is very important. So, I try to work with all the principals, all the schools and all the parents to make parent involvement easier.

EWN: In your role, what kinds of things do you do to help educate parents on the importance of getting involved?

Donna Marino: Things I do is to offer parenting classes, because I don't know if you ever went to school to be a parent, but I didn't, and I have three children, so there's always new things to learn. You know, your children go through different stages in life, so schools can really help you be a better parent.

EWN: What kinds of programs do you offer?

Donna Marino: We offer a program called Nurturing Program, which helps parents create a nurturing family, things like communication skills, conflict resolution, how to talk to your kids so they'll listen. And how to listen so they'll talk to you. Discipline issues: how do you discipline your child? What's normal at certain ages and stages, we call it. We talk about teachable moments and I can't say enough about that. You know, there are many things that you can expose your child to that support education. Like, just going to the grocery store is an amazing thing. I mean, you can learn so much at a grocery store. When they're little, you know, they can learn their colors and sorting, and as they get older you can send them off and, you know, read labels, find cereals that they want. So parent involvement has to do with parenting, what can parents do? What can they do at home to support education? The big thing I say is that that backpack is like the most important thing. They need to open that backpack and see what's in there. They need to monitor that work. And when you see -- as a parent -- that the work is changing, either getting better or maybe, you know, getting worse, that's their cue to call the teacher and say, “What can we do together to improve my child's work? You know, what's happening now that he's not doing as well or if you see that he's doing very, very well. Maybe he's a little bored and needs some extra work?” So that backpack and the work that comes home is a very important part of parent involvement.
EWN: What kind of impact do parents make when they show up in the classroom?

Donna Marino: I think a parent wants to show that they support education, that education is really important to them and to their whole family. So by volunteering in the classroom and being around in the school or being part of the PTA, it's showing that you feel as a parent that education is important, that schools are important. By attending parent-teacher conferences, open houses, any kind of events, you're showing your child that you feel education is important and that school is important.

EWN: For parents who work and can't get as involved, what do they do?

Donna Marino: I think some basic things is to look in that backpack, to attend parent-teacher conferences and open houses, to try to attend your child's events and then to talk about school. Make sure your child knows that education is the focus in your home. And then model learning in your home by doing things like watching the news, reading the newspapers. That's modeling learning. That's modeling life-long learning. Or even talking about your job or what you do and why you do what you do and how did you get there? And where does your child want to go? So that whole communication piece between parent and child supports education and yeah, you know, some parents, I know --I work with some parents who are working multiple jobs, who end up working at night or there's a crisis in their home and they can't be at the school all the time. But they need to put aside just a little bit of time to make sure that they can support some of those basic things, like monitoring the work, and attending that parent teacher conference. And then the other thing is, is if you realize as a parent that you can't be involved as much as I want to be, look into some before- and after- school programs that you feel will really support education. And try to expose your child to camps and parks and things that are happening in your community that are going to support education.

EWN:What mistakes do parents make?

Donna Marino: A parent's job is to be involved in their child's school ... Whatever way you can. And so I think the biggest mistake is to think that the schools can do it alone. They can't. And the children that are more successful are the children that their parents do give time to supporting education and expose your child to sports and plays and whatever. And everything doesn't cost. There are things out there that are free. You know, I say going to the library is free. Going to the grocery store is free. There are things that you can all expose your child to, just to make sure that you spend a little time communicating and talking about education and how it's important to you and how it affected you. You know, tell your child your family story, you know ... 'was school good for you? Or not good for you?' And what do you want for your child? 23:54 so I guess the biggest mistake to make is to think that, you know, when your child goes to school, that's the “school's job” and when they're at home to separate those two. I think to partner schools and children together with parents is very, very important.

EWN: Sitting down and doing your child’s homework for him/her is not what you mean by helping your child.

v Donna Marino: No, but making sure they have the supplies they need to do that project and maybe, you know, quizzing them about some ideas to help them do, say a science project, you know, like saying 'what did you see when you went to the park today?' You know, take them for a walk or, you know, take them places that they can start to question and be exposed to you know, what's happening. TV, of course, you know i'm not going to say 'watch tv', but there are some, some great things on tv. But there are some great things in the library. Middletown's library is amazing. They have a great summer program that's all free. They have great programs all year that support reading and education. And I can't say enough about reading, no matter what age your child is. They say that a child is read to enters school with such a larger vocabulary. And even if you feel like you're not a good reader, you can just ... I call it 'read the pictures'. Just show them the pictures and, and them talk about what they see. You don't have to be a great reader to encourage reading.

EWN: Is parental involvement different at different grade levels?

Donna Marino: Yeah, you'll see in um, elementary school and ... Parents are probably a lot more involved than they are as they move into middle and high school. But it's different as your child gets older. There's different ways you can be involved. I know when my children first went to elementary school I was very involved in PTA. I was very involved in the classroom. But as my children got older, I found different ways to be involved, whether it be with a booster club or supporting sports. I know that I went back to work full-time as they got older and many parents do that. And things happen in your family where you don't maybe have as much time, but I still always try to look at the websites and make sure I read the newsletters and communicate with the teachers. The basic thing i've always done as a parent myself is, is to monitor their work and when I see a change, to make that call.

EWN: You run a parent leadership program

Donna Marino: It helps parents become advocates for children. And that's what we have to be because children don't have their own voice, so we have to be their voice and we have to help with that communication and that's what Parent Leadership Programs teach them to do is, is really to be involved in the decision-making that's happening in the schools. You'll see in schools when budgets pass and people support education, like in Middletown. We're building a new high school because our parents support education and part of that is because they know what's going on. And they're involved in the decision-making in the school system. We've had parents serve on hiring committees, on budget committees, on school committees. And that's important because we are the voice for our children and we know what happens when they come home every day and we hear, you know, how they're doing with school and what's happening. So we should be part of that educational process, that decision-making process, and these parent leadership programs help parents find their voice. They learn about things like policies and budgets and ‘how does the school work, how does the city work?”

EWN: If parents can only do one thing, what do you recommend?

Donna Marino: Help your child be life-learners. Support education. Role model learning at home and read. Read, I would say, is I would say is one of the very most important things. Read to your child. Have other people -- siblings read to eachother. Support reading in the home is probably the most important thing a parent can do And support reading throughout the community. Support your libraries. Attend your libraries.

EWN: Would you please talk specifically about some of the programs you have for parents.

Donna Marino: The “Nurturing Program” is a multiple week program to help parents be parents. It's really a parent education program because, I think I said before, we're not born to be parents. We need a little help along the way. And this is a program that helps you with parenting skills. It might be discipline, communication, conflict resolution. And it also gives you some peer support. It helps them find other parents to talk over what's normal and what's not normal in your everyday child's life. The parent leadership programs, there's really three of them. One's called 'people empowering people' and that's like an 8 week course and it helps parents once again with things like problem solving, child development, looking at your community and what's important in your community. Is it, you know, paving roads or is it the schools or is it your hospitals? And it helps you look at the whole city and decide what's the most important thing and how can you make sure that everyone in your community supports children in, in any way you can. “Parent leadership training institute” is actually a 20-week program and it helps parents form coalitions, become change agents for children, whether it's supporting education, supporting their health or preschool programs. It helps parents have a voice for children. Parents learn about things like how the city works, how are policies made? How the state works. They learn about networking and the power of the media, and they learn how to use the media, like newspapers and TV, so they, they learn how to support children and become advocates for children because our children do need advocates and they do need a voice. And just this year in Middletown we've offered this program called 'Parents Supporting Educational Excellence' which is another program, but it's really focused on education. And helps parents look at schools and see if they're the best they can be and helps parents then be involved in things like serving on hiring committees or budget committees.

EWN: Do you need to focus on how your school’s teachers are doing and who your administration is?

Donna Marino: Know how your school system works and what's important to them. A lot of times we offer budget workshops. Or you can attend a board of education meeting and see what's important in your school system. You can learn so much if you attend a board of education meeting about what's happening. Usually schools' websites have the agenda on and the minutes, so even if you can't attend, you can read those things usually on line.

EWN: Do you encourage parents to ask questions of teachers? Talk to the principals?
Donna Marino: I can't say enough about communication. It needs to be two-way, ongoing, flexible and understandable, and I definitely encourage parents to call when, when they see that change is happening. Or if they have a question. You know, talk to the teacher first. That's really your first line is to talk to the teacher to see if you can come to an understanding, form a relationship that supports your child's success in school. Then if that's not working, then it's time, you know, maybe, to talk to the principal. But being involved in schools really helps you feel more comfortable with the whole environment. And schools have so much to offer. Many communities have a lot of resources and that's another important job for parents, is to learn what the resources are in your community; what's there to support you and support your child because like we were saying before, sometimes as a parent you can't be available all the time -- you're working full-time or you have multiple jobs -- but there's other things in your community that can help support your child's education. And look into those, whether it's a before- and after-school program or a summer camp or you know, what your park and recreation department is offering

EWN: Is it as much about being an advocate as it is about reading to your child, volunteering in PTO?

Donna Marino: What we're using in Middletown is actually Joyce Epstein's model. She's out of Johns Hopkins University and she has six key areas that schools and parents should look at when they think about parent involvement. And the first one is “ parenting ;“ helping parents be parents, which is some of this. The second one is communicating: that it's ongoing, that it's flexible, that it's two-way, that it's understandable. So parents need to read newsletters and look at what comes home, but schools have to make sure that what they're publishing is readable and interesting. We need to kind of need to be like the media and be marketing people, so when it comes to communicating, that's another area. The other one is “volunteering .” Volunteering in the classroom is wonderful. Your children are seeing that you support education and support schools. But “ decision-making “ is another one. You need to be an advocate for your child and you need to learn how to have a voice for children and not just your child, maybe other children. If you have that potential to speak for other children, there's a big need. There really is ... For parents' voices. That's all I hear all the time: “what do the parents say?” “What do the parents say?” So that's very important. People from the city administration call me all the time and say 'do you have a parent that will serve on this committee or this commission?’ because they know we offer these parent leadership programs and we've taught parents to be better advocates. They know how to communicate. They know how to keep notes. They feel comfortable attending a meeting. Those meetings are intimidating. So those are the kinds of things we teach in parent leadership. The other thing that's important in that whole Epstein model of parent involvement is collaborating with the community because sometimes parents can't do it all. We know. It's a big job and the community can help, whether they're offering after-school programs or they're supporting our nurturing program isn't actually offered by our schools. It's offered in conjunction with Middlesex Hospital. It's offered in conjunction with the Rushford Prevention Center. So there's many things that I do to partner with the community to bring programs in to the schools. So collaborating with the community can do a lot. We have two universities in Middletown. We have Wesleyan University and Middlesex Community College that they can do a lot to support education and they do. There are tutors in our schools. So we need to - as a school system, as a city, as a state - to make sure that, you know, it's a big job being a parent but the whole community That whole thing “It takes a village.” It does take a village and, and we need to all to look at, to make sure that we're using all those components in our own village: what does our village look like and how can we get everybody to help? So that's part of what I do, but that's part of how we define parent involvement.